The Cal Poly softball team didn’t react well to their first appearance in the Top 25 this year, losing two of three at Cal State Fullerton.
The Mustangs (25-9, 4-2 Big West Conference) hope that their second foray into the national spotlight brings better results.
For the second time this year, Cal Poly jumped into the polls, sitting at No. 25 this week as they prepare to take on conference-leading Long Beach State (24-14, 5-1) at noon today, kicking off a three-game series at Bob Janssen Field.
“Long Beach won the series against us last year,” Cal Poly head coach Jenny Condon recalled. “They’ve got a good pitcher in Brooke Turner. They’ve got some good hitters. They’ve struggled a little bit more than they did last year but I think that makes them more hungry for wins.”
Turner (13-7) has been dominant this season for the 49ers. She has a 2.86 ERA in 117.1 innings of work and has nearly four times as many strikeouts as walks.
But the Mustangs have a force of their own on the mound.
Sophomore lefthander Anna Cahn (16-5) has held opposing hitters to just a .217 batting average in 161.2 innings. She has a gaudy 6.94 strikeout-to-walk ratio in collecting 125 strikeouts to just 18 walks this year.
In Cahn’s last start she was forced to throw 178 pitches in a complete-game 11-inning effort.
But Condon said that would not keep her from the mound this weekend against the 49ers.
“Softball is a little bit different than baseball,” she explained. “It’s not really their arm, it’s their legs. If they’re strong and they’re fit than they can throw all day — and luckily she is.”
While the Mustangs dropped the series 2-1 last year in Long Beach, this year the teams will meet in San Luis Obispo. Cal Poly has shown confidence in defending their home field, garnering an undefeated 13-0 mark at home.
Condon was pleased with the team’s play at Bob Janssen Field thus far.
Our kids have done such a great job at home,” she said. “We’ve really been focused and stayed comfortable. We know how the ball plays off the fence, how the wind plays and the sun plays. We’ve had the advantage of somebody losing a ball in the wind or the sun in probably every game we’ve played at home this season.”
Senior second baseman Stephanie Tam has been a big part of the Mustangs’ success this season. She ranks in the top 10 of the Big West in runs, hits and batting average and she has been extremely efficient with the bat, striking out only six times in 109 at-bats.
“That was one of the goals I wanted to work on (coming into my senior season),” Tam said. “Just being more selective with the pitches that I swing at.”
Tam said the team is mentally prepared for “a hard battle” with Long Beach State and won’t put too much emphasis on any given part of their schedule.
“We’re not really looking too far ahead or too far in the past, we’re just staying in the present,” she said.