Softball, Sports, Women's Sports

49er softball team starts season without ace

Coming off one of the best seasons in school history, the Long Beach State softball team enters 2015 with a glaring void at the top of its rotation following the graduation of right-hander Erin Jones-Wesley.

In her four years, Jones-Wesley established herself as one of the best pitchers in school history. She finished her career as the winningest pitcher at LBSU, but head coach Kim Sowder said the team has more than just Jones-Wesley’s departure to worry about.

“We have six all-conference seniors that we lost,” Sowder said. “I don’t think there’s any one player or two players that make this team. These players are just going to have to go out and compete to the best of their ability.”

Among the six all-conference players who graduated are second baseman Cya Neal, third baseman Hannah De Gaetano and catcher Sarah Carrasco. Carrasco joined Sowder’s coaching staff this year as an undergraduate assistant coach.

“We’ve lost a lot of great players in this program,” Sowder said. “So I have to continue to reload and rebuild.”

Jones-Wesley had a record-breaking season last year, becoming the school’s all-time leader in wins, strikeouts and appearances. She ranked in the top five in the Big West conference in wins, strikeouts and earned run average.

Last year, the 49ers primarily used only two starters the entire season. Jones-Wesley and now senior right-hander Amanda Hansen combined to start all 58 games last season, with Hansen making 13 game appearances in addition to her 26 starts.

Hansen will be the team’s ace this year, and she proved last year that she is capable of being an excellent starter. She went 19-8, the fifth most wins in Big West conference play, with a 3.73 ERA in 163.1 innings pitched.

The No. 2 starter role will be critical to the 49ers’ success, and right now it’s a mix of talented youth and inexperience. The team has eight new freshmen to go along with sophomore right-hander Christina Clermont, who is in her first year with the 49ers since transferring from Syracuse.

Sowder said the team doesn’t have its starting pitchers set. She said she’s likely to try a three- person rotation, with senior right-hander Christian Carbajal taking the No. 3 role and the rest of the starters coming in as relief roles.

Junior infielder Darian Tautalafua, who was the Big West Conference Freshman of the Year in 2013, said they are probably not going to be able to replace Jones-Wesley’s production, but that she was still confident in the team’s rotation.

“Our pitchers this year are really good together combining in games,” Tautalafua said. “Christina Clermont and Selene [Polamalu] today in the scrimmage, I think they’re a really good pair. Amanda’s always good.”

Sowder reiterated that she was confident in her team despite losing so much productivity. She said she believes in all the newcomers and believes some are ready to make an immediate impact.

“Obviously,” Sowder said. “I recruit players I believe can compete and win conference championships.”

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published.

Daily 49er newsletter

Instagram