The Cal Poly softball team had arguably its greatest regular season in the history of the program. With that out of the way, the Mustangs will look to have a similar postseason.
Cal Poly (39-10) won’t have to do much to improve on their only other postseason performance, a winless, two-game elimination in 2007.
Still, head coach Jenny Condon said that this team is equipped to go much further than the 2007 squad.
“Two years ago we were venturing into the unknown,” Condon said. “We could talk about it, but you never really know until you get there and you see what’s happening. I know when we walked away in 2007 the players were disappointed with the performance that they put on.”
The Mustangs get their next chance at the program’s first postseason victory when they take on Nevada (39-17) today at 3 p.m. in the Palo Alto Regional.
For five Cal Poly seniors, the postseason marks the end of their collegiate careers. Senior shortstop Melissa Pura will leave the Mustangs as one of the most decorated players in the program’s history. She is Cal Poly’s all-time leader in homeruns, RBI and slugging percentage.
“As a senior, I want to go out with a bang,” Pura said. “This is a good start to that.”
Pura, a Salinas, Calif. native, said she was looking forward to playing in the NCAA Tournament in a place where relatives can travel to see her.
“I’m from northern California, so I was like, ‘Stanford yeah.’ Then I saw (the first game against) Nevada, we’ve had a tight game with them and I’d love to play them again and Stanford, we’ve lost two really tight games to them.”
The Mustangs beat Nevada 1-0 on March 1. Cal Poly sophomore lefthander Anna Cahn, the Big West Pitcher of the Year, threw a complete-game three-hit shutout for her fifth win of the season. She would go on to win a school-record 27 games this year. Freshman Kendal Hennings
Cal Poly has also played No. 8 seed and regional-host Stanford twice this season, both one-run losses for the Mustangs.
Condon said that the familiarity of the teams is a benefit to Cal Poly.
“It definitely gives us a little sense of comfort,” she added. “We know the hitters from Stanford and Nevada and we know the park.
The Mustangs are the only team in Division I Softball to have played all their games in the same state — a statistic that won’t change as they head to Palo Alto.
“We get on the bus and we stay in California,” Condon said. “So that’s a little comforting that we don’t have to change our routine.”
Pura said she didn’t remember much about the close game with the Wolfpack but Condon recalled being impressed by Nevada starting pitcher Katie Holverson.
“She’s got good speed and movement,” Condon said. “She moves the ball around a lot so we need to be patient and hit good pitches in the strike zone.”
The Mustangs had a particular tough early schedule playing four of their first six contests against teams ranked in the Top 10, a fact that Condon said could help Cal Poly play well against the quality of competition they will meet in the tournament.
“We set the schedule to challenge us in the beginning — and it definitely did,” Condon said. “But we really competed against those teams. Mentally I think it gave us a sense of confidence that we can play with anyone in the country.”
Cal Poly has proved just that in recent weeks.
The Mustangs have lost just once in their last 19 games and are arguably playing as well as any team in the country heading into the tournament.
“I think we’re playing well,” Pura said. “There’s definitely room to get better and hopefully we’ll peak in the playoffs.”
While Pura and the Mustangs are hoping to peak in the tournament, they are also hoping that they can ride their current momentum all the way to the Women’s College World Series in Oklahoma City.
“We feel (like we can get there),” she said. “We really want to be there. If we keep to our gameplan I definitely think we have an opportunity to get there.”
Pura acknowledged that this could be the final weekend of a stellar collegiate career, but she’s not going to let the pressure get to her.
“There’s no pressure of us thinking, ‘oh this could be the last game’,” Pura said. “There’s (no sense of urgency), not at all.”