Vanessa Currie: What Happened in Vegas, Can't Stay in Vegas

Coming out champions of the MSUB Desert Stinger Tournament and an 8-0 team record for the season, I couldn’t have felt any better! I could see confident energy radiating throughout the whole team and our offensive performance rallied throughout the lineup. But things took a turn for the worse this past weekend.

I thought for sure that our performance from Las Vegas would carry over to our first CCAA series vs. Cal State Monterey Bay, but it looked like a whole different team out there in all four games as we came out flat, no energy, looking unsure on defense and defeated at the plate on offense. We had plenty of opportunities to move runners around and hit them in, to either tie or go ahead in all three games that we lost, but we just couldn't string any hits together to make it happen. CSUMB capitalized on our defensive errors and our weaknesses that we showed at bat, ultimately making them more successful.

I thought that splitting almost every series last year was frustrating, but losing our first home CCAA series was the most upsetting feeling after coming in so confident. Not only was I upset with the three losses and how we played as a whole, but I was really disappointed in my individual performance. As one of the captains, I know that I have many different responsibilities as a leader, but the one I want to pride myself the most in this year is leading by example because we have so many underclassmen. I understand that I am not always going to perform as well or better than I had the prior weekend and I know that everyone has bad games, but learning to be a “gamer” as Coach Mac (assistant coach Trisha McCormick) says will make you a scrappy player even on your off days and help build momentum for your team. But this past weekend is over and there is no way to press re-play... so after taking Sunday to really reflect on the weekend and having a captains practice and team meeting on Monday, I know this talented team will bounce back to our ability and accomplish our season goal of taking at least 3 out of 4 from each CCAA team in order to win ourselves a conference title.

Although Cal State East Bay has never been one of the stronger conference teams, you can never take any CCAA team lightly. Going into this weekend, our team goal is to take all four games of the series to put us back on top. We will come out strong and confident while remembering that softball is such a mental sport, it is crucial that we recognize that our individual performances are not for ourselves, but that they determine the outcome of the team.