The 2023 North Coast Section softball champions are back on the field with hopes to secure back-to-back titles.
Last season the team went 21-9 en route to its first NCS title before the season ended in the first round of the state championship tournament.
This year, Cal has started the season strong with a record of 5-2, only losing to San Ramon Valley and Alameda.
The team as a whole has high expectations has high expectations following a successful NCS-winning season.
“My expectation is that we are going to repeat. Its our expectation collectively,” head coach Tony Bari said. “I still feel that we have the best team in the league.”
With all their captains already committed to play in college, That claim isn’t far fetched.
Seniors Kaitlyn Le and Hailey Godin are committed to play at CSU Monterey Bay and Muhlenberg College respectively, while junior Jayda Crosby is committed to Fresno State when she graduates.
“We know that we have insane talent,” Bari Said.
The Grizzlies have maintained their core, allowing for strong team chemistry, but they are still adjusting as the season is still in its early stages. Cal expects to continue improving.
“We are trying to build more team chemistry since we have five new players and we just want to build a stronger bond,” Le said.
One of the five new girl to this years varsity squad is sophomore Kayla Steel.
Last year, Steel played on the JV team as a freshman. Even though she plays travel ball with some of her current teammates, this season is her first time playing with the majority of the girls on the team.
“[Being on varsity] was more intense and faster,” Steel said. “On varsity it was more serious.”
But Steel said the transition to varsity was made a little easier because she knew some of the starters. Despite winning NCS last year, the team makes sure to play in the moment and take each game as the come to avoid getting too confident.
“We know we won NCS last year, so sometimes we go into games thinking that we are going to win,” Steel said.
The team also feels that they are the team to beat and that other teams definitely know that too.
Bari said that one notable experience was Cal’s recent game against SRV, which the Grizzlies beat last year to win NCS.
The game was very close, but the Wolves won 2-1.
Despite having two losses on their record, Bari believes that if their team was at full strength against Alameda, they would not have lost.
“We are 4-2, but both games were games we should have won,” Bari said before the team won its fifth game. “We should be at least 5-1 and we really could have been 6-0.”
With plans to win a second championship, the team is choosing to stick to what worked last year.
They have two-and-a-half hour practices each day except on game days.
Bari said the team works through three modules with new drills thrown in.
“We practice on the different pitches that we’re working on so we can do better in game,” Crosby said.
But Bari said the main thing that he’s looking forward to is the competitive spirit of his athletes to come out like he saw last year to get the same result: a championship.
“We’re still pushing them to have a little swagger, to have more confidence, to really show that they are the champions,” Bari said.
Bari believes that it might take a while for players to relearn that mentality, but doing so will lead to a more cohesive team, one that he thinks could be even better suited to win.
A more cohesive team would make Cal more adaptable when it needs players to step up in spots they aren’t used to being in. Although the Grizzlies are off to a solid start, they will have to stay hungry to defend their title.
In the always competitive EBAL, Cal will h ave to compete with undefeated SRV and a strong 2-1 Foothill team.
In NCS, Cal could also have to face strong programs like Amador Valley and San Leandro.
“It’s a tall order, but we’re not playing for second place,” Bari said.
