MICHAEL RAWSON
SPORTS EDITOR
Funny how a weekend can change everything.
While the CSUSM baseball team rose to unprecedented heights on Saturday, the softball team, without warning, suddenly fell to earth.
The baseball team reigns as A.I.I. (American Independent Institutions) champion. The softball team is champion of the couch.
Last week, the softball team soared to #2 in the national rankings, with a 39-7 record. The baseball team, meanwhile, won nine of their last 10, which still left them at 32-17, and out of the top 25 altogether. Baseball received 4 points in the May 3 poll. Softball got 648.
Last week, the A.I.I. named Brenna Sandberg pitcher of the year, and named Dave Williams coach of the year. The baseball team was still named the Cougars.
Last month, baseball entered April looking pedestrian, with a record of 18-12. The softball team entered April looking like Godzilla eating pedestrians, with a record of 29-5.
Last year, baseball feebly bowed out of the A.I.I. championship, losing both of their games. Softball, led by perfect pitching from Brenna Sandberg, swept their side of the A.I.I. championship. Then they won a few games in the national championship tournament for good measure.
But last week, the baseball team boarded a plane bound for Thomasville, GA, ready to take their place as the #1 seed in the conference tournament, cool and full of confidence. The softball team traveled only in a procession of cars, down Highway 78 to the Carlsbad Marriot to accept awards.
In fairness, the other softball squads traveled long distances to get to San Marcos. Most were as tough as hour-old ballgame gum, and they were ready.
As usual, hardly anyone touched Sandberg, who allowed 4 runs in 3 games. But the pitching dominance of the opposition — for once — would be the Cougars’s downfall, as the powerful San Marcos lineup managed only 1 run in both of their shocking losses to Simon Fraser and Houston-Victoria.
Back in Georgia, pitchers might have well been replaced with pitching machines. The big bats of Johnny Omahen and Austin Coleman led the Cougars to 10, 21, and 10 runs in their three victories, but they never looked like sure winners. Yet victorious they were, escaping in a weekend firefight reminiscent of that last scene in Scarface, entering an unfamiliar field and gunning down Thomas University and Houston-Victoria (twice) to automatically advance to the NAIA national championships.
Softball, meanwhile, was Tony Montana, powerful and prominent, landing shots and scoring a victory, but ultimately getting gunned down in their own home. How could this happen? At the CSUSM baseball field on Saturday, there were no celebrations, no interviews, no answered questions. The hosts had left the premises.
The championship field will be announced this week, but the golden girls must sit at home in suspense and wait for a phone call from the NAIA, wondering if the committee will choose them as a at-large bid for the national tournament in Alabama. Any team ranked #2 nationally just a week before the decision should expect to be selected. But there are only 4 spots to fill. With this collapse, who knows?
CSUSM baseball players will wake up this week and worry about the finals they must study for and the papers they will research and write, trying to maintain their focus in the midst of their excitement.
Softball players will try to overcome the anxiety of the unknown, hoping to get one last shot. If their fortunes turn better than Tony Montana’s, and they are given new life, expect nothing less than a championship effort. This was an accident. Coach Williams’s team can beat anyone, and given another chance, it just might beat them all.
Photo courtesy of Association of Independent Institutions