Rainbow Wahine fourth in BWC softball poll
Big West softball coaches voted the Rainbow Wahine fourth in the conference’s preseason poll released Thursday.
The Rainbow Wahine received 33 points in the poll of the league’s eight coaches. UH went 23-27 overall last year and tied for seventh in the Big West at 7-14. The Wahine are in a tight pack in the middle of the 2019 poll with four points separating third and sixth place.
Three-time defending Big West champion Cal State Fullerton is favored to make it four straight. The Titans received six of eight first-place votes and topped the poll with 62 points. Long Beach State, which received an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament last season, came in second with 55 points and one first-place vote followed by UC Davis (34 points, one first-place vote).
UH returns two-time first-team All-Big West third baseman Nicole Lopez and second-team catcher Callee Heen. Heen was also named to the NFCA All-West Region second team. Senior right-hander Brittany Hitchcock also returns to the pitching staff after sitting out most of last season due to back surgery.
2019 Preseason Poll No. 4:
An All-West Region selection in 2018, Callie Heen will lead @HawaiiSB in search of the BWC 👑.
…#GoBows #BigWestSoftball #StartBig pic.twitter.com/BrdSseGhAD— Big West Softball (@BigWestSoftball) January 31, 2019
The Wahine play their alumnae game at 6 p.m. Saturday at RWSS and open the season Feb. 7 against Georgia State in the Paradise Classic. The opening weekend will include matchups with Texas-Arlington and UCLA on Feb. 8 and Saint Mary’s and Fresno State on Feb. 9.
UCLA enters the season at No. 1 in the ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25 and No. 2 in the USA Today/NFCA Division I Top 25. The Bruins went 58-7 last season.
Long Beach State is ranked 25th in the USA Softball preseason poll and received votes in the NFCA poll to place 26th. Cal State Fullerton also received votes in both polls.
Big West softball preseason poll
1. Cal State Fullerton (6), 62
2. Long Beach State (1) 55
3. UC Davis (1) 34
4. Hawaii 33
5. Cal State Northridge 32
6. UC Riverside 30
7. Cal Poly 26
8. UC Santa Barbara 16
Fourth is a good starting point..also considering CS. Fullerton picked to finish first, did not get into the top 25 but the Beach did, means the conference race is a lot closer..GO RAINBOW WHINES🌈🌈🌈
4th. No bad after a poor 2018 season. Looking forward to winning ways this year behind Brittany.