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Iowa State’s Alesia Ranches played like she was right at home to begin her collegiate softball career.
Well, she was.
The Ewa Beach native and Campbell High School alumna made her presence felt in the Cyclones’ first five games of the season, all played at Hawaii’s Rainbow Wahine Softball Stadium in the Paradise Classic tournament last weekend.
Ranches, the first native of Hawaii to play for the Iowa State softball program, arrived with her team for the Cylones softball program’s first-ever trip to the islands.
“It meant everything,” she said after hitting her first collegiate home run in a 4-2 win over Memphis for the tourney championship on Saturday. “You know, I’m making history on that team, being the first local from Hawaii on that team to even come here. And this is their first time out here as well. Just getting that opportunity to come out here my freshman year, my family coming to watch me in my first collegiate games, was everything. It meant everything to me.”
Ranches batted .353 with three RBIs for the tournament.
The homer, which came in the second inning to give ISU a 2-1 lead, was unquestionably the highlight.
“It felt really good, especially in front of my family … and friends from home, felt good,” she said.
Ranches was a Star-Advertiser All-State third-team pick as a Campbell sophomore, second-team as a junior and first-team as a Sabers senior. She won a state title at RWSS as a sophomore.
At 5 feet 4, she was lauded for her versatile play in high school and is listed as a utility player for the Cyclones. ISU had her play center field for one game and right field for the other four.
ISU’s tournament got off to a shaky start with a 6-4 loss to Memphis. But the Cyclones beat Northern Colorado 11-0, then stormed back with a seven-run sixth inning to beat host Hawaii 8-4 on Friday. They pretty much rolled from there to begin the year 4-1.
“We took that loss, and we didn’t dwell on that,” Ranches said. “We moved past that, and just picked ourselves up and bounced back from it. It showed, we bounced back really well from that. I liked that.”
With the title in hand on a sunny Manoa afternoon, Ranches and her teammates hurried to the bus to leave campus for the airport, and begin the journey back to chilly Ames.
“Right now it’s snowing, I think, and here it’s so beautiful and warm. I love it. And I missed it,” she said.
ISU next heads to Orlando for Central Florida’s Knight’s Classic tournament Friday through Sunday.
Ranches wasn’t the only Hawaii high school product to make her season debut over the weekend. Here’s a look at some other Division I players with local ties:
>> Kai Barrett, ‘Iolani ’19: The Cal Poly freshman started three of the team’s first four games at catcher and went 3-for-8 with a run scored and an RBI as the Mustangs finished 2-2 in the Stacy Winsberg Memorial Tournament.
>> Cydney Curran, Campbell ’16: The Cal State Bakersfield senior shortstop started all five games in the Stacy Winsberg Memorial Tournament and hit .400 (6-for-15) with a double, a walk and two stolen bases as the Roadrunners lost all five games.
>> D’Asha Saiki, Punahou ’19: The Cal freshman first baseman/second baseman started three of five games in the Felsberg Invitational and hit .250 with a triple, a walk, three runs scored and an RBI. Saiki hit fourth in the lineup in the first game of the season.
>> Aleia Agbayani, ‘Iolani ’19: The Cal freshman right fielder singled, drew two walks and scored four runs starting three of five games in the Felsberg Invitational. Agbayani hit fifth in the lineup in the first game.
>> Jocelyn Alo, Campbell ’17: The Oklahoma junior outfielder went 3-for-11 with a homer, four runs scored, five walks and five RBIs starting all four games in the Puerto Vallarta College Challenge to start the season.
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