Here it comes again, with all the attendant tears and fears, Senior Day season has arrived in the Pacific West Conference.
The University of Hawaii at Hilo (19-19, 10-12 in the PWC) is one of the first to jump in with a doubleheader Saturday — noon and 2 p.m. — against Chaminade (6-32, 3-19 PWC), that closes out the home season for the Vulcans on just the seventh day they have played at home all season. The moment will surely be visited by tears for the end of an important chapter in the lives of those playing their last games, and the natural fears about what comes next in a world with dire job market predictions.
“Senior Day is a great time,” said UHH coach Callen Perreira, closing in on the final stretch of his first season and second tour of duty leading the program. “We do it right in Hawaii, on the mainland, they don’t seem to get it, they make a small mention and that’s it.”
The Vulcans and other state schools traditionally reserve time after the final home games to say a word about players, let them say a few words and maybe do something they want to, like making one last pitch, throwing from shortstop to first one last time. Everyone gets a lei, a hug and a Kleenex, if needed.
“It’s the way it should be done,” Perreira said, “it shouldn’t be a brief mention and it’s over, we should be able to show them we care about them.”
And they will.
And, if this is like most Senior Days, it will bring a little something extra out of the team.
That’s a good thing Saturday, but it might become more problematic when the Vulcans wind up the season at BYU-Hawaii, Chaminade and Hawaii Pacific. In each of those last two, UHH will be the loyal opposition on Senior Days for the Silverswords and the Sharks.
Regardless of the various motivations home or away, it’s safe to say the Vulcans won’t be involved in regional playoffs.
With a 10 games to go, UHH could theoretically win 10 straight, finish 20-12 and be left out of postseason consideration. Regional rankings come out next week, but just in the PWC, there are six teams ahead of the Vulcans, and the top two have lost only two (Cal Baptist, 24-2), and five (Dixie State, 17-5), games respectively.
The PWC champion is guaranteed a regional playoff berth, any other teams that get in will be ranked high in the regional top 10.
So this isn’t about reaching for the golden ring or reaching the promised land, it’s about salvaging something, anything, to serve as a mental scrub of an unjustifiably unfair schedule. At one point, they played no games in 21 days, in another stretch, they played 16 games in 10 days. Either of those could create a rupture in a season, both rendered it beyond the bounds of fairness.
Especially when it’s with what virtually became a new team.
Five seniors will be recognized after the doubleheader — Samantha Lauro, Amanda Lara, Danielle Pulido, Cristina Menjivar and Danielle Wilson — but only Pulido and Menjivar are still in the same positions as a year ago. Wilson is still pitching, but she has gone from a big inning-eater to more of a supporting role in the second half of the season.
“When you look at it, we have new players all over,” said Perreira. “We still have Cristina (Menijvar, all-conference first team first baseman in 2016), Dani Wilson (senior pitcher), Dani Pulido (senior catcher), and of course Bailey (Gaspar, first team all-West Region designated player), but remember, Bailey didn’t play in the field, so in a way, that’s another new player for us.”
They have been finding their way all season under a new coach with a different approach and a completely new staff of assistants, all of it complicated by the inherent unfairness of the schedule.
“I don’t make excuses,” Perreira said, “but the schedule has made things more difficult. We played those early tournaments and we were 6-4, doing pretty well, then we stopped playing for a while.”
Menjivar and Wilson went through some issues. Menjivar, one of the conference’s top hitters last year, was batting.224 on a trip to Northern California when she visited an eye doctor, got a new contacts prescription and saw things change. Since then, starting with games of March 25, she’s been batting .367.
Wilson was called on to start against the toughest teams in the league and had a rough go of it, but no rougher than her teammates. In seven losses, she had an average run support of 2.57 per game for a Vulcans’ squad that averages 5.05 runs per game this season.
“You could say we’re rebuilding, I guess,” Perreira said. “Dani pitched a few great games for us, but then she started falling behind in the count and getting hit; she had a tendency to lunge a bit (in her pitching motion), and that caused some problems.”
Inactive for 16 days since her last appearance, Wilson talked to Perreira earlier this week about her status.
“She wants a game, she will get a game,” Perreira said, “maybe the second game Saturday.”
After that, it’s back on the road for a dozen games before they turn the page and look ahead, with no tears or fears.
