It is safe to say the expectations surrounding this year’s San
Benito softball team are a little high, although that was to be
expected after the team won an unprecedented fifth straight
Division I title last year and graduated just a single player from
the team. The fact that 16 of the 17 players listed on the varsity
roster this year have first-hand experience of last year’s Central
Coast Section championship game
— a 2-1 extra-inning victory over Fremont — makes San Benito,
like it has been for the last four years, the team to beat in
Division I. No doubt, the Balers have what it takes to win another
title.
HOLLISTER
It is safe to say the expectations surrounding this year’s San Benito softball team are a little high, although that was to be expected after the team won an unprecedented fifth straight Division I title last year and graduated just a single player from the team.
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The fact that 16 of the 17 players listed on the varsity roster this year have first-hand experience of last year’s Central Coast Section championship game — a 2-1 extra-inning victory over Fremont — makes San Benito, like it has been for the last four years, the team to beat in Division I.
No doubt, the Balers have what it takes to win another title.
But while it’s a position that just about any other team in the CCS would gladly accept, being the targeted team, and accepting the pressures that come with it, isn’t an easy role to take on.
“I personally don’t feel pressure, but I think as a whole team, we do feel pressure,” said senior shortstop Jessica Vest, who signed a National Letter of Intent to Oklahoma in November. “I think it’s just because we don’t have the confidence yet.”
Right now, it’s an in-game issue. Although they are 5-0 overall, 1-0 in the Tri-County Athletic League following Tuesday’s 3-1 win against North Salinas, and two-time defending title holders of the rather elite Circle of Champions tournament in Salinas, where they beat Los Gatos, Hillsdale, Carlmont and league rival Notre Dame earlier this year, the Balers aren’t where they want to be just yet.
Although there are expectations for them to win a sixth straight CCS title, the Balers have expectations for themselves, their attitude and their mental approach, and it’s not necessarily something that a 5-0 record can magically fix.
“We’ve won, but we haven’t played our best yet,” Vest said. “We still have a lot to work on.”
Manager Scott Smith said Tuesday’s TCAL opener against North Salinas was the worst game his team has played all year, and he took the blame for not preparing them properly.
“It wasn’t so much the physical part of the game, it was just the mental approach,” said Smith, who highlighted some of the miscues his Balers made Tuesday, including slowed bat speed while against a slower-throwing pitcher, and allowing runners to advance and take extra bases.
“It was just uncharacteristic mistakes for our team, and it’s my fault,” Smith added. “I just haven’t prepared them to be mentally tougher, and we have to figure that out.”
In their previous games, the coach added, the Balers have had the mental approach but made some physical mistakes. Now, it’s just a matter of piecing the two sides together.
“Unfortunately, I think we’re kind of resting on our laurels a little bit here,” Smith said. “They’re still practicing hard and working hard there. But it seems like we’ve just kind of taken on this characteristic that we’re waiting for somebody on our team to come up and make the big hit, and then that kind of ignites our team.
“We just don’t have the energy until something exciting happens …”
Connecting on just five hits Tuesday, the Balers stranded five runners on base, four of whom were in scoring position. While starting pitcher Paige Miguel allowed just one hit until the sixth inning, when Adrianna Garza delivered a bloop RBI single to right to put the Vikings on the scoreboard for their one and only run of the game, San Benito squandered chances early to put the game well out of North Salinas’ reach.
It did receive an RBI single from Vest in the third and a sac fly from Taylor Fabing in the fifth to score Ali Ocampo from third base, while in the second inning, Fabing took advantage of two separate throwing errors to score on an inside-the-park home run.
But otherwise, San Benito was unable to expand upon its small, two-run lead.
“Today, I just thought, we figured we were gonna beat North High and we can just come here and show up, and that’s what it showed,” Smith said. “Our mental part to the game, which we pride ourselves on, was lacking today.”
Smith wants to see the Balers play with emotion, and “a little anger.”
“The self-belief just isn’t there yet,” he said. “Their expectations are high, and so sometimes they get up there expecting something good to happen, and that leads to them waiting for something good to happen, instead of making it happen. And that’s what we have to figure out.
“But we’ve got some real good talent and a lot of good hitters.”
San Benito returns six all-league selections from a year ago, including catcher Marissa Adame, second baseman Samantha Puentes, first baseman Jessica Steigelman, centerfielder Mari Vallejo, shortstop Jessica Vest, and No. 1 pitcher Paige Miguel.
“It’s the beginning of the season and we’re gonna get there. It’s the same team,” said Miguel, who retired North Salinas in order in four of the seven innings Tuesday, including 11 batters in a row at one point.
“But today wasn’t us,” she added.
“I just think we were a little too comfortable,” said Brittany Hoff, who played second base Tuesday but is expected to return to the outfield later this season. “I think we came into the game thinking we were gonna blow them out.”
“It was a reality check,” Vest said.
Better it happen now than later in the season, though, when the games only become more important.
The TCAL is expected to be led by the usual suspects, including Notre Dame, Gilroy and Salinas. But as Tuesday showed, and as Vest later pointed out, any team can provide a challenge.
There are no guarantees.
“You can’t really look past anyone,” she said. “Every game is a different game and any team can beat any team at anytime.”
