Bulldogs’ Hopes Are High Since Keao Just Loves Softball

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Marissa Keao of Waialua High School pitches during a practice session on May 12. Photo by Byron Lee, .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

College coaches have been calling Marissa Keao’s home to recruit the senior pitching prospect, but the only school on her mind lately has been her own - Waialua High School.

“My mom is getting some calls, but it’s on hold,“she said. “I’ve been trying to be as focused as I can on our own season.”

That should hardly come as a surprise, certainly not in softball circles. Waialua’s softball season was to be completed over the weekend at the Division

II State Championships. By that time, the 2009 softball campaign had already become one for the ages as the Bulldogs captured their first-ever title in the sport on May 6, defeating Kaiser 5-4 in the OIA DII title game.

Not many people saw that coming two years ago when the school failed to even field a varsity softball team because they hadn’t enough players - except, perhaps the Keao family.

“I knew they’d get somewhere this year,” said Keao’s mother Marielyn, who serves as a team manager and sometime assistant coach to husband Jay (currently in his third stint as Waialua head softball coach).“When we had 21 kids show up the first day (in 2009), I said,‘Wow.Where did all of these girls come from?’”

At the center of the revival is Keao, whose pitching has driven her team across the finish line innumerable times over the past two seasons. She stops well-short of agreeing that she has carried the team, and believes it’s her team-mates who have carried her.

“They support me and keep me up,” said Keao, who was OIA White Player of the Year as a junior in 2008 after throwing two no-hitters, two one-hitters, a two-hitter and a three-hitter. “They have great attitudes on and off of the field. We all share a bond together. We’re a very close team. We set the goal of making it to the OIA title game (and playing on OC16) and winning the game this year. We worked really hard this season to make it happen.”

Keao spent much of her first two years of high school at Kahuku, where she also competed on the golf team, but transferred in time for the softball season her sophomore year. Last season, the Bulldogs achieved a breakthrough when they went 13-5 and made it to the OIA title game as well as their first-ever appearance in the state tournament in May. Expectations, as a result, were high when the team began practice in February. The Bulldogs responded by going 11-1-1 against OIA competition this spring and had gone 24-6-3 overall in their last 33 encounters heading into last Thursday.

“There’s been a lot of excitement around school with people coming up to all of us and congratulating us. No, I didn’t see this happening two years ago. But the way we played last year, and the way the coaches helped us ... they believed in us.”

For her part, Keao began playing softball at 5, trailing after older sister Jaylyn, who is today a first-year player at Mission College in California.

“She wanted to be just like her sister,” Marielyn said. “When you look at them, they look like twins. Not so much when they were younger, but now they look exactly alike.”

Keao still looks up to Jaylyn. Could the sisters end up teammates next year at Mission?

“She’d like me to, but I don’t know yet,” Keao laughed. “I love everything about my sister. She can always make everyone smile and laugh.”

Keao also has played basketball and soccer, but it’s softball that holds a special place in her heart.

“I was always pretty serious about it. Right now, it’s my main (interest). I love competing, the feeling of winning.”

Although batting over .500, Keao’s main emphasis has been as pitcher, the position she would like to play in college.“My hitting went down a little because I was trying to focus more on pitching. I wanted a little more movement on my curve and did more work on my change-up.”

Asked what she likes best about pitching on game day, Keao responded without hesitation. “Everything!” she laughed.“I like the rush you get - especially the feeling of wanting to strike people out.”