Mana Wahine: Hawaii Softball Second Baseman Carys Murakami

HONOLULU – Carys Murakami says the decision to transfer back home was an easy one.

Like many other high school student-athletes in the 2022 class, the Kane’ohe native’s first recruiting process coming out of Maryknoll was an awkward one. Colleges were accepting seniors granted extra eligibility due to the COVID-19 pandemic back, filling up spots before Murakami finally committed late to CSUN during her senior year.

The former all-ILH infielder enjoyed a relatively successful two seasons with the Matadors, appearing in 71 games (64 starts) across the 2023 and 2024 campaigns. Murakami tallied the fourth-most walks for a single season in program history in her first year at the Division I college level, appearing in 46 of 52 possible games while going the entire season without committing a fielding error.

She found her playing time take a downturn in 2024, forced into a part-time role on a team that went 25-26 and finished nine games under .500 in Big West play. After the year ended, she reassessed what her college future may look like and had a chat with her family back in the islands.

“I chose [CSUN] for the family environment and I liked the coaching staff,” Murakami recalled. “And then it wasn’t the fit that I thought I was going to get and wanted, so I decided that I needed a change and had the opportunity to come home.”

The chance to play in front of her family, more specifically her grandparents, also was a major point of attraction for the former local standout. With travel getting more difficult and more expensive for her kūpuna, Murakami felt that spending her final two seasons with the Rainbow Wahine was the best choice.

Now, it feels like she’s living out her dreams every day.

Her first year with Hawai’i was a successful one, seeing Murakami settle into a starting spot at second base and finish the season as one of the four Rainbow Wahine to start all 53 games. The final year of longtime head coach Bob Coolen’s legendary career, Murakami helped lead UH into the first-ever Big West Tournament by pacing the team in stolen bases (5), sacrifice bunts (6) and runs scored (28).

She took her game to another level in the postseason, driving in a career-high three runs in Hawai’i’s upset of Long Beach State on the opening day of the Big West Tournament. She followed it up two days later with her first career home run against her former squad, giving the Rainbow Wahine the lead in the first inning against the No. 2 seeded Matadors.

“Putting on the [UH] green, I can’t even describe it,” Murakami said after playing her first season back in the islands. “It’s just so special because [I know] I’m representing a lot of people like my family, my friends, everyone from here. Being born and raised here, like that’s your dream to play for your home state and just be able to go all out there and show local girls can do it.”

Despite not ultimately winning the Big West Tournament, Murakami and the rest of the Hawai’i team gained valuable experience in the postseason that could prove pivotal at certain points this year. Now under the direction of first-year head coach Panita Thanatharn, UH returned 17 players from last season’s Big West semifinalist squad with a hunger for more in 2026.

Murakami is off to a nice start to her senior campaign, starting all five contests and collecting four hits, a pair of runs batted in, a stolen base and going a perfect 13-for-13 on defensive chances across the weekend to help begin the Thanatharn era with four wins in five tries.

The Rainbow Wahine will hit the road for the first time in the 2026 season this upcoming weekend, heading to California for the CBU Classic from February 14-16. Hawai’i will face off against Utah State twice, once on Saturday and once on Sunday, before taking on Loyola Marymount (CA) later Sunday afternoon. UH wraps up the tournament on Monday, February 16 when they take on host Cal Baptist at 4 p.m. HT. for the second-ever meeting between the programs.