Author: Lauren Taylor
During the final weekend of last year’s SCIAC softball season, shortstop Gabriela Chavez (’11), outfielder Lindsay Gross (’11) and second baseman Tasha Serna-Gallegos (’11) suited up in the black and orange for the final time. Although the Tigers’ senior trio could not overcome the University of La Verne in that final game of 2011, it is impossible not to notice the impact they had on Occidental’s softball program.
The Tigers finished the year with an 18-20 record, the most wins in a single season since the inception of the program in 1986. In addition, the pitching staff raced past the single-season record for strikeouts with 126.
“[2011] was awesome,” Jacqueline Shimamoto (sophomore) said. “It felt cool to be part of something, setting a record for the school.”
With two-thirds of the team returning, including the pitching staff, Occidental appeared set-up for success in 2012. Things did not go according to plan. A season-opening four-game losing streak had the Tigers sorely missing Chavez and Serna-Gallegos’ presence in the infield. Five errors from Occidental’s infield did not help, as the Tigers were shut out and run-ruled twice in the four games.
Three wins in the next four, however, signaled that the Tigers were still in good shape. Catcher Ashley Noone (junior) and center fielder Shimamoto carried the offense, and a walk-off hit moved Occidental within two games of .500 on Feb. 18. And then the wheels fell off.
A broken hand reduced Shimamoto to pinch running duty and nothing seemed to go Occidental’s way. The team lost 13 in a row and won just one time in the final two months and 24 games. A final record of 4-28 (2-22 in the SCIAC) has been tough to swallow. But head coach Jodie Cox, a former professional softball player, points out that sometimes things simply do not go according to plan.
“Unfortunately, this is a game of failure,” Cox said. “[New York Yankees captain] Derek Jeter gets a hit 3 out of 10 times and is a superstar. These girls are relentless, and they come out every single day and give 100 percent. I know it’s cliché for us to say, but we’ve had a lot of bad luck. We’ve lost so many one-run games this season whereas last year maybe a lot of those went the other way for us.”
On an already limited roster, Shimamoto’s hand injury was devastating, as was a concussion suffered by catcher Megan Luerra (sophomore). “We only had 12 girls to start the season, and with a team so small, losing one person is a severe loss,” Shimamoto said.
The SCIAC is also notorious for being one of the tougher softball conferences in Division III and currently features No. 13 Redlands and No. 22 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps in the national rankings.
In addition, the Tigers had a very tough time stringing hits together. Occidental scored just 32 runs in conference play, less than half the next lowest total (Cal Lutheran’s 69 runs). And the 62 total runs the Tigers have scored on the year translates to just 2.2 runs per game, making it tough for the team to compete.
“If I could attribute [the lack of clutch hits] to something, I’d be writing a book and making millions,” Cox said. “We came out of so many games where we had runners on base in every single inning. In a game of inches, a ground ball here and there can make all the difference. If a couple of hits fall a couple inches closer, we’d have different outcomes.”
Yet the team remains optimistic that this season is the outlier not 2011. Losing just one senior means there will not be nearly as many adjustments to make in 2013. “You kind of have to just take it in, and hopefully next year we will do better,” Shimamoto said. “It sucks losing so much, but you have to work hard and keep focused in order to have success next season.”
Cox also feels that there are lessons to be learned from facing such adversity. “Anytime your center fielder and leadoff hitter are out for the season, it’s a detriment to the team,” she said. “But I can’t say it’s not going be a good thing for the future. This team has such great chemistry, and their effort never wavered. That says a lot about who they are. I guarantee these young women will reflect on this and not accept anything less than a winning season.”
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