Gauchos Get Most Out of the Fewest

Saddleback softball Coach Nick Trani has found the perfect way to foster team unity.

There have been no arguments about who should be starting or how much playing time anyone is getting for the Gauchos because with only nine players, everybody is on the field all the time.

Such situations usually mean teams are struggling, but not the Gauchos, who are 14-2 overall and 3-0 and in first place in the early going of Orange Empire Conference play.

“The games are great,” Trani said, “the hard part is counting heads to make sure everybody shows up.”

Trani made every effort this season to attract players, including taking out ads in the campus paper, but is lucky to have nine. The Gauchos would have eight, but left fielder Betsy Holman joined the team at the end of basketball season.

Saddleback started the season with nine, but center fielder Jill Freed went down with an ankle injury just as Holman came out.

“We were playing Palomar in a tournament and they had twice as many players as us,” Trani said, “We flipped for dugouts and I told them just to take both, we didn’t need one. But we still beat them.”

Sophomore pitcher Tara Kroener is one of the main reasons the Gauchos have been able to do so much with so few.

She is 11-1 with six shutouts. Kroener started the week hitting .357. She said the season has been fun but stressful.

“We worried all the time,” she said, “If someone gets hurt we’re in trouble. But it’s good to because it makes us do what we have to do, like get to class.”

Saddleback’s leading hitter is sophomore shortstop Anne Skidmore, who started the week at .489. She and Jen Carlisle have three home runs each and the team has seven.

“I don’t have any explanation for it,” Trani said about his team’s success. “It’s a really good group. They are a little crazy, but they’re fun to be around.”

1,000 PICKLERS

Scott and Brad Pickler, the baseball and softball coaches at Cypress, are three victories short of a combined 1,000 at the college.

Scott, 48, is in his 15th season and has a record of 456-218 going into today’s 2 p.m. game against visiting Orange Coast. His teams have won three state titles.

Brad, 44, is in his 13th season and has a mark of 541-161. The Chargers, who have also won three state titles including the last two, play at 3 p.m. today at Fullerton.

If both teams win today, the 1,000th victory could come Wednesday, when Cypress is at Saddleback in a 6 p.m. softball game.

ACADEMIC HONOR

Aileen Bennett, a former water polo player and swimmer at Orange Coast, was selected as the state’s Wilson Scholar Athlete of the Year for 1998.

Bennett was the captain of the 1997 OCC women’s water polo team and was a swimmer on the 1997 and 1998 teams. She had a 4.0 grade-point average at OCC and is currently at UC San Diego.