After starting the season off with a 6-2 record, the Bakersfield College softball team has lost three straight games.
This doesn’t bother coach Sandi Taylor and her players in the least.
“We still have a bunch of games left to play, I’m not really worried about a little three-game losing streak, we just need to stop leaving runners on base and stop with the errors, and get back to playing our game,” Taylor said.
“There is no such thing as a losing streak in my mind, I just play every game to the best of my ability regardless of the result,” said freshman catcher Kara Frankhouser.
The first defeat was a road loss to Santa Barbara City College (3-1) on Feb. 17 by a score of 2-1.
BC got their lone run when Julie Estep scored on a double by Brandi Church.
The second loss came against Oxnard College (7-9) on Feb. 22 by a score of 5-3.
In the game against Oxnard, the Renegades were struggling at the plate with only two hits and no runs until the seventh inning. ?
In the seventh inning BC got five straight hits to mount a comeback to make the game 5-3. The comeback was short lived as Kaitlin Toerner grounded out to end the game with a runner on second.
Oxnard pitcher Michelle Getman had five strikeouts and retired the side in three of the seven innings.
“I guess I was just in the zone tonight, [Bakersfield College] was really good tonight but it was the pitching coach that gave me the good pitches to throw,” Getman said.
BC was scheduled to compete in the BC Classic over the weekend of Feb. 25-27.
The classic was postponed due to traveling restrictions with the weather and would have been a seven-team tournament.
The teams in the classic would have included last year state champion Cypress, last year runner up Mt. San Antonio College, Sierra, Southwestern, Cuesta, COC and BC.
Of the 12 games scheduled the only one that took place was a 9-5 win for Sierra College (4-4) over BC.
Sierra pitcher Ashley McMahon surrendered eight hits while striking out six batters.
“I had a great defense behind me to help when I let batters on, and Sheyanne [Sierra’s catcher] was very vocal and helped me through the jams,” McMahon said.
The bright side for the Renegades is the play of Frankhouser.
Frankhouser has a team high .500 batting average for the Renegades, and has the team’s only home run. Frankhouser is fourth in the Western State Conference blue division in batting average.
“I do? That’s news to me I really didn’t know,” Frankhouser said in regard to her leading the team in batting average.
?”I don’t really pay attention to personal stats, softball is a team sport,” Frankhouser added.
BC will be on the road for a three-team event in Lancaster against Saddleback and Antelope Valley on March 5, and on the road in Valencia for a double-header against Canyons on March 10.
BC will return home against Glendale on March 15.