Jesse Talaugon: Time to DO WORK.

We started off this last Friday in Turlock in dominating fashion having Samantha Lipperd on the mound gave us the momentum to get the win, considering she threw her third career no-hitter. We were really happy with our aggressive mentality at the plate, we did not have a ton of hits, but we were attacking early, hitting the ball hard, and were confident that our balls would soon find gaps and end up dropping. This approach would be sure to help us find offensive success in the near future.

Game two of day one was an interesting one where we struggled early on with giving up free bases and crediting Stanislaus with a few clutch hits in the gap allowing them to score early. Down early for a few innings we finally busted out our bats and were actually even to gain the lead for an inning. Even though we were able to muster up seven runs, we were unable to get the win and were outscored by Cal State Stanislaus 12-7. In a game where 19 runners crossed the plate and seven of them were Seawolves, we were obviously disappointed with the loss, but happy with our fight and offensive performance at the end of the day.

Going into this series, we were looking to take four. I personally had predetermined this series as being one that was either going to boost our success onward and really solidify ourselves a spot in the top of the conference standings or we were going to have to fight our way up and rely on other teams to fail in order to make moves because we had dropped games. Losing one game on Friday still left us with the opportunity to win the series so long as we took both games on Saturday.

Saturday morning we were excited to see (Brittani) Weatherford again and were eager to face her a second time for we had charted her tendencies against each of us and had an even better idea of what we would see from her. Our eagerness didn’t exactly equate runs scored. We were able to get people on base, but struggled with getting them in as well as struggling with execution. Fortunately, with Brittanie Verissimo getting on base early with a single up with middle she set up senior, Kayla Ledford with a familiar situation, one where we needed her to come through clutch. In my personal opinion, Kayla Ledford is the most clutch offensive player in our lineup and has been for quite some time. If you asked me to choose someone to get the winning run in, during a pressure situation I would choose number 3, Kayla Ledford every single time. She thrives under pressure, has a tremendous amount of power, and has every reason to be extremely confident at each plate appearance. Sure enough she blasted a two-run bomb to give us the lead 2-1, and the eventual win.

Where we were once struggling with winning the first game of the day that was not the case this past weekend. In similar fashion to Friday’s performance, we dropped the second game of the day and the final out come of this series with Stanislaus was a split. From the coaches point of view they are hinting at the fact that offensively many of us are different players at practice then we are when it comes to games, implying that we need to take hacks just as big and just as confidently in the game as we do when we receive front toss of coach. Coach Mack gave us some food for thought and told us to “go out and play like we had never failed”; like we had never popped out, never struck out, never flubbed a ball, committed an error, etc.

Hopefully we can carry this mentality over into our series against Chico this weekend. Still I feel that we are seriously struggling with leaving runners on base and not stepping up and being the person that gets those runners in and instead our waiting for our “clutch” players to get the job done. In what I feel is our biggest series to date against Chico, we have a lot to prove to them and need to fill some voids in our game in order to find the success we deserve. Cross your fingers for weather that at least allows us to get these games in this weekend.

Jesse Talaugon: On A Mission.

Our series against CSU San Bernardino was a performance much closer to what we expect out of ourselves. Prior to playing, I had suggested that we have a meeting with the Captains/Council; which consists of the three captains and one council member from each of the remaining classes. We sat with Coach Bridges in left field and caught up on how we thought the team was doing and brought up whatever we felt needed to be addressed. My biggest concern was the as captains, we were conveying the same message to the team and that we didn’t have conflicting ideas to the team. I felt that at this rate we have had the opportunity to get our feet wet with this years team in our conference, but now is the time to expect more out of ourselves and that our performance was not good enough and we needed to put a little more pressure to perform even better. Everybody was on board with that idea and the next step was determining what was the best way to approach this idea and how we would get this message across without beating a dead horse and without seeming as if what we are doing is not good because it is, this team is just destined to be great.

The six of us made it our personal missions, to be the driving force behind changing the road that we were on and it was apparent that it sunk in with our team and our approach to this past series was much different from the series' earlier this season. We really wanted to change the theme of dropping the first game of the day and we were able to do that Friday afternoon. We really looked more aggressive at the plate, but our adjustments weren’t made quite as early as we would have liked, but coming out with two wins at the end of the day was a big accomplishment for us. Day two of the series was again about making the adjustment we had two games worth the day before to assess our competition and we were well aware of what we were going to face. Again, we came out swinging and were starting to string our hits along and we even scored early which is a bit of a rarity for our team. We were able to pull out a win the first game thanks to good at bats which loaded the bases and an insurance run thanks to a solo shot by sophomore third baseman, Brittanie Verissimo which sailed high over the left field fence.

Looking to sweep the Coyotes, we were let down dropping the final game of the series. Without a doubt the only thing that held us back from sweeping that series, was errors. Our defense is something that we as a team pride ourselves on and we know that it is a strong suit and we know how much we excel in that area of the game. We made some poor decisions, questioned our ability to make command decisions and carry them out, and simply were not anticipating the ball a play ahead. With that said, though Coach Mack gave us something to be proud of in stating that finally we showed up and played an exciting game, she felt that it was the best game we have played to date, aside from the errors of course. We are really looking forward to the next series in Turlock and hopefully solidify our spot in the top half of conference standings, but before that happens we will come out taking hacks in our doubleheader against the Academy of Art in San Francisco tomorrow (Wednesday at 3 p.m.).

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.

Taylor Vigil: Job Description

It has been a while since my last blog and I apologize. A lot of thought had gone into this post, so I hope it provides the same lesson I learned from it to also help you!!

Throughout this year there has been an ongoing test of adversity. Nevertheless, getting the short end of the stick is never an excuse, but it is a repetitive factor that is hard to be foreseeable for this team.

Recently, I was told I had Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo (b.p.p.v). A condition that creates a person to become dizzy, thought to be due to debris which has collected within a part of the inner ear. There can be repeated episodes of positional vertigo, that is, of a spinning sensation caused by changes in the position of the head. A person with this problem never knows when the dizzy episodes will occur or when they will go away, so it can be a matter of a waiting game when you have them.

The treatment for them are particuar head movements that make you more dizzy to try and get the "ear rocks" back into place, which amazingly enough sometimes helps these episodes. Just a week and a half ago, I had a long episode where I had to sit out of two games, about two weeks. When I went to get the treatment, the specialist noticed something wrong with my eyes. A specialist was brought in and realized the "ear rocks" could have been moved into another canal creating a more intense vertigo, called "Horizontal Vertigo." With this different type of vertigo, "ear rocks" can evolve out of place more easily and more can be released at a time causing treatment to be longer and more intense episodes. So you can imagine the frustration I felt. A condition out of my control and to be told it was one type of vertigo and now it is something new and different made everything worse.

Although I was frustrated, I did not feel discouraged for my team, but excited because I knew the faith I had in them and I knew what they were capable of doing, all they had to do was want it more than our opponents. Taking these past few weeks, they served as a flashback to high school for me in a way. While playing basketball, I was a player who could have played, but went from a practice player, to a bench warmer, to a player who could only hope to play and value the precious few minutes I actually got to play. From high school to now, not being able to play, to being able to play and on the court to on the bench I learned a few valuable lessons.

Basketball like everyday life have jobs involved. Their are the big jobs such as corporate to little jobs such as your once-a-week dumpster man. Within every job you receive and income. I would hope the job a person has is a job that makes you happy and the income you recieve by doing your job serves as a bonus making your job worthwhile and fun. And for the people who stick around a job they hate is initially, in my opinion, their own fault. Yet yes, some people may have it rough and may not be happy with the job they have, but then why sink yourself into a job you don't like and, on top of it, with a negative attitude. Life is not a realm of perfect, therefore, you might not always get the ideal job you would prefer. So in any case, why not have fun with the job you have and take pride in doing your job and as an end result maybe you'll help yourself and those around you! It would make your job worth working and in a positive way! So why not try doing your job in the positive way before soiling yourself in the negative aspect.

Just like basketball, a redshirt to a post to a wing guard and to a point guard, EVERYONE has a job. Even from the starters to the people off the bench, they ALL have a job. It should not matter how big or how little one's job is, but rather how much compassion you have for your job. Why stick around with the job you have by only going through the motions? The job you have on the team should involve your heart, your pride and your encouragment to each other. Would you respect someone doing their job for the sake of getting it done only through the motions or by a person doing their job with a sense of urgency and passion everyday? I could tell you who people would respect more.

By doing your job full heartedy, you receieve a bonus or 'income', which in this case helps those around you be successful. In order to help not just yourself, but the team, because it is in fact a TEAM, just try doing the job you have at hand with some life and desire because isn't it a game or 'job' you ultimately love? You signed up for this game or 'job' long ago because you loved being apart of it. So just because their are different types of jobs now, that doesn't mean the love or the life you once had for it go away- right??

Every job is a valuable one and when it comes to a team, how people go about their job is a big factor that matters. One day your job could or will change but don't wait for it to END to realize you wish you could go back and do the big to little jobs differently!! It is like the saying 'motivate to participate'. You could be surpised at how effective you could be just by cheering loudly, talking loudly on defense, setting a good screen or even going crazy on the bench when your teammate makes a play. Realize it is a game of mistakes, BUT it is not about how many great plays you HAVE to make as an individual but how many mistakes can you limit yourself to. Every posession is a rightous one that shall not be taken for granted.

Find the WANT in every play and every 'job'. It is not a game of perfect either, but it is the want to over have to that makes a player 'perfect'. And it is not about how many points you put up as an individual either since we aren't playing for the greatest stats, but it IS about the love of the game- that's why they call it love and basketball!!! It is about the compassion that a real team player plays with for those and with those around her that a team becomes successful.

Take the lesson of doing a job with a sense of life and playing the game with your heart for the people around you; the people who have the same common goal of being successful collectively and not individually. With that, a team can prevail. Thing's can become easier and success can become possible.

Taylor Vigil: Rigby's Christmas Carol (Twelve Days of Christmas parody)

So after our East Bay game, we went on break for Christmas, and being the holidays and everything, myself, along with my mom, felt in the Christmas spirit and decided to write a song! A song that would get everyone motivated into the Christmas spirit and a new winning stretch of the season!! So I hope you all enjoy!

"On the first day of Christmas, our coach once said to us, score, steal and rebound please?

On the second day of Christmas, our coach once said to us, know your roles and score, steal and rebound please?

On the third day of Christmas our coach once said to us, play defense, know your roles and score, steal and rebound please?

On the fourth day of Christmas our coach once said to us, transition too, play defense, know your roles and score, steal and rebound please?

On the fifth day of Christmas our coach once said to us, you--- must----- have---- heart---, transition too, play defense, know your roles and score, steal and rebound please.

On the sixth day of Christmas our coach once said to us, make the easy play, you---- must---- have---- heart----, transition too, play defense, know your roles and score, steal and rebound please?

On the seventh day of Christmas our coach once said to us, we have to want it, make the easy play, you--- must--- have--- heart----, transition too, play defense, know your roles, and score, steal and rebound please?

On the eighth day of Christmas our coach once said to us, put forth the effort, we have to want it, make the easy play, you--- must--- have--- heart---, transition too, play defense, know your roles and score, steal and rebound please?

On the ninth day of Christmas our coach once said to us, control your attitude, put forth the effort, we have to want it, make the easy play, you--- must--- have--- heart---, transition too, play defense, know your roles and score, steal and rebound please?

On the tenth day of Christmas our coach once said to us, echo the play's, control your attitude, put forth the effort, we have to want it, make the easy play, you--- must--- have--- heart---, transition too, play defense, know your roles and score, steal and rebound please?

On the eleventh day of Christmas our coach once said to us, keep your eye's up, echo the play's, control your attitude, put forth the effort, we have to want it, make the easy play, you--- must--- have--- heart---, transition too, play defense, know your roles and score, steal and rebound please?

On the twelfth day of Christmas our coach once said to us, raise the intensity, keep your eye's up, echo the play's, control your attitude, put forth the effort, we have to want it, make the easy play, you--- must--- have--- heart---, transition too, play defense, know your roles and score, steal and rebound please?"

Well, there you have it!!! Hope you liked it and sorry for the delay!!!

Jesse Talaugon: Thanks.

(EDITOR'S NOTE: Sonoma State softball senior and 2010-11 Student-Athlete Advisory Committee President Jesse Talaugon will keep her own blog this year at http://jessetalaugon.blogspot.com/, but we will keep this page up to date with any new blog posts she creates as well.)

No particular rhyme or reason behind my blog this time, just have some time to kill as I sit here and watch my little sister at her indoor practice facility in downtown San Jose. She was just added to the roster for the 16U Lady Sharks, and watching her is making me reminisce on all the time I've spent doing the exact same thing.

It's so funny and mind boggling to me that the amount of time that I, myself, my parents and my family have invested in my softball career over the last sixteen years. The never ending carpools to and from practices, the weekend tournaments that occurred every single weekend of every single season, and all the money that was poured into tournament fees, uniforms, gear, travel, etc. What sticks out most to me out of all of the sacrifices made on my behalf, because I simply loved to play and could not get enough, is all the time and effort. I used to roll my eyes and mutter things under my breath when my parents and siblings would hold it over my head, how each summer was devoted to me and the tournaments, but now I'm not even mad, go ahead because I am so damn thankful that we did all of that, because had we not the likelihood that I would be in my final year of softball having damn near reached the finish line of what is ultimately the highest level at which a female softball player can compete at. I am so grateful.

I can't help but laugh to myself as I write this because there's so many times where I have seen my sister drag her feet about not wanting to trek downtown in the middle of the week after school, homework and other extracurricular activities just for a couple hours of hitting. Mind you, I am sure that I was guilty of something similar when I was younger. Really though, myself, my sister, all of my teammates and those that we compete against are so lucky to have had these opportunities and the support behind us to achieve great things. There's no framed picture of me in my uniform or team hoodie that I can give to my parents and my family as a token of thanks and appreciation for all that they have done in supporting me reach the ultimate level of competition. I am hoping that I can show a bit of that thanks this season by doing some things I have yet to accomplish in my career at Sonoma, my family, friends, and supporters can all look forward to an entertaining season filled with thick competition.

Like I said, not really sure where all of this came from but I figure there is never really a bad time to say thanks...so "thanks". Happy Holidays everyone!