Jesse Talaugon: Time to step up, No more waiting.

After the trek up to Humboldt, we came out with a split this weekend and are far from satisfied. These first few series that we have played have had a common there; waiting. We have waited to score, we have waited to attack and we have waited to find out what type of team we are going to play as. We have predetermined early on in the season when we created our team goals the type of team that we were going to be this year, we are going to be the team that increases its success each year, the team that helps build a legacy, the team that is going to make a post season run, and the team that is going to be feared and wear the target on our back all season long because we will be the best. Unfortunately, early on, we have not played like that and the current frustrations that we have need to come to an end.

Our pitching staff has really helped us out by absolutely dominating our competition, it seems as though our trio is playing to damn near perfection. As great as that is to have that, it’s unfair to load them with that much pressure because of lack of run support. Thankfully though this weekend our issue was not that we weren’t getting runs across, but we were just getting going way too late. Our pitching staff kept us in the game or we were in a situation where most teams wouldn’t come back and then someone would spark something, like freshman, Tatiana Pizarro’s three-run triple turned home run on a throwing error. That then gave us reason to fight and a reason to answer back. This game went extra innings and we ended up losing which simply proved that we cannot wait to score because all it is going to take is one mistake, one good swing, or one great play to end the game.

There is no doubt that our team has fight, but it would be ideal to see this earlier on, to take the first games of the day so we can then have that momentum carry over into game two. Game two of our second day of games, Sonoma State Softball came to play. We scored early, we found the gaps, we made adjustments, and we forced four pitching changes in the seven innings, three of which happened in the first few innings. There were several hard hit balls, a few home runs, and plenty of runs scored to solidify the final game of the series in our favor with a 9-1 win. Offensive production is something this team is more the capable of and this weekend, junior catcher Skylynn Myers was often the spark that got our team going with great at bats, getting a hit more than half of time she made a plate appearance.

Going in to this next series against San Bernardino, we know we will face better pitching and are ready to attack the ball, put pressure on early, and prove to ourselves that we are more than capable of being the team we have set out to be. We’ll get some game time action in before the conference series against the Academy of Art, San Francisco in a non-conference doubleheader and we’re looking to take two wins to take momentum into this weekend.

Jesse Talaugon: Make A Statement.

After sweeping Cal State East Bay at our home opener, we were anxious at another shot to prove ourselves. Although we came out with the four wins, we knew deep down that our performance was not representative of the team that we have worked to be.

We had faced San Francisco State earlier this February in the Best of the West Tournament in Turlock, but our team was lacking then too and we had owed them a much better performance on our end. Eager to host them at our home field, in front of our fans, we were ready to get a head start in the conference standings and rack on some more wins. Really cannot say enough about our pitching staff, who have really been the driving force in our teams success thus far and I truly believe they will give us the upper hand against all of our conference opponents, but it is long over due for our offense to step up and take some pressure off of our three pitchers via run support.

In game one, our offense was sporadic and we continued to struggle scoring early, but were able to come out on top. Game two seemed to mimic game one a little bit and both pitchers were dueling. We were constantly getting runners on base, even runners on early, but were struggling getting them in. Our need to capitalize with runners in scoring position was very apparent, but after twelve innings in the freezing cold, the game had to be carried over to Monday because we had eventually lost daylight. We felt very confident that we were going to protect our house and at the conclusion of Sunday evening, we had made it a team goal to end game two in one inning. Sunday morning we did exactly that, Jules took the mound and the defense had a solid three up, three down inning and then turned it over to the offense to seal the deal. In outstanding, crowd pleasing fashion, despite the rejection of her beloved bat, Ro (Rochelle Vanyi) came up clutch yet again and drilled the first pitch that she saw for a walk off jack to finish game two in our favor.

Game three started almost immediately after and our hits were coming in spurts and our inability to execute hurt us. We lost game three by one run, but were determined to end our weekend on a high note and win this series. Our team was in agreement that our first series, although it ended in our favor, was not what our team was about and we wanted to make a statement to our conference, to our competition and especially to the non-believers and that is what this final game was about…making a statement.

A change in the line up was the spark that changed the lull in our offense and we finally scored early. We put five runs on the board in the first inning and it sparked a hit parade, everybody was attacking and taking big hacks. We scored nine runs early to mercy San Francisco State in five innings. We ended the series on a good note and finally gave a bit of a sneak preview of what should be expected out of Sonoma State Softball this season. We take on Humboldt this weekend at their field and are expecting them to come out swinging, but we’re ready to do the same thing, in addition to our solid pitching staff continuing to do exactly what they do best.