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When Ashley Murphy returned home to California after last year’s shutdown, the Hawaii pitcher was determined to find ways to put the unexpected downtime to productive use.
Although on-campus facilities were closed for much of last year, Murphy kept her focus on her eventual return to campus for her third season in the Rainbow Wahine softball program.
“I was with my pitching coach three times a week, long tossing with my brother, and making sure I came back ready,” Murphy said. “Because last year I wasn’t as prepared as I should have been. So I took it and ran with it and just kept working on my pitches and took advantage of the fact that we had nine months to work on things.”
The junior right-hander reclaimed a spot in UH’s starting rotation this spring and enters this weekend’s series with UC San Diego at 2-1 in Big West play with a 2.71 earned-run average in three conference appearances.
The Rainbow Wahine (4-5, 4-2 Big West) open a four-game series with the Tritons (5-6, 2-1) today with a doubleheader starting at 4 p.m. They’ll play another doubleheader on Saturday starting at 6 p.m. The first three games of the series will count in the Big West standings, with the finale considered a nonconference game.
UH went 2-1 in its first two Big West series and enters the week third in the Big West standings behind Cal State Fullerton (18-11, 3-0) and Long Beach State (9-5, 5-1).
Murphy went 4-6 in 11 starts with 24 strikeouts and a 4.84 ERA in last year’s abbreviated season. After a rough season debut against nationally ranked Washington on March 5, Murphy went the distance in a series-clinching win over UC Santa Barbara two weeks later and was in line for another before the finale with the Gauchos was rained out with UH up 9-0 in the fourth inning.
Her performances in the UCSB series earned Murphy the top spot in the rotation for last week’s series at Cal State Northridge and earned another complete-game victory in the opener a week ago. UH was on the verge of a sweep last Saturday before the Matadors rallied for two runs in the bottom of the seventh against Murphy in a 4-3 win.
Murphy responded by going right back to work upon returning to campus.
“I came off the road frustrated that I let that happen, so I went to practice with the mindset of ‘I need to get better,’” she said.
“Everybody’s been doing a lot of extra stuff since then. I think we all got a taste that we could have swept. So everybody is working harder.”
Murphy and freshman Jetta Nannen have alternated starts through UH’s first three series and UH coach Bob Coolen hadn’t decided which would take the ball in today’s series opener as of Wednesday.
Nannen (2-3, 2-1 BWC) took a no-hitter into the sixth inning in a 12-0 win in the middle game of last week’s series at CSUN to lower her conference ERA to 0.91.
The UH pitchers will face a UC San Diego offense hitting a collective .290, led by senior Sherriah Harrington at .405. UCSD, which is making the transition to Division I, earned its first series win as a Big West member last week against UC Santa Barbara.
“It’s not like they’re a rookie team coming out of D-II,” Coolen said. “They were a power team coming out of D-II and they’ve proven they can win.”
Big West Softball
At Rainbow Wahine Softball Stadium
UC San Diego (5-6, 2-1 BWC) vs. Hawaii (4-5, 4-2)
>> When: Today (doubleheader), 4 p.m.; Saturday (doubleheader), 6 p.m.
>> TV: None
>> Radio: None
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