In the final games of the season, the Chico State softball team won the first game of a four-game series against Sonoma State before the Seawolves took the rest of the series, ending the Wildcats' year with a three-game losing streak.
The losses against the Seawolves put the 'Cats at 15-34 overall and in ninth place at 8-27 in the California Collegiate Athletic Association.
Head coach Jamie Brown called it the "season of adversity."
The season was a challenge for the team because most of the players were new, and they were still dealing with the team's history, Brown said.
"As a coach you always expect to go to the playoffs," she said. "We should have done better than we did, but we hung in there."
One of team's setbacks this season was the lack of "depth, pitching-wise," Brown said.
The season may have had its lows, such as a nine-game losing streak, but it also had its highlights.
Some of the ups for the Wildcats included being placed in the gold bracket in the Best of the West tournament earlier in the season and winning three of four games against Cal State Dominquez Hills, Brown said.
For next season, the team looks to improve by welcoming six or seven new recruits, Brown said.
"They're very, very talented, and they're going to do well on and off the field," she said. "That's why I recruited them."
The team's lone senior, Lisa Whitney, played her first and final year with the Chico State softball team, and although she won't be returning as a player, she will return as the team's assistant coach.
"It's going to be sad not to put my on my cleats or uniform," Whitney said. "It would be even worse if I was leaving for good."
Brown suggested she take assistant coaching position, Whitney said.
In Chico State's only victory of the series, Whitney went 1-for-4 with an RBI, and Chelsea Lundberg was 3-for-4 with an RBI to help the 'Cats win 4-0 in the first game of a doubleheader Friday.
The 'Cats fell 4-1 in Friday's second game but played a closer first game Saturday, holding a one-run lead in the sixth inning before eventually losing 5-4 in extra innings.
Lundberg was 2-for-4, as was Allison Smith, who managed three RBIs in that game. But the Seawolves put together 14 hits compared to the 'Cats' nine.
Chico State closed the season Saturday in its fourth and final game against seventh-ranked Sonoma State with a 6-2 loss.
Whitney thought that the team performed well during the season but that they should have won more games, she said.
The season was considered the team's "rebuilding year," during which the players were getting to know each other and were starting to come together, Whitney said.
Reflecting on her season with Chico State, Whitney enjoyed the competition against teams such as Cal State Stanislaus, San Francisco State and Humboldt State-teams that swung the bat and did not look for a walk, she said.
Having the chance to be an assistant coach brings a new form of excitement that allows Whitney to see things from a different perspective for the upcoming season, she said.
"There's a lot of talent coming in, and there's a lot of talent returning," Whitney said. "I think it's awesome when you struggle to make a lineup because there are so many good people."
Some changes will be made next year in terms of coaching, including raising the team's goals and expectations, Brown said.
"When you have a season like this, everyone wants to be positive," she said. "I'm going to be harder on them because we should win a lot more games."
Ban Barkawi can be reached at bbarkawi@theorion.com
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