Mana Wahine: Hawaii Softball Utility Player Rhea Furtado

HONOLULU – Away from the islands for the first time, Rhea Furtado couldn’t help but have wandering eyes back home towards Rainbow Wahine Softball Stadium in 2025.

The former Kapa’a standout started her college career at Big West rival Cal State Northridge, appearing in 40 games while getting a total of 21 at-bats in her single season with the Matadors. She knew she wanted to spread her wings and experience life away from the islands, but she had taken notice of a pair of local girls back at UH who had started their careers on the continent as well.

Milan Ah Yat and Carys Murakami went from underappreciated role players at LMU and CSUN to full-time starters when returning to the islands. Murakami and Ah Yat started every game next to each other in the middle infield in 2025, even seeing Ah Yat earn All-Big West honorable mention recognition.

 “I feel like being at home wasn’t an option for me at first because my first year, I really wanted to experience out-of-home and I’ve been here,” Furtado said of her commitment to CSUN out of high school. “I was like home is going to be home forever, so I’d like to experience [something new].”

Furtado is thankful for her year in Northridge despite the softball fit not working out. The experience brought hundreds of memories along with new friends and connections, but she found herself looking to the portal in the end.

After the successes of Ah Yat and Murakami in 2025, Furtado was inspired to come back home and put on the green. She couldn’t resist the calls of the islands and the chance to play for the fans in Hawai’i as soon as her sophomore season could begin.

“I really missed the home environment,” Furtado said of UH’s draw to her. “I feel like there’s no place like home. There’s no place like the people here and like the crowd and support you’re going to get.”

There was also the added benefit of having family and friends at more of her games. While at CSUN, she was aware of the challenges of travel between time and expenses. Now playing more than half her games in the islands, her mom and dad can make it out to watch much more often.

In a way, it was going to feel like she was back to playing in the state championship.

The pride of Kauai, Furtado and company won two HHSAA Division II softball titles in three years at Kapa’a. The year sandwiched between the championships was a 2023 run that was stopped by Furtado’s new teammate.

“We actually lost to Milan, guys,” Furtado said chuckling.

It was especially meaningful to Furtado to win the 2024 championship, completing her senior season with a title alongside many of the same girls that she had played with since the age of six.

Kapa’a rolled to a 13-1 victory over Pac-Five in the 2024 title game, avenging the 2023 state quarterfinal loss to Ah Yat’s Wolfpack squad. It was the second softball crown for the Warriors in program history, who won Division II again in 2025 after Furtado graduated.

Rhea Furtado rounds the bases during Kapa’a’s 2024 HHSAA Division II state championship victory over Pac-5. | Photo Credit: Ku’ulei Agbayani, HSRN

There was an immense amount of pride for Furtado in representing one of Hawai’i’s smaller islands and in showing that despite having three total high schools on Kauai, they could compete against the historically stronger O’ahu schools for championships.

Now, she gets a chance to represent the entire state of Hawai’i and play her home games inside Rainbow Wahine Softball Stadium. She clearly enjoyed her time there in the 2024 state title game, going 3-for-4 at the plate with a double, a home run, three runs scored and five runs batted in for Kapa’a.

She’s gotten off to a nice start in her new digs, already tallying more hits (6), at-bats (29), walks (3) and stolen bases (8) in the first two weeks of her Rainbow Wahine career than she did in her full season with the Matadors.

After a challenging week on the continent between the CBU Classic and Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic that saw the Rainbow Wahine scratch out one win in eight tries against some of the best competition in the country, Hawai’i will return home this week for the OUTRIGGER Classic and host Mercyhurst and Portland State for a pair of games over the weekend.

UH will take on Mercyhurst at 3:30 p.m. HT on Friday, February 27 and follow it up by facing Portland State right after at 6 p.m. HT at Rainbow Wahine Softball Stadium. The teams will reconvene again on Saturday to wrap up the three-day round robin tournament with three final games with first pitch scheduled for 10 a.m. HT.