Although neither stood taller than 5 feet 5, there’s no denying the towering presence of Kelly (Majam) Elms and Jessica Iwata in University of Hawaii softball lore.
Even the walk into Rainbow Wahine Softball Stadium provides a reminder of their larger-than-life stature as the program’s most prolific home run duo.
Their photos, both in mid-swing, are featured on a banner affixed to the outside of the grandstands commemorating their shared four-year run that began with UH’s storied run to the 2010 Women’s College World Series and produced three conference championships.
When Elms and Iwata closed their careers in the 2013 NCAA Regional in Seattle, they had taken places as the top run producers in UH history while helping the program ascend into national prominence.
“For me, that is what meant a lot,” Iwata said recently in reflecting on her run as the Wahine shortstop. “It was something Hawaii had never done before and it hit different just because I grew up here and I used to watch the UH players when I was little.
“When you can make it to the highest level and compete with other big schools … that’s what you work for all of your life. That’s what I take into this next chapter that I’m in.”
Nearly a decade removed from their final at-bats, Iwata and Elms look back at those four years with an appreciation for the chance to play together in an era in which the Wahine went 176-56 overall and 70-15 in conference play and remain connected beyond their time on the field.
“I was really fortunate to play on a team that had other high-caliber players like her, but also people that pushed me to be a better player, to be a better person,” Elms said. “She’s a great teammate and we now are both moms and still around the game, which is really cool.
“I’m really fortunate to be Jessica’s friend, and to share all these memories together.”
The tone-setters
After a torn ACL in the fall of 2008 delayed the start of Elms’ college softball career by a year, she blasted a two-run homer for her first collegiate hit on her way to setting the NCAA freshman record (since broken) with 30 homers in 2010. She would finish her career with a school-record 72 while starting each of UH’s 232 games in center field over her four years.
She overcame treatment for thyroid cancer prior to her sophomore season to remain a fixture in the leadoff spot and scored 235 runs for a power-laden UH offense.
“She set the tone,” Iwata said. “There’s not too many out there that can hit it out on the first pitch of the game. That sets the tone for the rest of the game and the rest of the players that come up behind her.”
It took Iwata three games to break into the starting lineup before starting 227 games at shortstop. She hit the last of her 55 home runs in her final plate appearance at RWSS and drove in a UH-record 197 runs while hitting .359 over her career.
“Looking back, Jessica was definitely a better hitter than I was,” Elms said. “She was way more powerful, she had such a high batting average, she was phenomenal.
“Her swing was so effortless that she could half swing and hit it over the fence. She’s so incredibly strong.”
With two freshmen at the top of the order, the Wahine overpowered opponents in a run to Oklahoma City in 2010 highlighted by their upset of top-seeded Alabama. Iwata’s grand slam in the second game of the best-of-three super regional shifted the momentum of the series, which ended with Jenna Rodriguez’s walk-off homer in the finale.
Iwata also delivered a signature moment with a walk-off homer in an upset of top-ranked California at RWSS in 2012.
“It was pretty special to know there were no real pukas (in the lineup),” Elms said. “It was special to know we were confident enough in each other and our pitchers (Stephanie Ricketts and Kaia Parnaby) that we could beat anybody. And through our career we did just that, we beat a lot of good teams.”
Even now, UH coach Bob Coolen marvels not only at the production of those teams, but also the confluence of circumstances that forged the program’s most dynamic offensive combination.
Sooner or later
Elms had been on Coolen’s recruiting wish list for a couple of years when he made a recruiting trip to a tournament in Oklahoma along with his father to try to connect with the standout pitcher/outfielder from Pine Valley, Calif.
“I saw the line of coaches that were waiting to talk to Kelly Majam. I looked at my dad and I go, ‘I’m not gonna do it,’” Coolen recalled. “He goes, ‘We didn’t come all this way for you to walk away right now.’”
Coolen indeed stuck around to make his in-person introduction but left without much confidence that she’d end up in Hawaii considering her offers from Southeastern Conference, Big Ten and Pac-12 schools.
While other players were declaring their college decisions in their freshman or sophomore years of high school, Elms wasn’t comfortable committing so early in the process.
“By the time my junior year came around I went on a trip to Oklahoma they said, ‘We’d love to have you, but we don’t have any money left,’” she said, “and I heard that same thing from a couple other schools. But Coach Bob had been staying with me. He waited and he waited.”
UH had made its first NCAA Super Regional appearance in 2007, and “I was really inspired by that, knowing this program was on the cusp of breaking into the world series and being a top-ranked team. I really wanted to be a part of building something, being a part of the underdog story.”
Under the radar
Iwata had a far quieter experience with the recruiting process while leading Kauai High School to four league titles and the 2009 Division II state championship.
Baseball had been her primary sport into her freshman year of high school before she went full-time into softball.
“Playing baseball with the boys I always had to be more competitive,” she said. “I had people along the way tell me I would never make it in softball because I had a baseball swing. But I never changed anything from baseball to softball.”
While Iwata remained largely hidden in Lihue, Coolen and assistant coach Dee Wisneski (herself a shortstop from Kauai) made an in-home visit with her family and made their pitch to keep her in-state.
“We offered her a scholarship. We got up, they looked at us and went, ‘We’re coming,’” Coolen said. “That was the easiest scholarship we ever gave away.”
Even before she arrived on campus in Manoa, Iwata had her mind on the players who might follow.
“When I got my offer at UH, I wanted to open doors and wanted to be able to guide the athletes, especially on the outer islands,” said Iwata, a four-time first-team all-conference honoree. “And I’m hoping that I did that through my career.”
Staying connected
Just as Elms and Iwata remain fixtures in the UH record book, they’re still regulars around the Lower Campus.
Both can often be found in the RWSS press box, with Iwata helping out with scorekeeping while Elms has served as an color analyst for OC 16’s high school softball telecasts.
Iwata remained connected to the game as an assistant coach at Kamehameha for a few seasons while also helping out with lessons at a batting cage in Waipahu. She’s also passing along her swing to her daughter, the aptly named Hazely Crush.
“She’s been swinging it pretty much since she started standing,” Iwata said of the 2-year-old.
When Elms signed with UH, she figured she’d be around for four years then head back home. Some 14 years after arriving, she’s made Hawaii home along with her husband, UH assistant strength and conditioning coordinator Josh Elms, and their four children.
She began a career as a physical education teacher at Liholiho Elementary School right after graduation in 2013. After nine years at the school, she’s transitioning to life as a stay-at-home mom in Ewa Beach.
“All the teachers are back at work and I’m having a little bit of FOMO (fear of missing out),” Elms said. “I’m excited to be around my own kids a little bit more, but I do really miss teaching.”
In her time as a PE teacher, Elms enjoyed tracking the progress of some of her former students who have gone on to excel in high school to earn opportunities in college.
“It’s really fun to be part of their foundation in sports,” she said. “I really value female athletics and feel it’s so incredibly powerful for our girls to see positive role models on TV, see girls getting paid to play sports. And I hope for the future, like for my daughter, that she has even more opportunities to play if she wants to play after college.”
Kelly (Majam) Elms
University of Hawaii softball center fielder (2010-13)
Education
Mountain Empire (Calif.) High School; University of Hawaii
Highlights
>> UH career leader in home runs (72), runs scored (235), doubles (47) and walks (159)
>> Career .335 batting average
>> 2010 NCAA home run champion (30)
>> 2010 Western Athletic Conference Freshman of the Year
>> 2010, 2012 All-WAC first team
>> 2010 WAC Tournament Most Valuable Player
>> 2010 ESPN.com All-America
>> 2010 NFCA All-West Region first team, All-America second team
>> 2011 All-WAC second team
>> 2012 NFCA All-West Region second team
>> 2013 Big West Defensive Player of the Year
>> 2013 All-Big West first team
>> 2013 CoSIDA Academic All-American
>> 2013 NCAA Woman of the Year finalist
Jessica Iwata
University of Hawaii softball shortstop (2010-13)
Education
Kauai High School; University of Hawaii
Highlights
>> UH career leader in RBIs (197), second in hits (249), doubles (46) and home runs (55)
>> Career .359 batting average
>> 2010, 2011 Western Athletic Conference Player of the Year
>> 2010, 2011, 2012 All-WAC first team
>> NFCA National Player of the Week (April 13, 2010)
>> 2010, 2011 NFCA All-West Region second team
>> 2011, 2012 Easton All-America
>> 2013 All-Big West first team
>> Second UH player named first-team all-conference four times
June 23, 2022, marked the 50th anniversary of Title IX. To commemorate this watershed event, the Star-Advertiser will publish a series of stories celebrating the achievements of female pioneers and leaders with Hawaii ties.
Click here to view the Title IX series.
