By BART WRIGHT
Hawaii Tribune-Herald
Preliminaries out of the way, it’s time for college softball teams to hit the ground running.
That, at least, is the intent of Peejay Brun, coach of the University of Hawaii at Hilo team that opens the non-conference portion of the season Friday in the well-regarded Desert Stinger Tournament in Las Vegas, Nev., following a 12-0 romp over the alumni in its first game last Saturday.
Brun gets her first look at a revamped team Friday when it opens the seventh annual tournament against Regis College (Denver, Colo.), at 11:30 a.m. followed by a second game against Cal-State San Bernardino at 4:30 p.m.
“These (early-season) tournaments are great to get an idea of where you stack up, but it’s important to start fast and then build on it,” Brun said before taking the team to the tournament at Majestic Park. “Successful teams need to learn it’s all about how you show up that day, it’s your approach, it’s how you can stay within yourselves and go play the way we want to play.”
After an 8-6 February last year, Brun’s first as Vulcans’ head coach, the team finished 31-16-1, one game out of qualification for a regional playoff berth, and closed out with a No. 8 ranking in the West Region.
That wasn’t good enough, she said.
“We need to come out of the gate in a full sprint,” she said, “because this is such a mental game, it’s important to get it in your head early about what it takes; the postseason is, obviously, all about tournaments and tournament play is different from conference play.
“You need to understand the mindset, which is about doing what you do, not concentrating so much on the opponents, because you play someone else all the time,” Brun said. “In conference, you’re playing doubleheaders, you get to know each other and that familiarity creates a kind of comfort zone, but the best teams are good outside those comfort zones.”
Regis was a 32-19 team in 2015 that qualified for the regional tournament out of a third-place Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference finish. The Rangers have already played six games, with a 4-2 record and a team batting average of .353 with an impressive .421 on base percentage.
As of midweek, Brun was undecided on her pitching rotation for the Desert Stinger, not sure she would hand the ball to the only returning starter, junior Danielle Wilson (13-7 last year), or one of two newcomers, freshman Billi Derleth from Huntington Beach, Calif., or sophomore Cyanne Fernandez, a Honolulu product who transferred from Texas A&M Commerce.
“I need to look a little closer at the teams we’ll be playing,” Brun said, “at the moment, it’s not a secret so much as I haven’t decided.”
Cal-State San Bernardino was 28-24 last year and missed the postseason. The Coyotes are 2-0 after a doubleheader sweep of Mercyhurst last Saturday.
The rest of the schedule:
Saturday: Concordia (Minn.) College, 11:30 a.m.; Central Washington University 7 p.m.
Sunday: California State University Monterey Bay, 2 p.m.
