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.