Nick Pecoraro
Sports Editor
After riding a momentous high from the opening-round postseason upset, the City College softball season came to an end Saturday at the College of San Mateo.
The Panthers’ reward for knocking out No. 2-seed Feather River last weekend was a visit to play the No. 1-seeded Bulldogs in the CCCAA NorCal Super Regionals. San Mateo swept the Panthers in two games Friday and Saturday to end City’s bid for a potential Cinderella run.
Despite holding a 5-0 lead in Friday’s Game 1, the Panthers allowed a seven-run fifth inning to San Mateo. Marissa Rocha hit a two-run homer in the sixth, but the Panthers could not complete the comeback, losing 9-7.
Game 2 Saturday was essentially over before the Panthers got a chance to bat through their lineup. The Bulldogs scored seven runs in the first and eight more in the second on their way to a 16-5 victory, eliminating City College from the postseason.
“We went farther than most people thought we would,” said City head coach Tim Kiernan. “We’d win one, lose two, win two, lose three—most of them one-run ballgames that we let get away from us. That’s just lack of experience.”
City finished the season at 29-20 overall. For a team that struggled to gain significant momentum in the win column for most of the regular season—going 13-13 for fifth place in the Big 8 Conference—it certainly had its share of highlights.
City put together a four-game win streak over the final eight days of the regular season by outscoring their opponents 29-2. The streak extended to five games when the team scored its biggest victory of the season in the regional round of the playoffs. The 15th-seeded Panthers upset No. 2 Feather River in a best-of-three series, advancing to the NorCal Super Regionals for the fourth time in the past six seasons.
“We did what I thought we could do,” said Kiernan. “I just wanted to come in and take care of business and leave, and we did that.”
Another big win came March 20 when Kiernan, City’s head softball coach since 1982, recorded his 1,000th career victory with City College with an 11-3 victory at Folsom Lake College.
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Reyes proved to have ace-like stuff, going 18-10 with a 1.73 earned run average and a conference-leading 195 strikeouts, which were seventh in the state and the sixth highest total ever for a City College pitcher in one season. Reyes threw 23 complete games, including 10 shutouts. Against San Joaquin Delta March 17, Reyes threw 10 scoreless innings and struck out 20 Mustang hitters.
Shortstop-turned-catcher Elizabeth Caffero was the leader by wide margins in all three triple crown categories among Big 8 Conference players at the end of the regular season. She finished the year with a .516 batting average, 13 home runs and 53 RBIs. Her 13 dingers were second only to Cindy Oseguera’s 17 in 2007 for the most in a single season by any Panther in the history of the program.
“Liz is a natural hitter—strong,” said Kiernan, who couldn’t recall another City College player to win the triple crown.
Caffero and Reyes were both named to the All-Big 8 First Team. Outfielders Sydney Craft (.411 average, 60 hits, 44 runs scored and 29 stolen bases) and Mackenzie Duval (.341 average, 23 RBIs and 16 stolen bases), third baseman Morgan Silva-Conner (.378 average, 4 homers and 21 RBIs) and first baseman Marissa Rocha (.338 average, 3 homers, 33 RBIs and a team-leading 14 doubles) made the Second Team.
Rocha, the sophomore captain who hit two longballs with seven RBIs in her final home game April 21 at The Yard, was named as City College’s Female Athlete of the Year May 7 at the school’s annual Recognition of Excellence ceremony. Rocha finished her career with a .378 average, six homers and 73 RBIs in the Panther pinstripes while being named to the City College Scholar Athlete Team with a 3.60 GPA.
“She led us in a lot of ways most of the year,” said Kiernan of Rocha. “She’s pretty incredible. She just outworked everybody. Great fielding average. Led team in doubles. She just did so many things for us over the last two years. She’s pretty focused.”
Kiernan said that Rocha has chosen to attend Simpson University to play softball next year. He said that Craft also has numerous options on the table for four-year softball programs.
Rocha, Craft and catcher Jessica Prothero were City’s only sophomores on the team, meaning Kiernan’s 2019 team will likely be full of experienced sophomores, including All-Conference selections Caffero, Reyes, Duval and Silva-Conner. With the addition of talented incoming freshmen, Kiernan is looking forward to next spring at The Yard.
“You learn and earn,” Kiernan said. “I like what we’ve got coming in, and I like what we’ve got coming back. Just with how valuable that playoff experience is—you can’t write that out.”
For more info on SCC softball, visit www.sccpanthers.losrios.edu/sports/sball/.
