The Pierce College women’s softball team was defeated by the El Camino Warriors, 21 to 2, on the afternoon of Wednesday, April 6.
The game lasted just under two hours and ended once the bottom of the fifth inning came to a close. The Brahmas’ softball team has been on a losing streak since the beginning of the season and, for the first half of the game, it looked like this game might be the one to break the streak. Maria Palacios, who plays catcher for Pierce, said she was impressed with her team’s performance.
“Honestly, the first three innings were actually really good,” Palacios said. “I’d say it was one of our better games at the beginning, and we had them until the fourth inning.”
Palacios, a kinesiology major who just started her first semester at Pierce, played softball in high school. She said that she thinks Pierce’s softball team could have won this game.
However, in her opinion, there were a lot of small, easily fixable errors, such as overthrowing the ball or not charging the bunts enough, which cost them the win.
Elena Caballero, who plays center field for the Brahmas, also commented on why she thinks her team lost.
“We were really battling there with them and we had opportunities to keep the game close, but then they started hitting base hits,” Caballero said. “They were and we weren’t.”
Caballero, a child development major in her first year at Pierce, also played softball throughout high school and was recruited by Pierce’s softball coach, Danny Moore. Caballero commended Coach Moore on his efforts to motivate the team.
“At the beginning of the game it was really hot and all of our energy was kind of low,” Caballero said. “[Coach Moore] told us to keep our heads up and keep fighting with [El Camino], and that helped.”
Moore has been coaching the Brahmas’ softball team for the past three years. He said that the team this season is a very young group, comprised of all freshmen and no returning players, whereas most of the teams they’re playing against have a lot of sophomores on them. Despite the loss, Moore said he thinks the girls did really well.
“We hung with a very tough team for three innings and then, unfortunately, things just didn’t go our way,” Moore said. “Their pitching held up and we couldn’t string together hits the way we needed to.”
Palacios and Caballero agreed that everyone on the softball team is very close and supportive of one another. They said they try to motivate each other to improve.
“Even if we’re doing bad, we’re having fun out there and we’re trying to get better,” Palacios said, “That’s all we can ask for.”
