Bronco softball endures tough season

By Nicholas Pinkerton

After suffering a disappointing 12-47 season, the Santa Clara softball team certainly has holes to fill, but Head Coach Steve Rianda believes there is hope for next year.

While the season did not meet Rianda's expectations on the scoreboard, he views it as a rebuilding year.

"We had some strikeout issues and some error issues," said Rianda. "A lot of that was due to immaturity, not necessarily that the talent isn't there."

With a roster of only two seniors and 10 freshmen, the team lacked experience, which contributed to many of their struggles. Injuries also plagued the Broncos as three of their first basemen were injured, forcing Rianda to make serious adjustments.

"When you have all three of your first basemen out for a long period of time, then you're taking players out of their position and having to fill those with people who might not feel comfortable," he said. "Injuries were definitely key."

While the Broncos experienced some success -- including the most home runs in team history -- they struggled on both defense and offense.

"We definitely had some peaks and valleys," said Rianda.

The demanding schedule also hurt the young Broncos, who would sometimes play five games in a weekend tournament. The team played a total of 59 games in just over three months.

"When you're playing that many games early on, it's very easy to get in a streak, and unfortunately our streak took the turn of a losing streak," said Rianda.

The Broncos faced a tough schedule throughout, facing top 25 teams such as Stanford, Fresno State, California and Ohio State.

Rianda said that Ohio State coach Linda Kalafatis told him after the game that the game was one of Ohio State's toughest of the season.

"In so many of our losses this year, we were in those games. We weren't getting blown out," he said. "I think when you take Fresno State to 13 innings and lose by 1 run, it's a good game, even though we ended up on the losing side."

Rianda, in his first year as the Broncos' coach, hopes to continue developing the young team.

Although he has recruited six more players and is looking at prospects for the 2008 and 2009 seasons, he still hopes to keep his core group of this year's freshmen intact moving into the future.

"We kind of look to them as our foundation going forward for the next three years, hopefully not bringing in as many year to year, but bringing in some key players that can kind of add to that foundation," Rianda said.

"Now they understand what they need to do to be successful, and I think they're going to have a stronger approach in the fall, knowing what they need to do to win these ball games," he added.

Rianda says the that there is definitely pressure to improve, but that next year's seniors, Jerrica Castagno, Ashley Blier, Maggie Godfrey, Meghan Chavez and Jackie Morales are up for the challenge.

"I think they're going to have to bear a lot of the burden as far as making sure they're in shape and they're ready to go from day one and lead by example going forward," said Rianda.

And while he's still disappointed by the season's final results, he continues to look past the scoreboard and forward to a bright future for his team.

"Overall it's a tough pill to swallow when you go 12 and 40-something," he chuckled. "But it's a very strong group of girls with good personalities that get along. They're athletic and they have the talent to be successful, and I think going forward they're going to show that."

Contact Nicholas Pinkerton at (408) 551-1918 or npinkerton@scu.edu.