Entering a weekend of happy returns, Panita Thanatharn learned that she’d be more than merely the coach in the visiting dugout at the Long Beach State Softball Complex.

The longtime LBSU assistant was the co-guest of honor along with recently retired Beach coach Kim Sowder, Thanatharn’s mentor who was instrumental in her career path.

“They asked me to catch her (ceremonial) first pitch, and she fired it at me, and I basically almost dropped it, almost got killed,” Thanatharn, Hawaii’s first-year coach, said with a laugh during a phone interview with Spectrum News on Sunday. “There’s a lot of pictures and film of that.”

From there, things went better — much better — for Thanatharn and the Rainbow Wahine, who closed out a rare series win over the Beach with Saturday’s 3-2 comeback victory.

LBSU (18-13, 6-3 BWC) is a program used to contending for conference championships and NCAA Tournament appearances, part of the reason Thanatharn was selected in June to succeed Bob Coolen for her first head-coaching job.

Until Maycen Gibbs batted in the tying run in the sixth and came home for the go-ahead score on Jamie McGaughey’s sacrifice fly, LBSU had taken all but three head-to-head series in the programs’ lengthy history as conference opponents.

Make it four with the weekend’s 2-1 outcome; the teams split Friday’s doubleheader, an 8-7 loss and a 10-0 mercy-shortened win highlighted by Milan Ah Yat’s grand slam. UH took its first series over the Beach at any site since 2019 and the first one at LBSU for the first time since 1991.

Campbell alumna Taryn Irimata (4-6) starred in the circle in two five-inning performances for the Wahine, earning both of UH’s wins. The Nevada transfer did not allow a run in either outing, and she set down the final six batters on Saturday.

“That was really nice to see from Taryn,” Thanatharn said. “She hasn’t had her best stuff the last couple weekends, and Hannah Pitts has been doing an awesome job for us.

“Hannah didn’t really have her stuff (Saturday) … and for Taryn to come in and pick up her teammates and pitchers, it was nice to see.”

Saturday was a reunion beyond just Thanatharn and Sowder; UH assistant Alyssa Gonzalez, a LBSU All-Big West first-teamer in 2019, was part of the festivities. Many former players and program supporters were present.

The Beach Hall of Famer Sowder was an assistant coach for most of Thanatharn’s six-year playing career and assumed the head job for Thanatharn’s final season as a student-athlete in 2007. Thanathan was lured (“tricked,” she jokes) into joining the staff by an offer of helping to recruit heading into 2007-08, when the staff needed help due to Olympics obligations.

“I was grateful for them to do it a weekend where we could come back and be able to be there for Kim,” Thanatharn said. “I mean, she’s a huge mentor of mine. I’ve spent I’ve known her for over half my life, consider her family. So, just to be there was special.”

Sowder retired in May, mere days before UH hired Thanatharn to succeed Bob Coolen. Kendall Fearn, a former lead assistant at San Diego State, was tapped to succeed Sowder.

LBSU stunned No. 4 Oklahoma, 6-4, in the Mary Nutter Classic. Meanwhile, UH went 0-6 in the prestigious tournament in February in Cathedral City, Calif.

The Wahine (13-14, 5-4) have applied those lessons in seemingly productive ways. They are 8-5 since and have already played two perennial Big West powers in LBSU and Cal State Fullerton. Three of their four league losses have been by one-run margins; the other was two.

UH is scheduled to host Cal State Northridge (9-16, 5-4) at 6 p.m. Friday, followed by a doubleheader Saturday beginning at noon.

Brian McInnis covers the state’s sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.