The San Benito girls golf team, with no seniors, will look to
grow this year as well as next
HOLLISTER
When Marissa Gutierrez and Katie O’Brien signed partial scholarships in April to play golf at Sonoma State University, it left quite a large hole at the top of the lineup card for San Benito.
Gone were the two anchors of last year’s team, both of whom qualified for the Central Coast Section Finals last season – Gutierrez for the third time and O’Brien for the first. But while their absence, as well as the absence of two other seniors in Jordan Archer and Amanda Frey, left the current Lady ‘Baler lineup rather young, they certainly didn’t seem to leave the lineup unmotivated.
If anything, Gutierrez and O’Brien’s golf scholarships showed the rest of the team that, yes, it can be done.
“They were amazing and so you always want to fill their shoes, but you know you can never be the same as them,” said junior Katie Moeller. “But you always want to try to be. And you want to be, if you can, better.”
Teammate Jenny Glosser, also a junior, expressed a similar sentiment.
“Just getting to see how it’s possible to get a scholarship when we were just playing with them,” Glosser said. “And just getting to play with them, they taught us a lot.”
Moeller and Glosser, along with Alexis Sanchez, will make up the junior contingent on the senior-less squad this year, which boasts a 14-girl roster.
Although they may be young, coach Chris Branon is pleased to see the program building. And though they may be without a “senior leader,” they will be able to progress this year as well as into next.
“I foresee this year and next year to be very competitively internally,” said Branon, who can only bring six girls out of the 14 to any given varsity match.
With that said, Branon is seeking to schedule as many as four junior varsity tournaments, which, the coach believes, is a first at SBHS. Coupled with two new assistant coaches in John Souza and Hillary Williams, and those golfers that aren’t in the top six varsity spots will either be competing in JV tournaments or will be practicing under the guidance of Souza and Williams during the season.
“It’s a really good turnout, compared to when I was in high school,” said Williams, who graduated in 2004 from SBHS. “They’ve all really improved. I’ve seen such an improvement in all the freshman out here. By the time they’re seniors, they’re gonna be good.”
Williams said the Lady ‘Balers will need to improve upon their short game – the putting, the chipping – and the team was at the Tri-County Athletic League Clinic at Peter Hay Golf Course on Monday. Today, though, they’ll get a more official look at the competition at the TCAL Jamboree, slated for the Ridgemark Golf and Country Club in Hollister at 3:30 p.m.
“We’ve got our work cut out for us,” Branon said.
Ariana Patterson of Santa Catalina, Haley Andreas of Pacific Grove and Jam Viliaretera of Stevenson are expected to be leading their teams in the TCAL this season, while San Benito should be jockeying with Salinas for fourth place.
As to who will be leading the Lady ‘Balers this year, well, that’s up to them.
“I’m excited,” Moeller said. “We have a lot of new girls out, a lot of new freshmen, but they’re doing really good and improving themselves.
“It’s competition. It’s good. A lot of the girls are all fighting for the same spots, but we’re all still a team. It’s pretty fun and enjoyable, but still competitive.”
