MIL Softball: LAHAINALUNA 7, King Kekaulike 0 – March 12, 2012

Hope Morikawa pitched a 3-hit shutout for another win. The Lunas have outscored their MIL opponents 29-2 in the last 3 games, including this 7-0 win over King Kekaulike at Patsy Mink Field.

Hope Morikawa

Hope Morikawa contributing with her bat as well as her pitching

Jessica Wallace

Brenna Nakamura

Mea Chang

Hope Morikawa

Rhyn Lendio

Tobi Bonifacio

Chalice Dela Cruz

Brenna slides in with a 3-run triple

Toots Haake

Tobi Bonifacio

Lyla Talaroc-Kaniho

 Jessica Wallace

Chalice Dela Cruz

My Two Cents:

I like shooting at this field because the grass is well-maintained (i.e., green) and the backgrounds are not too distracting, particularly in the outfield. The blue outfield wall covering also helps to bring out the colors in the pictures. Moreover, the way the field is situated, the sun in a late afternoon game is out to beyond left field so shooting into the sun is not an issue.

Softball has a lot of die hard fans and the old-timers like to take up the spot behind home plate to the left or right of the officials box, depending on which dugout the Lunas are in. Great angle to get shots of the pitcher and the fielders, but not necessarily of the batters. So ideally, I like to get to games early and stake out these areas. Shoot from there for a couple of innings, try to get shots of everyone in action, then move out to get the batters and maybe shots of the fans.

For shots of the batters, I have to move to another location. Since most of the batters are primarily right handed, after I get shots of the pitcher and fielders, I like to move off to the side fence just before the team dugouts on the home side. Best angle would be looking right down the third baseline. Great angle for getting shots of right-handed batters swinging at the ball (hopefully getting bat and ball in the frame) as well as shots of baserunners dashing towards home plate. I’m always on the lookout for a play at the plate, with all the dirt kicked up and the umpire standing there in position (hopefully not blocking my view) to make the call.

My 50-500 on a monopod is perfect for these situations. With the 500mm reach, I can get decent shots of the outfielders without having to crop too much in post-production. Likewise, the awesome range of the lens (going from 500mm down to 50mm) allows me to pull back and get shots of players directly in front of me (i.e., for plays at the plate). Again, shooting this lens after dark is not adviseable, but for softball, most of the games are played in the daytime or late afternoon. To my delight, the D300 is also fun to use for softball because of its ability to shoot more frames per second on continuous mode than my D7000 and for sure my D90. The pictures do tend to look a little soft on the edges, but otherwise the colors come out nice and there are more keepers than tossers when I use the D300.

For Maui News article, click here.

For more photos, click here.