HONOLULU — It was only a moment, but the look on Maya Nakamura's face said everything.
A tearful Nakamura stood in front of the Hawaii dugout, put her hands together, and bowed slightly toward the field where she excelled and the fans in front of whom she'd performed for the last five years.
The injured Rainbow Wahine captain's brief fifth-inning appearance at first base drew applause from all corners of Rainbow Wahine Softball Stadium, including Cal State Fullerton players and staff.
First-place Fullerton otherwise owned the day in a 4-0, 8-0 doubleheader sweep of UH on its final home date of 2024 on Saturday.
The Titans won the nightcap via the mercy rule in the sixth inning.
[Note: See below for more photos of senior night.]
Coach Bob Coolen got all nine seniors into the game in the late innings. Nakamura and reserves Piper Neri, Chloee Agueda and McKenna Kostyzyn joined starters Xiao Gin, Dallas Millwood, Mya'Liah Bethea, Haley Johnson and Ka'ena Keliinoi.
Nakamura greeted teammates in the circle and remained in for a single scripted pitch, thrown well off the plate.
"She willed that to happen because she's been working so hard," Coolen said of Nakamura, who injured her knee covering first base against Cal Poly last month. "She could've disappeared, stepped away from the team, took care of herself. But she was around us. She was in the weight room, she was at practices, she was encouraging the girls, giving speeches after we gave speeches as coaches. The players wanted to hear her more than us."
Friday night's walk-off, 10-inning victory over the Titans proved to be the emotional high point of the weekend for UH (20-23, 13-9 BWC). CSUF (34-16, 20-4) was in control from the outset Saturday to set up a showdown series with Long Beach State (24-27, 19-5) on the final regular-season weekend.
Coolen was fretting about how he'd get his largest senior class on the field. It included a few COVID-19 fifth-year players.
"I didn't know how the game was going to go, if we were going to be competitive or non-competitive," he said. "Some senior games, you go, how am I going to get people in there? But then it unfolded the way it did. To get them all out there … in front of their families, that was my goal."
Despite the score, the senior day celebration was a lively affair.
"It was so surreal just seeing how many people love us," said Millwood, the Kamehameha alumna from Mililani who plans to join Rich Hill's UH baseball staff as a graduate assistant next year. "There's so many people here to support us. My family, my friends."
Nakamura, a Roosevelt alumna and three-time All-Big West honoree, will be one of the best second basemen in program history.
She is within a few weeks of surgery but is already beginning to walk around without crutches. She is considering remaining with UH as a graduate manager for next season, after which she plans to go into teaching.
"I'm very fortunate and privileged … and lucky to have this opportunity to play here, in front of family and friends and having that opportunity to stay home," Nakamura said this week. "A lot of girls nowadays want to leave the islands … but to be here, I'm just so lucky, so fortunate. My heart is full."
Keliinoi, a Waianae native and a member of Saint Francis School’s final high school graduating class, adapted to a number of positions over her five years at UH – catcher, outfield, and most recently, third base.
“Everyone has a role on this team and for us just to all collectively come together as one team has been great memories,” Keliinoi said. “Over the past five years, I’ve got to meet so many great people and so many people that come from different places. To be able to represent Hawaii across my chest – as a little girl I always strived for that.”
Fourth-place UH can finish as high as third with one week left, a series at UC Davis (18-29, 9-15) starting Friday.
Brian McInnis covers the state's sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.