SCC Finds Some Consolation in Defeat

Southern California College softball Coach Beth Renkoski found some silver linings in the Vanguards’ second appearance at the NAIA softball finals.

Sub-par pitching and defensive performances contributed to SCC’s 6-5 loss to eventual champion Western Washington in the first game and helped send the Vanguards on their way to a fifth-place finish last week in Broken Arrow, Okla. But Renkoski applauded her team’s never-quit attitude and gritty offensive production.

“We came out hitting, but our defense was not as strong as normal,” Renkoski said. “I’m proud of the fifth-place finish, and we did it because we kept scoring runs. It was like a different team there, with the opposite strengths showing up.”

Junior catcher Heather Rogers hit the team’s first home run of the season in the tournament and had a .357 batting average with a team-high five runs scored and five runs batted in. Junior outfielder Chrissy Vega hit a team-leading .412 in the tournament with a team-high seven hits. Both players earned all-tournament honors.

Although SCC hit .276 in the tournament, the Vanguards committed seven errors and pitchers Gretchen Brandt and Jen Houston gave up 21 runs, including 10 in a 10-0 loss to defending champion Oklahoma City in the Vanguards’ final game.

Still, Renkoski said the experience will help SCC in the future.

“We’ll have a good team coming back,” Renkoski said. “They experienced just a taste of being there and knowing how good we can be. This will help motivate them to work for that. They know what it’s like and want to get back there again.

“It just fueled the fire. We know we are right there.”

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Honors: SCC’s Chrissy Vega and Jen Houston were named NAIA first-team All-Americans.

Vega led the Vanguards in batting average (.385), runs scored (48), stolen bases (44) and on-base percentage (.443). Houston finished her senior season 23-5 with a 1.12 earned-run average.

Senior Sarah Waters and junior Noelle Sturgill received NAIA scholar-athlete awards.

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Track and Field: SCC’s Monica Landa finished seventh in the 10,000 meters in 39 minutes 28 seconds at the NAIA National Championships in Tulsa, Okla., last week. The top six finishers in each event make All-American.

SCC’s Isis Gonzalez was eighth in the 400 (57.48 seconds) and high jumper Brian Carlson finished ninth (6 feet 7).