Grimes going back to Super Regionals

Katie Grimes made two appearances in the NCAA softball Super Regionals as a player and is headed to a third as a coach.

Grimes, a former Rainbow Wahine catcher, is an assistant on the North Carolina State coaching staff and the Wolfpack advanced to the program’s first super regional by sweeping through the Harrisonburg, Va., regional hosted by James Madison last weekend. NC State will head west to face second-seeded Oregon in a best-of three series starting Friday in Eugene, Ore.

Grimes was a starter on both of Hawaii’s super regional teams, closing her career as part of the 2010 senior class that led the Wahine to the Women’s College World Series.

Grimes started 44 games in 2007 and was named the Western Athletic Conference Freshman of the Year for a Rainbow Wahine team that went 50-13 and won the Los Angeles regional at UCLA. UH made its first super regional appearance at Tennessee and dropped the opener 9-0. The Wahine forced a third game with a 9-6 win before Tennessee, led by All-American Monica Abbott, won the deciding game 7-1 to earn a trip to the Women’s College World Series.

Grimes’ sophomore season ended with a 2-2 showing in the Tempe, Ariz., regional, both losses coming against eventual national champion Arizona State.

After UH missed the postseason in 2009, Grimes started all 66 games behind the plate as a senior and UH rolled to the WAC championship and a sweep of the Stanford regional. The Wahine then pulled off the storied upset of top-ranked Alabama in the super regional on Jenna Rodriguez’s walk-off homer in the third game.

In UH’s WCWS opener, Grimes singled to lead off the top of the seventh with the Wahine trailing Missouri 2-1. Traci Yoshikawa then homered to right center and UH held off the Tigers in a 3-2 win.

Grimes contributed 11 of UH’s school-record 158 home runs in 2010 and she carried the emphasis on the long ball to Raleigh, NC as the hitting coach on coach Shawn Rychcik’s staff.

Grimes began her coaching career at Boston University and followed Rychcik to NC State in 2012. The Wolfpack set a school record with 88 homers in 2013, up from 35 the previous year. NC State hit 67 homers the following year and ranked second in the ACC this season with 72. The Wolfpack closed the regional with a walk off homer by junior Maggie Hawkins and enters the super regional at 38-20.