Softball team hopes to bounce back against UCSB

Most Division I softball teams either in or hovering around the top 25 are built around one, singular, dominant starting pitcher.

That has not been the case this season for Cal Poly, which has used a four-headed monster to put together its best season since 1997.

“We don’t really look at it as ‘we have an ace,'” Cal Poly head coach Jenny Condon said Thursday. “All the pitchers are capable of getting the job done.”

Indeed, the Mustangs (33-12, 8-1 Big West Conference) have relied on a committee of hurlers to get the job done this season. Cal Poly junior right-hander Robyn Kontra (10-4, 1.98 ERA), sophomore right-hander Jenna Maiden (10-3, 2.11), senior right-hander Emily Hively (8-1, 1.82) and freshman left-hander Helen Pe¤a (5-4, 1.75) have combined to toss nine shutouts and 26 complete games.

The quartet will be put to the test this weekend when Big West rival UC Santa Barbara visits Bob Janssen Field for a crucial three-game series that begins with a noon doubleheader Saturday and wraps up at noon Sunday.

“All the rest of the games from here on out are important,” Condon said. “I think that they’re most important for us to come back and play really to the level that we’re capable of.”

Although the Gauchos are 24-17 overall, they are only 1-8 in the Big West. Still, Condon said the nature of the Cal Poly-UCSB rivalry should serve to make the series interesting.

“Anytime any of the Cal Poly teams play Santa Barbara, that’s a rivalry,” Condon said. “That’s a fun thing to have (that) you always get up for.”

The Mustangs are coming off a disappointing weekend in which they lost two of three games at UC Davis. Kontra threw a one-hitter, however, to lift Cal Poly to a 5-1 win in the final game of the series last Sunday.

“Robyn threw a great game,” Condon said. “It was so good for our team to get back on track. Robyn really set the tone in the circle and defensively we played well.”

Condon said another steadying factor defensively has been the play of senior catcher Jackie Gehrke-Jones, whom she also praised for her offensive production.

“Jackie is having a fantastic year,” Condon said. “She’s been great at the plate, great offensively. Physically, she’s having her best year. She’s making her impact behind the plate, defensively, setting the tone. She runs the show well from behind the plate.”

Gehrke-Jones has started all 45 games she has appeared in this season and is second on the team in batting average (.389).

The catalyst all season for Cal Poly’s offense has been senior center fielder Lisa Modglin, who is fifth among all Division I players in average (.489), third in slugging percentage (.993), ninth in homers per game (0.37) and 11th in runs scored per game (1.12).

Cal Poly is still unranked, but appears to be in good shape as far as at-large berths for the NCAA Tournament go.

Then again, that appeared to be the case in both 1997 and 2005, years in which the Mustangs were controversially excluded from the tournament because of the selection committee’s strength-of-schedule concerns. Cal Poly is 32nd among 277 Division I teams in the FullySports.com Ratings Percentage Index rankings, which are the most widely recognized simulation of the NCAA’s secret RPI formula used to determine what teams are worthy of reaching the postseason.

Still, Condon knows that nothing is guaranteed unless the Mustangs win the Big West. They are currently one game ahead of second-place Pacific (32-15, 7-2 Big West).

“Our goal the entire year has been to win the conference,” Condon said. “That guarantees us a spot in the postseason and that’s our only guarantee to make it.”