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Kamalani Dung

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Xeana Kamalani Dung
Kamalani Dung 2016
Personal information
Birth nameXeana Kamalani Dung
National teamPuerto Rico
Born (1997-03-04) March 4, 1997 (age 27)
Waianae, Hawaii, United States
Height5 ft 7 in (1.70 m)
SpouseN/A
Sport
SportSoftball
PositionPitcher
University teamCalifornia Golden Bears
Medal record
Women's softball
Representing  Puerto Rico
Central American and Caribbean Games
Gold medal – first place 2018 Barranquilla Team competition

Xeana Kamalani Dung (born March 4, 1997), also known as "Kama", is an American, right-handed softball pitcher from Waianae, Hawaii. Known as one of the best pitchers to ever come out of the state of Hawaii, Dung currently pitches on the Puerto Rican national softball team. As a collegiate athlete she was the starting pitcher for the University of California Golden Bears (2017-2019) and Fresno State Bulldogs (2015-2017).

Early life and education

Born and raised in Waianae, Hawaii. Dung and her family grew up on a farm on the island of Oahu. Her parents are Honey Rodriguez and Lance Dung. The oldest of one younger brother, Lancen Dung.[citation needed] It is unknown what all her ethnicities are, but she has stated being Hawaiian-Polynesian, Puerto Rican, Caucasian, and Asian.[citation needed]

Dung attended Kamehameha Schools from K-12. Known for sharing her story[1] of being successful through childhood hardships and poverty. She has been an inspiration to many young athletes around the nation, and has been featured in articles and podcasts on ESPN, NCAA, and the San Francisco Chronicle.[citation needed]

Dung started playing competitive softball in Hawaii around the age of 10.[citation needed] She is self-taught pitcher who learned to throw pitches unconventionally off of Youtube due to the lack of lessons in Hawaii while she was growing up. She credits her father for getting her into pitching, and credits her mother for keeping her on track and getting her to college.[2] She later traveled to California around the age of 14 to venture into more softball tournaments, where she began gaining interest from college coaches[3] and gained the name 'Youtube' pitcher after these coaches found out that she had no prior professional pitching lessons.[citation needed] After taking a few visits to schools such as UCLA, Dung originally committed and signed to Fresno State in high school.[citation needed] After the departure of the head coach Trisha Ford who recruited her, Dung transferred in 2017 to UC Berkeley.[citation needed]

High school

Dung was a a four-year varsity starter and captain at Kamehameha Kapalama High School.[4] Dung earned All-State Division 1 honors, All-Conference honors, Impact Player Awards, Championship All-Tournament Teams and led the state in strikeouts and ERA while pacing the league in batting average and doubles.[undue weight? – discuss] Dung competed for travel teams OC Batbusters - Stith, Team Mizuno - Stith, Mililani Prep - Hawaii.[4]

Fresno State

Dung majored in business administration[4]

Freshman

Dung made her debut as a D1 collegiate athlete in the NCAA.[citation needed]

She began her collegiate career on October 22, 2015, in an exhibition game against Professional team USSSA Pride in front of a full house at Margie Wright Diamond.[5]

In the 2016 season Dung went on to become one of the two starting pitchers as a freshman and helped her team to a Mountain West conference Championship, while being a part of one of the most dominant teams in MW history. That year Fresno State was ranked 17 in RPI and had a nation-leading 23-game win streak that set a new school record.[6] Dung was undefeated in conference play and recorded her first regional appearance and save. Logged an 8-1 overall record and was 5-0 in Mountain West action … appeared in 18 games while making 11 starts, collecting a total of 59 strikeouts in 79.1 innings pitched … tossed four complete games over the season with wins over Sacramento State (10-2), Long Beach State (5-4), Boise State (14-4) and Colorado State (3-2). She fanned a season-high 13 batters in seven innings of work against Utah State on April 15.

Sophomore

As a sophomore Dung recorded one of the most impressive comeback seasons in Mountain West history by carrying her team to the NCAA tournament[disambiguation needed] after the coach decided to only trust the ball in Dung's hand during the last half of regular season.[7]

After throwing back-to-back shutouts against Indiana and Purdue during the first two games of the 2017 season, Dung was named ace of the Bulldog's squad since day one as a sophomore and helped Fresno State to their then No.21 ranking. She later went on to lead the Mountain West in every major pitching category. Dung went 25-13 with a 2.17 ERA, allowed opposing hitters a .216 average, with 202 strikeouts in 238.1 innings pitched eight shutouts that season.[8]

She was named to the 2017 NFCA All-Pacific Region Third Team, Dung earned MW Pitcher of the Year and All-MW First Team honors.[8]

Named MW Pitcher of the Week in back-to-back weeks (May 2 & May 9).[9] She earned a spot on the 2017 Puerto Vallarta College Challenge All-Tournament Team after going 2-2 with a 2.90 ERA and 16 strikeouts in 19.1 innings, throwing the only no-hitter of the tournament and the first no-hitter of her career. She appeared in 44 games, including 38 starts ... threw 31 complete games, including a MW-best nine shutouts (17th in NCAA) ... went 26-15[10](most wins in MW, 14th in NCAA) with a 2.23 ERA (1st in MW) and 218 strikeouts (1st in MW, 24th in NCAA) in 254.1 innings ... opposing batters hit .216. Recorded two saves, against Iowa on March 2 and Pacific on March 29, and in her first two starts of the season were each three-hit shutouts against Indiana on Feb. 10 and Purdue on Feb. 11. She threw her first career no-hitter against Florida Gulf Coast on Feb. 17 and struck out 10 batters in three different games, against Long Beach State on March 2, UC Santa Barbara on April 19 and Colorado State on May 11. Dung pitched every inning in Fresno State's final nine MW games, going 8-1 with a 1.92 ERA and striking out 49 batters in those 62 innings, and tossed all 19 innings of the series for the Bulldogs in May against UNLV, giving up 11 hits and three walks over the weekend with 19 strikeouts and a 0.37 ERA. She earned first career postseason win against Montana on May 20 at the NCAA Seattle Regional.[4]

University of California, Berkeley

Dung majored in sociology.[citation needed]

Junior

As a junior, Dung made her debut in the PAC 12 Conference for Cal.

Dung quickly found her place as an ace pitcher during her first season with the bears. She threw the first perfect game for the Golden Bears since 2010, and the first perfect game of her career, in front of her hometown during her first collegiate appearance in Hawaii while striking out 12 against UTEP in March.[citation needed]

Appeared in 33 games, making 27 starts and ranked top 10 in all the major pitching categories in the Pac-12: ERA (1.96), wins (19), batters struck out (186), innings pitched (160.2), opposing batting average (.181). She tied for first in the PAC 12 conference for triples allowed with 0… Went undefeated from Feb 9– March 23 going (14-0). Went 5-0 through the first 31.1 innings of work to help then ranked the No.19 Golden Bears to a 10-0 start.[11] Struck out a career-best 15 batters against Fordham in Feb…. Struck out a minimum of eight batters, nine times throughout the season, with five of those being double digit performances... Pitched in two of the three games in the NCAA Georgia Regional allowing no runs against Northwestern and collecting the Bears victory against Harvard.[12]

Senior

Despite suffering and pitching with injury for the beginning half of her senior year,[13] for her final season, Dung was selected to the NFCA All-Region Third Team for the second time in her career[14] and also earned All-Conference honors being selected to the All-PAC-12 Conference Second Team.[15]

Dung finished the season as the only pitcher in the nation to shutout then No. 1 in the PAC-12 and No.4/No.5 overall Arizona Wildcats in a 9-inning two hit thriller. Leading the Golden Bears to their first win against the Wildcats since 2012 and ending the Wildcats 21-game winning streak.[16] She also finished the season as one of two pitchers in the nation to hold the eventual 2019 WCWS National Champions and PAC-12 Champions No. 1 UCLA to only a single run.[15]

In February, Dung threw a two-hit complete game striking out 11 to upset No.22 James Madison[17] giving the bears their first ranked win since 2016. On Feb 22 at the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic in Cathedral City, Dung struck out 12 batters in a 'clutch' complete game shutout in a 1-0 victory over Duke,[18] gaining national recognition from Softball America's "Weekly Top Performances in College Softball".[19] From March 1st through March 9th Dung led the Golden Bears in a 7 game rule-rule streak, which is believed to be a school record. During the streak, she collected wins against: UCSB collecting 10 strikeouts in 5-innings while giving up only three hits and no runs,[20] University of Hawaii collecting 8 strikeouts in 5-innings while giving up three hits and no runs,[21] and SIUE collecting 8 strikeouts in 5-innings along with an one-hit shut out.[22] Did not allow a run in Through March 23-25 Dung did not participate in the Stanford series due to injury which was not stated. She picked up her 11th win of the year against Oregon State in April. Struck out 3 and allowed one run in five innings of work in a 1-0 loss to Oregon.[23]

Against No. 22 Arizona State, Dung was selected player of the game and gave the bears their first win against the devils since 2017.[24] Dung threw six strikeouts in her complete game effort, and had collected 13 in the first two games of the series after stepping in as relief the game before.[24] The Waianae, Hawaii native,[clarification needed] was worked through a one-hit shutout for five innings.[24]

Professional Career

Dung was predicted to be drafted to the National Professional Fast-pitch (NPF) league overall 18th in the fourth round to the Aussie Peppers of MN.[25]

Puerto Rican National Team

2018 Central American and Caribbean Games

Due to being partially Puerto Rican, Dung earned an invite to the 2018 Puerto Rico Women's National Softball Team during the summer where she joined a competitive pitching staff in leading their team to Puerto Rico's first gold medal at the Central American and Caribbean Games in over 20 years.[26] The Boricua beat Mexico in the finals to win the gold medal.[27] She was featured in Metro News not only for her standout softball skill, but for recognition of her beauty and naturalness as well in July 2018.[28]

2018 Women's Softball World Championships

Puerto rico finished ranked fifth in the Women's Softball World Championship and finished the year being ranked No.4 overall in the world.[29] Dung struck out eight in a 1-hit shutout during Puerto Rico’s victory over South Africa in the World Championships in August.[30]

References

  1. ^ "Cal's Kamalani Dung finds success after a childhood of poverty, homelessness - SFChronicle.com". www.sfchronicle.com. March 6, 2019.
  2. ^ "Top Dog of the Week...with Kamalani Dung". The Collegian. 2017-02-27. Retrieved 2019-06-21.
  3. ^ "Kamalani Dung: A way out, a way back and the family that holds her together". Fresno State Athletics.
  4. ^ a b c d "Kamalani Dung - Softball". Fresno State Athletics.
  5. ^ https://www.fresnobee.com/sports/college/mountain-west/fresno-state/article40821789.html
  6. ^ "2016, an unforgettable year for Bulldog softball". Fresno State Athletics. Retrieved 2019-06-21.
  7. ^ "Fresno State NCAA bid hung on fingertips of sophomore Kamalani Dung". fresnobee. Retrieved 2019-06-21.
  8. ^ a b "Five Bulldogs named to All-Pacific Region teams". Fresno State Athletics. Retrieved 2019-06-21.
  9. ^ Edmondson, Cary. "3-for-3 weekend earns Fresno State's Kamalani Dung MW Pitcher of Week honor". fresnobee. Retrieved 2019-06-21.
  10. ^ July 29, Billy Hull on; 2017 |. "HAWAII GROWN: Dung headed to Cal". www.hawaiiprepworld.com. Retrieved 2019-06-21. {{cite web}}: |last2= has numeric name (help)CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  11. ^ "Cal Faces Tough Slate at Mary Nutter". University of California Golden Bears Athletics. Retrieved 2019-06-21.
  12. ^ "Kamalani Dung - Softball". University of California Golden Bears Athletics. Retrieved 2019-06-21.
  13. ^ "Cal's Kamalani Dung shares how rhythm and timing have helped her in senior season". Pac-12. Retrieved 2019-06-21.
  14. ^ "Rood and Dung Earn More Recognition". University of California Golden Bears Athletics. Retrieved 2019-06-21.
  15. ^ a b "Trio of Bears Earn Conference Honors". University of California Golden Bears Athletics. Retrieved 2019-06-21.
  16. ^ "Cal Forces Rubber Match in 1-0 Win Vs No. 5 Arizona". University of California Golden Bears Athletics. Retrieved 2019-06-21.
  17. ^ "Bears Offense Blazes In Upset of No. 22 Dukes". University of California Golden Bears Athletics. Retrieved 2019-06-21.
  18. ^ "Dung Delivers Against Duke". University of California Golden Bears Athletics. Retrieved 2019-06-21.
  19. ^ "Top Performances From College Softball Friday, Feb. 22nd". www.softballamerica.com. Retrieved 2019-06-21.
  20. ^ "Cal Run Rules The Day". University of California Golden Bears Athletics. Retrieved 2019-06-21.
  21. ^ "Cal On Mercy-Rule Streak". University of California Golden Bears Athletics. Retrieved 2019-06-21.
  22. ^ "Homers Keep Bears Undefeated in Hawaii". University of California Golden Bears Athletics. Retrieved 2019-06-21.
  23. ^ "Box Score (PDF)" (PDF). University of California Golden Bears Athletics. Retrieved 2019-06-21.
  24. ^ a b c "Bears' Bats Balance Dung's Stuff in Game 2 Win". University of California Golden Bears Athletics. Retrieved 2019-06-21.
  25. ^ "2019 NPF Mock Draft". www.flosoftball.com. Retrieved 2019-06-21.
  26. ^ "Puerto Rico claimed the gold medal in Barranquilla 2018 Women's Softball". July 27, 2018.
  27. ^ "Softball at the 2018 Central American and Caribbean Games", Wikipedia, 2018-08-09, retrieved 2019-06-21
  28. ^ Caraballo, Harry Rodríguez. "La sexy lanzadora del equipo de sóftbol femenino de Puerto Rico". Metro (in Spanish). Retrieved 2019-06-21.
  29. ^ "WBSC World Rankings", Wikipedia, 2019-01-09, retrieved 2019-06-21
  30. ^ "Puerto Rico, Mexico earn wins behind strong pitching performances; Juarez and Escobedo no-hit Phillipines". April 8, 2018.
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