Sabers Are Making The Grade
By Jack Danilewicz
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Campbell softball player Breanne Patton practices her pitch. See story on Page 4. Photo by Byron Lee, .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
The Campbell softball team would earn an “A-plus"on any mid-season report card, but it’s the offthe-field grades that Sabers coach David Perreira was more interested in late last week.
“The thing I’m most proud of is that we had a 3.3 grade-point average as a team for the first quarter,” he said, “and from what I’ve seen in our grade checks, we should be right about there again for this quarter.”
On the field,the Sabers have been nothing less than dominant through the first half of their OIA Red West Conference slate. Campbell kicked off the second half of its West schedule on Saturday when they were to meet Pearl City. On Wednesday (Dec. 27), they visit Leilehua for at 3:30 p.m. before returning home on Saturday to play Waipahu at 1 p.m.
If anything, preventative maintenance is the prevailing theme as they look to build on what is already a season to remember.
“The kids are still working hard,“Perreira said.“We have to stay focused and be in control of what we can be in control of. I told the girls the other day that we’re zero (wins) and zero (losses). We have to come ready to play every time out. We take every game one at a time and approach it like the score is always zero to zero and build from there.”
The Sabers have been led by seniors outfielder Juraishelei Murray-Thornton and infielder/designated player Samantha Palipti, juniors pitcher Breanne Patton and pitch-er/shortstop Leinna Kalua and sophomore catcher/third baseman Kaiulani Clark to date.All have collaborated to compensate for the loss of shortstop/third baseman Loreen Egdamin, who is recovering from an injured shoulder.
Perreira credited Murray-Thornton with “leading us on and off of the field,” while also praising the play of up-and-coming sophomore outfielder Brittney Garcia.“Her hitting has been a big surprise for us,” Perreira said.
Patton and Kalua form one of the state’s best pitching duos so far this season, having earned all six Campbell victories between them. “Bre is doing very well, and she’s hitting close to .500,” Perreira said.“Leinna has been good at getting ahead of the hitters and working with her (pitching) speeds.
“Pitching and defense are the key for us,“added Perreira, whose team tallied 102 runs in 13 pre-season games this year.“And then we have to be able to shut the door on people. We let Mililani and Kapolei back in the game against us. We have to get that first out (of an inning) and make things easier on our defense. We have to make our pitches and make the plays.”
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