Rough start for Knights softball
Freshman Ivana Gonzalez sends the ball flying during a home game against Long Beach City College on Feb. 7 where the Knights won 2-0 at the Betty Hock Softball Field. Photo credit: David Pradel
February 24, 2015
With a .233 team batting average, it wasn’t the way the Knights softball team had in mind to begin their season as they sit in sixth place in the Pacific Coast Athletic Conference with an overall record of 5-8 and a conference record of 1-3.
“Our biggest area that needs improvement is our batting — we are just not getting on base and you can’t score if you don’t get on base,” said sophomore shortstop Katie Dowdy.
The Knights opened their season by losing their home opener on Jan. 28 to Santiago Canyon College 5-0 but were able to pull back-to-back wins against Ventura College (6-3) on Feb. 6 and Long Beach City College (2-0) on Feb. 7.
But after their two victories, the team fell into a five game losing streak, which dug the team into a hole in the conference and are now looking for ways to revive their season before it’s too late.
Head Coach LeeAnn Taylor explained that the team is training hard in practice and are executing the coach’s game plan but are having trouble mentally carrying what they know into the games.
“Physically they can do it and I know they can do it but they have to know that they can do it,” Taylor said.
Taylor went on further to express that in order for any softball team to win, they need two out of the three main components of the game: pitching, defense and hitting.
“Right now, I think one of the reasons we’re losing is because we’re only having one out of the three and a great team — a championship team gets all three out of three. So we’re shooting for two out of the three right now and we’ll be winning ball games,” Taylor added.
During their seven game losing streak, it was as if Dowdy saw into the future and knew in order for the team to get out of their early season slump was to win their next home game against Mt. San Jacinto College on Feb. 21.
“Nobody wants to lose multiple games in a row but I feel like we are finding our way and the (upcoming) game against MSJC will be important and hopefully our changer for us to keep winning,” Dowdy said.
The Knights won 5-4 in a 10 inning thriller, where freshman Kimberly Rodriquez hit a walk-off double for the victory that brought home Dowdy for the score.
