Pacific's first championship, coaching milestones and personal achievements highlighted an impressive bounceback season for Big West softball.
HISTORY MADE
Pacific is one of the perennial powers in the Big West, having won 808 games over 26-plus seasons as a member of the conference. Included in that membership was a 50-win season in 2001, eight NCAA appearances, numerous postseason honors and a 12-year run of winning seasons from 1996-2007. Despite of this run of success, the Tigers finally won their first Big West title this season, a feat that five of the current league members and four former ones have accomplished during Pacific’s time in the Big West.
Pacific reached a number of highs this season, recording its most overall (37) and conference (16) wins since 2002, defeating three ranked teams and placing seven athletes on the All-Big West first team.
LBSU TIES POSTSEASON MARK
When Long Beach State saw it's name come up on the bracket for the 2011 NCAA Tournament, it gave the 49ers their 20th postseason appearance all-time. That number ties Cal State Fullerton for the most NCAA appearances as a member of the Big West. CSF actually owns more postseason appearances, but those showings came before the clubs gained membership into the league.
SURPASSING 2010 IN A BIG WAY
The Big West had a down year in 2010, but the success of several teams in 2011 have made that season a distant memory. Four teams surpassed their 2010 win total in Cal State Fullerton, Long Beach State, UC Santa Barbara and Pacific. The Titans won 14 in 2010 but got to 23 this season, the 49ers finished with 26 last season and ended up at 38 in ‘11, the Gauchos had 15 last year but turned in 27 victories this year and Pacific went from 24 last season to 37 and and a league title this year.
COACHING MILESTONES APLENTY
The latter part of the Big West season has had plenty of excitement on the field, and as a result several coaches have reached or are on the cusp of career milestones.
Cal State Fullerton head coach Michelle Gromacki added to her legacy on April 22 as the 12th-year head coach won her 400th career game. She becomes the fourth coach in Big West history to reach that illustrious milestone and the second Titan head coach to do so. The other three coaching legends to surpass 400 victories in conference history are all-time leader Pete Mararino of Long Beach State (791), Cal State Fullerton’s Judi Garman (581) and current Pacific head coach Brian Kolze (580).
Pacific's Brian Kolze, the dean of Big West coaches in his 19th season, is approaching an impressive number in coaching victories. Currently standing at 580 wins, two more victories will put Kolze past former Cal State Fullerton head coach Judi Garman and into second place all-time in Big West history. Kolze is likely to reach an even bigger milestone next season as he should reach 600 career wins.
Cal Poly's Jenny Condon achieved a major milestone on the last day of the regular season as the Mustangs’ 6-5 win over Pacific gave her the 200th win of her career. Condon reached the milestone in fairly quick fashion as she has averaged 28 wins over her seven seasons with the club.
WE’VE SEEN THIS BEFORE
When the Big West major awards were doled out, Long Beach State freshman Erin Jones-Wesley got her fair share of hardware. Jones-Wesley was named the Big West Pitcher of the Year and Freshman Pitcher of the Year, only the second time in league history that an athlete had won two major awards in the same season. Jones-Wesley was just following in the footsteps of her teammate Brooke Turner who won the same two awards back in her freshman season in 2008.
UCR CLAIMS FIRST TEAMER
UC Riverside's Kayla White was rewarded for her stellar season with a first team All-Big West nod as an outfielder. The sophomore is just the third Highlander to claim first team accolades, following former players Melissa Sanchez (2004-06) and Marissa Alvidrez (2008). If White can repeat as a first teamer over the next two seasons of her career, she will become just the second UCR player to claim multiple first team mentions.
IN ELITE COMPANY
Several Big West players and one team found themselves on Big West lists following the conclusion of the 2011 season.
Cal Poly's Anna Cahn recorded 14 homers to finish tied for fifth on the single-season Big West list, while her 28 career homers place her ninth all-time.
Pacific's Nicole Matson had a banner comeback season as she led the league with 50 RBI. That figure puts her sixth on the all-time list and makes her just the sixth player in league history to knock in 50 or more runs.
UC Davis' Alex Holmes collected eight triples on the year to tie for seventh on the league’s single-season list.
Pacific set one of the more impressive records in league history as the club recorded a .323 batting average. The Tigers topped the previous record of .311 set by former member Hawai’i in 1996.
FOUR PLAYERS GAIN ALL-REGION NODS
The Big West had four players earn spots on All-Region teams as the Pacific trio of Megan Hom, Nikki Armagost and Kelsey Rodriguez joined Long Beach State star Erin Jones-Wesley earned their way onto the lists.
The Tiger trio found themselves on the second team of the Pacific Region. Hom made the list as an outfielder, Armagost as a utility/pitcher and Rodriguez as the utility/non-pitcher. Meanwhile Jones-Wesley's name appeared on the second team of the West Region as she made it as a pitcher.
RULE THE WEST
The Big West has reclaimed its place among the premier mid-major conferences with a stellar showing against its brethren out west. The league is a combined 42-39 against the Mountain West, Pacific Coast Softball and WAC after going 34-49 against those same leagues a year ago.
SO ABOUT THAT PRESEASON POLL
A quick glance at the preseason coaches poll shows just how unreliable those things can be. The top three choices for the league title, Cal Poly, UC Davis and Cal State Northridge, finished seventh, sixth and fifth place, respectively. Meanwhile, three teams selected to finish in the bottom half of the standings ended up in the top half in Pacific (first), Cal State Fullerton (third) and UC Santa Barbara (fourth). In fact of those three, only CSF was given a first place vote even though it was predicted to finish in sixth.
GRAND 'OL CLUB
Cal State Fullerton’s 3-2 win over Oregon State on March 6 was not only the clubs' second victory over a Pac-10 school this season, but also delivered a bit of history. The win was the 1,000th in the history of the program as a member of the Big West, the first school to reach that illustrious number is league history. The Titans now stand at 1,017-563-3 all-time.
FLOWERS TAKES OVER AT CSUN
Tairia Flowers, who has enjoyed success as an outstanding collegiate player, an Olympic gold medal winner and as a successful collegiate assistant coach, is the new head coach of the softball program at Cal State Northridge. Flowers begins her new duties at Cal State Northridge after serving the past four seasons (2007-10) as an assistant softball coach at Big West rival Long Beach State.
As a member of the 49ers coaching staff, Flowers helped the team to two NCAA Tournament appearances and Top-25 rankings on numerous occasions. Flowers helped coach 29 Big West All-Conference selections and six Academic All-Americans. As a team, Long Beach State set numerous and individual school records including batting average, runs batted in, doubles, triples and walks.