They might have to consider dugout expansion.
They might have to consider dugout expansion.
The most successful program in the Hawaii Hilo athletic department a year ago was the softball team that went 32-17 and 21-9 in the Pacific West Conference, missing the postseason tournament by one game. The next thing that happened was the departure of coach Peejay Brun, the architect of it all, took a Division I assistant job, reuniting with her wife in San Angelo while rejoining the staff at Texas State University.
Brun essentially did it on her own, the force of her personality and experience and the help of a very small staff generating back-to-back winning seasons that ended on the doorstep of conference playoffs.
Compared to her relatively minimalist staff, it now looks like somebody called a coaching convention in the Vulcans’ first base dugout. Cal Perreira, a longtime friend and associate of Brun’s, is back in charge again with a school-record 576 wins (against 345 losses), two conference championships and a couple of postseason tournaments on his resume. Despite his record of achievement in this very location, Perreira wasn’t going to be comfortable until he knew he could secure a group of qualified assistants.
It’s not a necessity. Many Division II teams get by with a coach and an assistant, as the Vulcans have in the past. But owing to his respect in the Big Island softball community and his deep connections with that group, Perreira has assembled a staff of six, plus himself, to engage the players in a level of individual attention they haven’t previously experienced.
“Of course I was interested in coming back, this is home,” Perreira said, “but honestly? The first thing I thought of when (athletics director Pat Guillen) called me was, ‘Can I get a good staff together? Who’s still there?’
“I ran into some good luck I guess,” he said.
In that sense, it would be good luck after bad. Perreira left after the 2009 season, worn out from a contentious relationship in the athletic department felt under former AD Dexter Irvin. Perreira moved to a spot outside Las Vegas, got some coaching assignments and eventually accepted head coach position for softball at the College of Southern Nevada, a junior college that was strengthening its commitment to athletics.
Sure enough, the school hired Irvin and after giving it a try, Perreira was ready to hang it up again when Irvin announced the decision had been made to open up a search committee to find a new softball coach.
Being back is good, and Perreira collected a compelling group, including the most well-know name, Joey Estrella, the former UH-Hilo baseball coach and athletic director. The other paid assistants are Fred Entilla, who coached with Perreira in his previous stint here, and Rachel Greer-Smith, a former grad assistant who “is a tremendous communicator, very knowledgeable and someone who will make a great contribution to our team,” the coach said.
Tracy Miyashiro is a veteran Big Island softball coach with the RBI program — girls 14-to-19 — so he should help identify the best local talent; Aisha Sueda, a Hilo girl who previously played for Perreira and just completed her degree has made a commitment to assist, as has Lester Olivera, the third volunteer assistant who was catcher and is a “very good catching instructor,” according to Perreira.
That’s six assistants, three paid, three volunteers, to join with Perreira, who accepts pitching as his own specialty, which makes sense for a veteran softball coach.
“If you’re going to coach this game and you don’t know pitching, you’re going to have a tough time,” he said.
Consider it an encore career for Estrella.
“I’m the rookie here,” he said, sounding invigorated after a couple years away from the dugout. Estrella counts 55 years of baseball from the time he started playing as 9-or-10 year-old, until the time he resigned at UHH.
“I always maintained that baseball and softball are two different games, that, yes, there is a general similarity in the rules but the way you play the game — how you play the game — is really a completely different thing.
“I’m starting to pick it up,” he said. “These players are impressive, I’ll tell you that, they are willing to work and ready to go.”
Estrella left a message for Perreira after he heard his old friend was coming back saying, “anything I can do to help out, I’m there for you,” and Perreira took it literally.
“I was thinking, ‘making sure the field is ready, checking up on this or that,’ I wasn’t thinking ‘I want to coach,’” Estrella said.
But when the offer came, Estrella realized he wasn’t opposed to it, either.
“This is really a challenging game,” he said. “In baseball you can field the ball, take that little hop and square up for the throw, but here, it’s so fast you have to be set up and you can’t make a mistake, no bobbles.
“I’m learning a lot,” he said, “asking a lot of questions, learning a lot.”
Before he’s done, Estrella will likely be a benefit to the infield defense, where Perreira has him working. All six assistants get a specific area of concentration.
One works with outfielders, another concentrates on hitting, catchers have their own assistant, base running, everything gets covered.
Entilla, a military vet who played fast pitch for years on Oahu, spent 16 seasons coaching for Perreira. They finish each other’s sentences, working together almost with a single mind.
“It was great working with him before,” Entilla said, “but when he left I said, ‘I’m done,’ I hung it up. I’m ready to go again, this should be fun and I can tell, we have a good group here, working with outfielders and helping out on hitting? I’m enjoying it a lot.”
Perreira said while the staff is male-dominated in a woman’s sport, several of his assistants simply stem from longtime relationships.
“It’s important to have women on the staff,” he said, “it’s a major kind of thing. They’ve played it, they relate to these players in ways we, as men, really can’t. There are times a woman needs to talk to a woman, not a man, but as far as coaches, they are all good, they will all be treated equally and they will all be respected.”
Making that last step into the playoffs, a land Perreira has previously explored, would bring another level of respect to the program, throughout the conference.