Wright On: Only idleness saps Gaspar’s power surge

Softball season burst forth dramatically earlier this month for the Hawaii Hilo Vulcans and returning coach Callen Perreira in a couple of respected tournaments designed to separate the season-opening pretenders from the contenders.

And then it stopped like a train off its tracks.

Softball is a sport that starts out in crunch time and builds from there at the Division II level. It’s possible for teams to advance to the regional tournament at the end of the season by sitting out these early measuring stick tournaments, but your chances are much better if you compete and win.

That’s good news for the Vulcans who went 6-4 in the Desert Stinger and Dixie State Classic, having a couple games rained out at the end. At the heart of the advantageous beginning was last year’s Division II West Region first team designated player, Bailey Gaspar and pitcher Danielle Wilson.

Wilson stepped up from a satisfactory if not spectacular junior season, when the Vulcans’ senior went 3-0 in the two early tournaments, spotting her pitches more consistently than was the case most of the 2016 season.

Gaspar, the junior from Longview, Wash., came out swinging, threatening to rewrite the school’s record books in the sport. She was voted the best designated player in the region a year ago when she hit six home runs. This season, she matched that total in a mere 10 games.

For Gaspar, Wilson and the rest Vulcans, it was the sort of beginning that instilled confidence for the immediate future, despite the rainouts in the final two games.

Sure, it could have been better, they could have been undefeated, every pitcher could have thrown no-hitters, somebody else could also have hit six home runs, but in reality, it was all good news for the new season, despite the fact that at the end, they weren’t voted into the Region’s top 10.

Unfortunately, the good news is submerged by the bad news that followed the hot start. On a roll, the Vulcans returned to the Big Island and were effectively placed in cold storage for three weeks. The schedule delivered to them by the Pacific West Conference included an indefensible three week layoff after the start while the teams they will play next month are competing regularly. A representative of the UHH athletic department said a department official tried, but failed over a year’s period of time to schedule even a few games during the layoff.

You won’t find that kind of schedule in men’s NCAA sports at any level, but the Vulcans have to live with it.

Gaspar homered in her first game, later hit a grand slam, and after the enforced idleness she led the PWC with her six home runs, and tied for the lead with 15 runs batted in. The conference, however, doesn’t appear to recognize her, misspelling her name in conference statistics and inaccurately crediting her with just five HRs.

Six home runs last year and 36 RBI was enough to get her first team regional recognition, but this year, she’s on a pace for 23 home runs and 57 RBI. She may be overlooked by her own conference in February, but if she maintains this pace she will be known throughout the region.

The best power hitter Perreira coached here in his previous 18 years at the school?

“No one comes to mind, to be honest,” Perreira said last week. “Maybe if I had old roster to look at I could come up with a name, but Bailey might well be the best, she’s a true power hitter.”

These early season numbers jump out like they’ve been written in neon type, which is all the more impressive for someone who didn’t see herself playing softball at this level until a couple of years ago.

“I thought I was going to be in the NBA,” Gaspar said, “basketball was my sport, I was pretty sure that would be my future, then I realized that probably wasn’t going to happen when I stopped growing (at 5-foot-7).

“I thought I better concentrate on softball.”

Good decision, because when she commits to something, Gaspar doesn’t hold back. Her father worked with her in high school, encouraged her to get in the gym and set up a batting tee in the garage she used again and again.

“The best thing about her approach,” said Perreira, “is that she naturally hits the ball where it’s pitched. You look at her home runs, they’ve all been to center field or just a little to the right of center.

“The thing about her batting is that she hits the ball hard every time,” he said. “We’ve been preaching and working on that with everyone, but she really gets it and she understands the different contact points (based on pitch location).

“In recent memory, as best as I can recall, she’s the best, a very powerful hitter, a real gamer. She rises up for the occasion.”

The question is about the restart, next month, when the top teams in the conference come in — three of them already ranked in the region’s top 10 — one after the other, tuned up from a regular flow of games, looking to cast aside the Vulcans.

“No one wants this,” she said, “no one wants to get off to a good start and then have three weeks with no games, that’s crazy.

“Still, you have to focus on what you can do, each day we have an opportunity to work on things we need to work on. It would be much better to have that and have games, but that’s not our situation.

“We have to try to make the best of it,” she said.

If they do, if Gaspar, Wilson and other can maintain a sharp edge, it will be evident for all to see when they finally get to play next month.