For the Cal Poly softball team, pitching is the key to success.
“That’s the name of the game,” head coach Jenny Condon said at Monday’s press conference. “If you don’t have pitching, you’re not going to go very far.”
Last weekend, the Mustangs proved just that. In their three-game series against UC Santa Barbara, the Mustangs allowed a combined two runs. Rebecca Patton started Friday and surrendered two runs, and Anna Cahn started the remaining two games and didn’t allow a single Gaucho to cross home plate.
The Mustangs (15-17, 4-2 Big West) rode their pitching staff to their first series sweep of the season and will look to carry that success into this weekend’s three-game conference series against Cal State Fullerton (9-29, 4-2).
“It starts in the circle,” Condon said. “Anna (Cahn) threw great and Rebecca Patton set the tone. She threw the first game on the weekend, and she did a great job.”
Cal Poly’s success in the circle came after seeing reigning their Big West Pitcher of the Year struggle against UC Riverside. For Anna Cahn, a good performance was much needed. Not only did she bounce back with two consecutive shutouts, she was also tagged as Big West Pitcher of the Week.
“It was hands down the best weekend that she has thrown all year,” Condon said.
With the sweep, it seems the Mustangs have gotten out of their mid-season blues. The Mustangs had dropped nine of their last 10 games coming into last weekend. In response to its hopes at the post season fading, Cal Poly got back to the little things this week in practice.
“We really just changed a lot of things throughout the week in practice,” Condon said. “(We) really just tried to simplify the game … take it pitch by pitch and inning by inning. Try not to do anything too big.”
To pair with their change in preparation, Cal Poly stuck to the things they can control. They focused on effort, not its win-loss column.
“We don’t talk about winning or losing because you can’t control that,” Condon said. “So, we went back to really controlling the things that we can control and taking care of the stuff that we can do. Then everything takes care of itself.”
Now with the momentum, the Mustangs hope to carry that into their series against Cal State Fullerton.
“Hopefully our pitchers show up and get it done and defensively we can take care of the ball and continue to hit the ball well,” Condon said.
The Mustangs will square off against a team that just surrendered their first series to UC Riverside last weekend after sweeping UC Santa Barbara to open conference play the weekend prior.
After posting 27 runs on 36 hits against the Gauchos, Cal Sate Fullerton was held to seven runs on eight hits in their series loss to UC Riverside. The Titans came into last weekend batting .409 with eight home runs in conference play, but hit .125 with no home runs last weekend.
Despite their offensive struggles, Cal State Fullerton is still batting .289 in conference play and also leads the league in runs scored (34), in home runs (8), RBIs (31), and slugging percentage (.493).
But no matter the opposition, the Mustangs will look to post a win against consecutive conference opponents — a feat that would put them closer to their goal.
“Our goal is to win the conference championship,” Condon said. “When you have a record below .500, you’re not going anywhere unless you win the title … We’re still in the hunt.”