Automatic Bid on Line for No. 6 SCC

It has been a banner season for the Southern California College softball team, but the Vanguards are far from finished.

SCC, ranked sixth in the NAIA, will host the Far West Regional this weekend, with the winner earning an automatic bid to the NAIA Nationals May 18-22 in Tulsa, Okla.

“We’re very confident going into the regional,” SCC Coach Beth Renkoski said. “But we also know the competition may be the strongest it’s ever been.”

The double-elimination tournament begins today with top-seeded SCC (44-10) playing Bethany (12-5) at 9 a.m. Azusa Pacific (36-18) plays Cal Baptist (27-23) at 11, and Hawaii Pacific (31-15) plays Point Loma Nazarene (33-14) at 1 p.m.

Games will continue Friday at 9 and 11 a.m. and 1 and 3 p.m. The championship game is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. Saturday with a second game to follow if necessary.

SCC, which was ranked as high as fourth in the NAIA, hopes to reach that championship game and figures to have a good shot, considering its strong pitching.

Junior Gretchen Brandt (20-6), the Golden State Athletic Conference pitcher of the year, and all-conference selection Jen Houston (20-4), a senior, give the Vanguards a potent one-two punch.

Brandt had a 1.23 earned-run average and struck out 191 in 171 1/3 innings. Houston had a 0.84 ERA and struck out 174 in 175 2/3 innings. Only one other pitcher in the conference struck out more than 100.

But SCC’s offense didn’t overwhelm anybody. The Vanguards did not hit a home run in the regular season but managed to average a little more than four runs per game.

The offense features all-conference selections Chrissy Vega (.402 batting average), an outfielder who led the conference in hits (68), runs (42) and stolen bases (42), and catcher Michelle Murie (.313, 18 runs batted in).

“Our pitching has been our strength and our defense has been good,” Renkoski said. “If our hitting shows up, then we’ll be fine.”