Aragon athlete pitches at the game against San Mateo High School
The Lady Dons, looking for their fourth win of the season, squared off against the division rival, Half Moon Bay Cougars, on April 17. Aragon came out strong, scoring three runs. The inning featured a home run by junior Jessie Doss and a diving catch by junior Sarah Nelson.
Then, following an offensive output in the fourth, the Lady Dons executed well on defense, giving the team a 10-6 lead entering the seventh inning.
However, during that inning, Aragon’s recurring struggles surfaced and signs of mental fatigue along with miscommunication—or as the team calls it, “the case of the onesies”—began to show. Sophomore Annika Hom says, “We have that one inning every game that we just lose it all in the field. After someone makes one error, another person does and we lose all recovery. I think all of this is just mental game.”
“Oftentimes, our biggest challenge is probably the difficulty we face in living in the ‘now’ and flushing our mistakes,” says Nelson. “Because once we make a mistake, we tend to fall into this hole that we are then unable to get out of.”
Later, with the score at 13-10 in the bottom of the seventh, junior Courtney Ching stepped to the plate with the bases loaded and smacked a double into the gap. Two runners scored, but the third was thrown out at the plate by a hair, ending the game.
“We all wanted to win the game very badly, but we kept committing errors,” says, sophomore Sophia Cerreta. “I am sure that we all felt the pressure. Emotions were running high during the game and after the loss, especially because we made the same mistakes that we have made many times before.”
Reynolds adds, “The game was definitely very intense and both teams clearly had a strong desire to win. But through our eyes, our performance down the stretch was sloppy compared to what we are capable of.”
The loss drops the team’s overall record to 3-13—eighth place in the Peninsula Athletic League Bay Division, with a league record of 1-6. Senior Nicole Horita reflects, “[Our record is] not ideal, but at the same time, success is not necessarily defined by a good record so much as by consistent growth. Overall, growth and improvement are much more important to us than wins and losses.”
Their growth is clearly noticable. In their last game against the Cougars, they lost 12-0.
This year, the team also brings a new face to the coaching staff with head coach Christie Hjelm, an Aragon alumnus of the Class of 1996. While Hjelm was playing for the Lady Dons, the team won First Team All-County Selection honors all four years. Hjelm went on to play Division I softball at the University of Nebraska, where her team won two First Team Big XII Conference Team honors. Her team was selected to the NCAA Women’s College World Series in 1998. Prior to being named the head coach of Aragon’s varsity softball team, she also served as the Pitching and Offensive Specialist and Recruiting Coordinator at Syracuse University and the University of Texas at San Antonio. She also volunteered as an assistant coach at the University of Nebraska. Her jersey number, 12, was retired when she was inducted to the Aragon Athletic Hall of Fame in 2011.
The Lady Dons will visit the Notre Dame Tigers (14-6) today at 4 p.m.
Record and standings are as of April 21.
