Cal-Hi: A Crazy Matchup

The Santa Clara Bruins, behind skipper John Rahbar are right now preparing for their battle with N. Monterey County Condors, and their ace Melissa Decker.  The game will likely be focused around pitching and defense as the condors will march out their only starter and the Bruins, their consistent tosser in Sophomore Akemi Lagier.

Let’s break down the starting pitchers:

NMCHS’s Melissa Decker tossed over 161 innings this season finishing with 23 CG’s and 161 K’s. This in just 26 appearances during the Condor’s season. Her last game featured a eight inning loss to Seaside, giving up only one earned run, but lost on five condor errors. She seems to be the Condor’s only legitimate hitter as well with team leading three homeruns and five doubles. She also leads the team in strikeouts.

Santa Clara’s Lagier boasts a season ERA of sub three, showing a 2.9 after her last of 23 complete games. Lately, the sophomore’s domination can be seen at the plate as well. In her last outing as starter she hit her only home-run of the year, solidifying her 10-8 victory. She swatted 16 hits throughout the campaign, including two RBI’s against Saratoga just eleven days ago.

The rest of the lineups match fairly well with Bruin’s Laren Maslak and Jennifer Americano lead the offensive charge for Santa Clara, and Meghan Carillo and Miranda Vest leading the RBI charge for North Monterey County.

The matchup between the two pitchers should be the storyline of this CCS early round battle and the winner advancing to a Quarter matchup with Fremont.

Go Bruins! 

I would think this decision lies in the Sophomores hands at this point, with Coach Rahbar guiding the way to the Quarterfinals.

Bruins take this one in the upset.

Is Ron Wilson on his way out?

A column by David Pollack in today’s mercury news, prompts the question of whether the Shark’s current coaching staff can lead this team to a championship. Is Ron Wilson the guys to push these Sharks to the top? Can Zettler and Hunter be the driving assistance in a cup run?

So far, they have the ability to create good, quality squads very successful in the regular season, but flounder in the face of postseason adversity. Is this the sign of a Coach that doesn’t know how to put the hammer down? The Sharks aren’t loaded with veterans, but are the posterteam for a veteran youth movement that strives for professionalism and domination. 

As it stands now, though, the Sharks’ young veterans don’t know how to get it done in the playoffs, and the lackadaisical finger pointing of Ron W. may not be cultivating their talent to the best of their ability. Wilson has been criticized for his open accusations of Captain Patrick Marleau in the Second Round, and has been touted as a coach that expects the players to take care of themselves.

Is this type of coaching what this team needs, or do we revert back to the Sutter strong arm and attempt to force our success? There is no correct answer unfortunately, but if the Sharks don’t make it past the second round again next season (if they are to make the playoffs at all), Wilson will no longer be the Sharks coach.

Is there a message being sent by the ownership by omitting comment about the coaching staff as it stands today? Only time off will tell.

Luckily, Ron Wilson is a scratch golfer and he can stay on the links until late August.

The rest of us are just scratching our heads, wondering what we should do next.