Local College Sports News

I cover baseball, softball, and women's tennis at Cal State Fullerton for the school newspaper (Daily Titan).

Head on over to the Daily Titan on the daily to find my articles, or check them out on here as I will post some on this site...

Softball preview for this year (for a good team):
The Cal State Fullerton softball team enters the 2008 season with high expectations as it starts its season ranked among the nation's best. The Titans open the year ranked 21st in the USA Today/NFCA Preseason Coaches Poll and tied for 24th with Texas in the ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25, following a postseason run into the super regional round last year.

Although the Titans are nationally ranked, they were picked to finish second in the Big West Conference according to votes by the league's coaches. Defending league champion Cal Poly Pomona was picked to finish first in the preseason poll, who were not ranked in the national preseason top 25.

Head Coach Michelle Gromacki said she knows the team will have extra motivation to succeed after by being picked to finish second despite receiving one more first place vote than Cal Poly.

"I think they (the players) take pride in that. I think they are a little bent out of shape that we were picked second in conference, but I think that is probably better," Gromacki said.

This year's squad is returning eight starters from last year, something that may help the seven newcomers adjust to the NCAA play. Gromacki said the returning nucleus is a huge part of this season and will allow the returning players to teach the younger players to act as leaders.

Senior Jessica Doucette, one of the eight returning starters, is the only returning starting pitcher from 2007. She posted a 2.58 ERA while compiling an 8-5 record in the 2007 campaign.

"I have big shoes to fill," Doucette said. "There is nothing else you can do but play hard and keeping working out every day in the bullpen."

Two freshmen pitchers, Arianna Cervantes and Christine Hiner, will join Doucette in the starting rotation for the Titans.

"We got two young pitchers on the mound this year that are definitely going to do some things for us in the circle," Gromacki said. "We are going to need them to hold down the fort. They're going to get the innings."

The schedule for the Titans is a tough one, in that it features games against 12 of the preseason top 25 teams in the nation.

One thing Gromacki said will help the young pitchers is producing runs, something senior starting catcher Kiki Munoz can provide. Munoz led the Titans in both batting average and hits last season, and knows a schedule is just a schedule.

"Our biggest opponent is definitely ourselves. That is how it is, you go out there … you play whoever is out there," Munoz said. "We ended off well last year and we just want to keep [it] consistent. We expect a lot of our team."

The team will be led by three Big West all-conference team selections from a year ago in Munoz, Doucette and junior Lauren Lupinetti.

Fullerton was eliminated last year in the super regional round by the University of Arizona, but became the first Big West school to advance to that round since it was instituted in 2005.

One thing the Titans can take from their first NCAA regional victory since 2005 is experience that the returning players can build on and also pass onto the new members of the team.

"Everyone has a taste of it (super regional round). It's hard to taste when you do not know what the flavor is supposed to be," Gromacki said. "The thing I like the most is that they saw what you can do at the end even though we had a struggle throughout the year."

The Titans open their 2008 season hosting Santa Clara at Anderson Family Field on Friday at 6 p.m.