Although there have been both wins and losses for the Cougar’s softball team, it has been a great success for both JV and Varsity this season.
Varsity had a good run this year. With 17 wins, 9 losses overall and 8 wins and 5 losses in League, the team hopes to land a spot in CCS. The only losses during League were against Soquel, Scotts Valley and Aptos. As Junior Jordan Martinez said, “We’ve worked really hard this season and I’m so proud of all the success we’ve had.” It has been a good season, although it may be the end for this year, and sadly, the end for good for the four seniors of the team. They were looking forward to beating Scotts Valley on March 14th in order to go to the championship game against Soquel, but were unable to follow through with that. Scotts Valley scored 7 runs early in the game, and the Cougars had a good comeback, tying the game up in the 7th inning, but an error on defense caused a walk-off run for Scotts Valley. Erica Costella, Junior, observed that “We got off to a rough start, but towards the end, everyone could feel the energy in the dugout. Even though we lost, we had a great comeback.”
Though the girls have had a lot of success in their other games, they have also had a lot of success as teammates. As opposed to last season, the girls as a team have gotten along very well, often having barbeques or movie nights together. There’s a strong principle of being a family rather than a team. Costella commented that “We aren’t just a team, we’re a family.” Martinez also stated that “We’ve grown to be a family, which makes us that much stronger… It’s been a great season on and off the field.” Head Varsity coach Mark Brown agreed, saying, “The chemistry we have on our team is one reason we are successful. It’s the glue that binds us together.”
JV has good news as well: they only lost one game all season, putting them in first place for the JV League. Their overall score ended up being 17 wins and 1 loss, and in league it was 8-0. They were hoping for more League games this season, but neither Santa Cruz nor Scotts Valley had JV teams. It seems that a big win for these girls was against rival team Soquel. It did not look good for the San Lorenzo Valley at the beginning of the game, but an abundance of base hits from the Cougars put them back in the game. As Sophomore Rachel Olmsted said, “My favorite part of the season was beating Soquel… It was a tough game but we pulled together and won in the end, which meant a lot to us.” The JV girls also got along well better this year, just as the Varsity girls have, but it didn’t start out that way. Jess Ramirez, Sophomore, said: “At the beginning of the season there was a lot of drama… and a lot of cliques… but finally [Coach] Jenn brought us together and gave it to us straight, and since then we’ve all gotten along really well.”
JV considers themselves successful for another year and looks forward to the 2015 season, while Varsity is still trying to determine whether or not they will participate in CCS this year. At the end of League, they finished in 3rd place behind Soquel and Scotts Valley.
By: Shelby McDermott
The Claw 