Pitching not as strong as last year, but hitting and fielding
remain superb
Although they’ve struggled to a sub .500 record in league play
and are currently in fifth place in the Tri County Athletic League
this season, Live Oak’s softball coach believes that his team will
be ready to defend its Central Coast Section title when the
playoffs roll around next month.
Pitching not as strong as last year, but hitting and fielding remain superb
Although they’ve struggled to a sub .500 record in league play and are currently in fifth place in the Tri County Athletic League this season, Live Oak’s softball coach believes that his team will be ready to defend its Central Coast Section title when the playoffs roll around next month.
“Don’t let the numbers fool you … I would agree with that saying,” coach Barry McDonnell said Tuesday. “I’m very happy with the way we are playing. One more win should guarantee our spot in the playoffs. We’ve had a couple of unfortunate plays that have cost us some games. Otherwise, we’d be right in there, and all of the games have been close.”
Most of the reason behind the Acorns struggles this year have been due to the fact that pitcher Juliette Bowers is no longer on the roster. She was the lone senior on last year’s championship team and the only player to boast an earned-run average under 1.00. She is now at Canisius College in New York where she received a softball scholarship.
“Losing her really hurt us,” McDonnell said. “We knew that our pitching wasn’t going to be as strong this season, but our defense and hitting is just as good.”
With everyone returning except Bowers, many believed that the Acorns would cruise to a league title, but that hasn’t been the case at all. Still, the team’s overall record of 12-6-2 (as of Tuesday) has put Live Oak just one victory away mathematically from being assured another trip to the section playoffs.
Although they’ll be the defending Division I champions, Live Oak is expected to enter the postseason as a Division II team this year since the school’s population numbers have dwindled with the opening of Sobrato High School two years ago.
Winning a Division II title may be even harder than capturing Division I, since Division II includes many of the powerhouse schools from the West Catholic league, including Archbishop Mitty, Presentation and St. Francis.
Without Bowers on the hill, the Acorns have had to rely most heavily on the pitching of junior Tricia Goularte down the stretch.
“She is getting a lot more confident now pitching at the varsity level,” McDonnell said. “She started off the season working on velocity and mechanics, which hurt her location. Now she’s starting to get her location down too.”
The Acorns will also be relying on the solid defensive skills of its core group of infielders, which have also shown a surge in their offensive abilities in recent weeks.
One of those players is Sarah Locarnini, who is batting .360 on the season but close to .425 over the last two weeks. Locarnini is the team’s leadoff hitter. She is followed by Taylor Sutton in the lineup, who transferred last fall to Live Oak from Archbishop Mitty. So far this season Sutton is batting .290. The team’s No. 3 and No. 4 hitters are Alyssa Adamo and April Herrera respectively.
At the start of the season the bulk of Adamo’s playing time was at shortstop but she has moved to centerfield in recent weeks because of her proven range in the outfield. She is batting .325.
The Acorns’ biggest offensive threat this season is Herrera, who is batting .379 overall and slightly over .300 in league. She also leads her team in RBIs.
“I think our hitting numbers are slightly inflated this season though because we got so many hits against Sobrato (22),” said McDonnell, whose team beat the young Bulldog team 19-0 on April 6.
So far the Acorns biggest wins have come against Salinas, Watsonville and Leigh High Schools. The Acorns lost a 4-3 contest to Gilroy in 11 innings on March 23 and held a 5-1 lead over perennial CCS powerhouse Notre Dame-Salinas before losing 9-5 on March 21.
But with another month of games and practices under their belts, McDonnell believes his team is starting to peak at the right time.
“The rain has slowed us down a lot too. But I think given the right circumstances and a few breaks here and there, we could give (winning) CCS another good run,” he said. “We can give anybody a good run.”
