Anibal Ortiz / Roundup
With the hot sun pounding on Pierce College Tuesday afternoon, smiles could be seen from left to right as the softball team finished their 7-28 season with a 5-2 loss at home.
“It was about having fun today,” said sophomore pitcher Lauren Davis. “Not about winning.”
Although many shared the same emotion, some wanted more than just a day of fun.
“We just wanted to go out with a win,” said pitcher Alyse Scarmozzino. “It’s a lot of our last times playing here.”
Many of the softball players are leaving with the close of the season.
“We’re losing most of our team,” said Assistant Coach Gregg Wertz. “At the junior college level you get a new team every year.”
Some players commented about what improvement could have been made.
“We could have done better,” said outfielder Liz Amaya. “We just needed to work on our batting…but overall I think that (the) defense did really well.”
Wertz agreed.
“The hitting that we faced this year [was great],” said Wertz. “I wish our girls were hitting the ball that well.”
Wertz feels like he has learned a lot from this season.
“This year I found myself developing relationships with (the team) and it was much more enjoyable,” Wertz said. “It made it easier to coach and also (helped) push them a little bit.”
Wertz hopes that skill was not lost as a result of his new style of coaching.
“I hope (my friendliness) didn’t take away from their development as players,” said Wertz.
But even as a friend, Wertz does not lower his standards.
“What I need from them on the field doesn’t change,” he said.
Wertz commented that it takes practice and exercise to play a good game.
“Playing is fun, playing is easy, playing isn’t hard,” he said. “But you have to do hard work to prepare to play.”
Players on the team shared their opinions.
“More union between the girls and working together would have helped us a lot,” said Liz Amaya.
Another player shared her view.
“If we focused more on the game and not so much all the drama that went on, I think we would have done a lot better,” said Scarmozzino.
More than anything, most of the softball team shared the same opinion about their last game of the season.
“I just wanted to get out of the heat,” said Davis.
Wertz added that he look forward to next season.
“Any returnees we get we want to take and make the most of,” said Wertz. “They will benefit from all the experiences they got this year and (it will) make them that much better next year,” said Wertz.
The softball team walks off the field after losing both games of their March 12 double-header against Moorpark College. (Gerard Walsh / Roundup)