Two weeks after winning the Desert Classic, Bakersfield College’s women’s golf team placed second in the conference match in Santa Barbara.
BC shot a 326, nine strokes behind first place College of the Canyons. The host team, Santa Barbara, placed third with a 336.
Sophomore Dee Ray led BC along with a two-day score of 79. Stacie Netzer and Malea Miller both shot an 81. Lauren Netzer had an 85 and Paula Robinson rounded out BC’s five scores with an 87.
Head coach Robert Paillet was pleased with the play of his golfers.
“I am always impressed [with] how steadily Dee Ray plays. Her scores are so consistent. She battles all day and gives 100 percent every shot,” he said.
“Malea Miller is learning quickly how to adjust to courses she hasn’t seen before.”
The Renegades were looking to keep momentum going after their first place win and came up short.
“Well, we won our last tournament, so I guess we didn’t really improve. The greens were very different than the ones we practice on, plus we didn’t get a practice round. Playing a course sight unseen is very difficult.”
Paillet spoke about moving the focus on to the upcoming week.
“I worked a lot with our four, five and six players,” he said. “We need them to have a good week for us to win. Malea, Stacie, and Dee will all post good rounds. We need the other ladies to play well also to win.”
Coach Paillet also spoke about how good it felt to finish above Santa Barbara.
“Beating Santa Barbara on their home course was big, real big. They have a fine player, Nicole Bullemer, who shot a 75, best conference so far,” he said.
“But we were able to put up consistent scores, I’m pleased with that.”
The Renegades who have a conference match at Citrus and an invitational to play in the coming weeks are focused on moving forward and improving.
“We play to win. I give everyone, including myself, five minutes to be angry when we don’t. Then it’s time to put whatever happened behind us,” Paillet said.
“We shake hands, congratulate our opponent, and promise ourselves to try as hard as we can to beat them the next week.”