Dan Cromar / Roundup
On Thursday, I spent a couple hours watching a Pierce College softball game.
They were 0-13 coming into the game, and (spoiler alert) 0-14 coming out of it, after falling 6-0 to Oxnard.
So how does a team manage to drop 14 straight games?
Let’s break down how they dropped this one, piece by piece:
First inning: Alex Hayes, who is undoubtedly the offensive star of the Brahmas, leads off with a double, and then Kristi Ramirez reaches on an error, setting up a first and second situation for Rosie Venegas.
Head Coach Pat Grennan calls for the bunt, which Venegas pops up. However, instead of just being a simple popout, which would have made it a one out, two on situation, Ramirez gets doubled off at first after getting too far off the bag, effectively killing the rally.
These kinds of mistakes have been a thorn in the Brahmas side all year, and a lot of them can be chalked up to inexperience, according to Grennan, and not just this year, but in previous years as well.
“A lot of these girls come in to college and say ‘Coach, we never worked on bunting drills, or tagging up on fly balls, or delayed steals,'” he said.
Grennan doesn’t want to put blame on any one particular person or group, but does believe that high school programs could play a significant role.
“If the local high school is strong, that’s gonna make me strong,” he said.
Back to the game…
Second inning: Oxnard’s leadoff hitter pops up a bunt in front of the plate. Instead of being an easy first out, a lack of communication causes the ball to
drop between three Brahmas.
drop between three Brahmas.
It’s errors like this that would later take a toll on pitcher Heather Kahling, extending innings and allowing runs.
“Our pitchers keep us in the game, but they’re only good for seven innings,” said Grennan. “If you make three or four errors, they’re pitching nine innings.”
This particular error would eventually lead to a run after an overthrow by catcher Hayes as she was trying to throw the same Oxnard player out at third.
Third inning: Brahmas waste more opportunities, committing another baserunning error and leaving the bases loaded, failing to score any runs.
Fourth inning: Heather Krahling hits a two out triple, and is left standing on third.
Sixth inning: Krahling clearly begins to tire on the mound, and a throwing error doesn’t make things any easier. What should have been an easy out instead results with a runner on first, who would eventually score on a triple.
It only goes downhill from here, after Venegas drops a popup, allowing another run to score, making the score 3-0 Oxnard.
The bottom of the sixth starts out promising enough. Ana Izaguirre reaches on an error, but she would ultimately be forced out at second, and the next to batters became strikeout victims, ending the inning.
Seventh inning: It all comes undone for Krahling. She allows a two-run home run, and then a triple, which would eventually be cashed in for Oxnard’s sixth run.
The bottom of the seventh ended up looking a lot like the bottom of the first. After Kahling reaches first on a single, she is doubled up on a routine fly ball to right, ending the game in an oddly symbolic manner.
But we’re not done yet.
Postgame: Izaguirre claims that only five players are actually dedicated to the team: herself, Hayes, Krahling, Jasmine Carrasco and Kristi Ramirez.
Referring to everyone else, she said “They don’t realize it’s college ball and not just for fun.”
It’s one thing to complain about your team’s work ethic, but it’s another to actually make it known who you think doesn’t care.
The last thing a struggling team needs is chemistry problems, and that’s exactly the way to start them.
And yet, despite all of the problems, and all of the errors, and all of the bonehead plays, Grennan is still encouraged by what he saw.
“At the beginning of the season, we were getting mercied,” he said. “And now we’re doing this,” referring to the performance in Thursday’s game.
Talk about optimism.
