By: Kimberly Yamaguchi
Inspired by her grandpa, Ciera Senas started playing softball at the age of five. As a child, she never imagined that her perseverance throughout the transition from high school to college would help to lead her team at Hawaii Pacific University (HPU) to their first ever NCAA Division II Softball College World Series title.
“(High school) was like my first step into becoming a student athlete, you know balancing school and focusing more on softball,” Senas explained.
Senas managed to balance her responsibilities and perform well throughout high school, and was recruited to several colleges in and out of state as a result. After graduating from Mililani in 2005, elected to attend HPU. “I wanted to go away I wanted to experience you know the big life outside of home. Go away and experience on my own and never really thought of staying home.”
Though she had played softball for a majority of her life, college was a drastic change for Senas. “You kind of go on your own like it’s kind of like a motivation towards (what) you want to be,” she explained.
With the large amount of talent on the college level, Senas fought hard for recognition in the competitive atmosphere. “College softball to me is like, you’re picked you know you’re chosen to play on the team and it could be one out of twenty all stars on each college team so you know you’ve got to fight for everything.”
Her drive helped to push HPU’s team through to the World Series championship. “It was the game that kept you on your toes,” Senas said. In an intense matchup, HPU scraped by with a win of 4 to 3, securing their first World Series title.
After an eventful experience with softball, Senas gives back to her community in the way she knows best. She is now an educational assistant and a coach for the JV and Varsity softball teams at Mililani High School.
