Hawaii coach Bob Coolen keeps his cool in a crisis

Mar. 19—Turns out Bob Coolen's got jokes ... well, a joke.

When the Hawaii softball coach strides out of the dugout to visit a struggling pitcher, his message might have something to do with mechanics or strategy ... or something completely different.

For instance, after senior Dominique Martinez walked the first two batters she faced against Washington in UH's season-opening series two weeks ago, Coolen broke out an old reliable to try to settle down the Rainbow Wahine reliever.

"She gets out there, she starts breathing hard and I'm like, 'You're not in control, you're not in rhythm, you're not focused on what calms you down. You want me to tell you a joke when I come out here ?, '" Coolen recounted. "I've got a good one, you know. What do you get when you cross an elephant and a rhinoceros ? Eleph-I-know.

"That's my only one. They don't want to hear my jokes because that's my only joke that I've ever told my teams."

Whether it drew a chuckle or an eye roll, Martinez eventually did settle in and provided a bright spot in an otherwise rough opening weekend for the Rainbow Wahine pitching staff.

After facing the now sixth-ranked Huskies in their lone test against a nonconference opponent in this truncated season, the Wahine (0-3 ) had two weeks to prepare for Big West play and open the conference schedule today against UC Santa Barbara (3-13 ) at Rainbow Wahine Softball Stadium.

UH and UCSB are scheduled to play a doubleheader today starting at 4 p.m. and another on Saturday starting at 2 p.m. The first three games will count in the Big West standings. The fourth is designated as a nonconference game.

The numbers weren't pretty in the aftermath of UH's series with Washington, although they represent a small sample size against a Top 10 opponent.

The Huskies scored 30 runs over the three-game sweep, ending the first two games in the fifth inning due to the eight-run mercy rule. UH starters Jetta Nannen and Ashley Murphy came out of the series with earned-run averages in the teens.

Among the adjustments for today's Big West opener will be pitches being called from the dugout by associate head coach Dee Wisneski. Coolen usually assigns pitch-calling duties to the UH catchers.

"(Nannen ) needs to get a little more focused, a little bit more in rhythm with pitch selection, so we switched it up this time and we're going to call from the side, " Coolen said.

"Coach Dee is going to do what a lot of college coaches do and help the catcher at first and hopefully they get in a rhythm and Jetta feels good about the pitch selection."

Left-hander Emily Klee was first out of the bullpen against Washington, and Martinez gave up two earned runs in her three innings.

"(Washington was ) surprised that how hard she was throwing, and she was jamming them inside, which is what Dom is capable of, " Coolen said.

The UH offense hit a collective.140 in the first week and will face a UCSB staff that entered the week with a 5.38 ERA. Junior Emily Schuttish (3-3, 2.23 ) has all of UCSB's wins with 17 strikeouts in 37 2 /3 innings.

UCSB freshman shortstop Madelyn McNally leads the Big West with a.472 batting average and ranks second with a.525 on-base percentage. The Gauchos' leadoff hitter also tops the conference with three triples.

Big West Softball At Rainbow Wahine Softball Stadium UC Santa Barbara (3-13 ) vs. Hawaii (0-3 )—When : Today (doubleheader ), 4 p.m.; Saturday (doubleheader ), 2 p.m.—TV : None—Radio : Today, 1500-AM