2003 SEASON PREVIEW Veteran Squad Leads Titan Softball Into
2003 Jan. 22, 2003 – Fullerton, Calif.
For all of the success the Cal State Fullerton softball team has had in
the past, fourth-year head coach Michelle
Gromacki and her staff have been quick to remind their players that
it is all exactly that... the past.
For the present, 2003 may just be the Titans’ chance to exorcise
those demons of the past three years and make some history of their own.
“The 2003 season is made up of a whole bunch of ‘today’s’,”
Gromacki said. “Our expectations lie within. Each one of us must
commit to helping us win a national championship beginning today.”
Fullerton returns 11 letterwinners (including six starters and the team’s
top two pitchers from a year ago) and a core group of seven seniors which
will power the Titans throughout the season.
“We’ve seen both sides of having this much experience this past
fall,” Gromacki said. “We’ve worked hard to have everyone
on the same page and, if that stays consistent throughout the year, that
will be our greatest strength.”
That group includes two first-team All-Americans, the 2002 Big West Player
of the Year, three All-West Region selections and five All-Big West Conference
selections.
The offense is powered by the bat of two-time All-America senior catcher
Jenny Topping, who
has set the school single-season record for average in each of the last
two seasons.
The two-time Big West Player of the Year hit .472 last season with nine
home runs and 33 RBI after missing the first 11 games of the year due
to injury. She led the team in six different offensive categories and
finished the year ranked fourth in the nation in batting average and ninth
in slugging.
Seniors Jodie Cox and
Gina Oaks will have opponents
wishing they only hit or pitched, but not both.
Oaks was named a first-team All-America utility player last season after
posting a 22-4 record with a 0.73 ERA in the circle while hitting .301
with a team-best 52 runs scored, 10 home runs and 32 RBI. Oaks was named
to the All-Big West Conference first-team as both a pitcher and third
baseman in 2002 – the first player in conference history to accomplish
that feat.
Cox wielded a big bat as a junior, hitting .325 with nine home runs and
38 RBI. She also scored 43 runs (which ranked second on the team) and
smacked nine doubles. Her average improved 73 percentage points last year
from the end of 2001 and she posted an 18-5 record (including a perfect
9-0 Big West record) in the circle to go with a 1.54 ERA.
In some ways, senior shortstop Amanda
Hockett is the most dangerous player on the Titan roster.
Despite hitting just .250 with eight home runs and 33 RBI, Hockett had
a knack for jumpstarting the Titan offense by getting on base thanks to
being hit by a pitch 20 times in 2002. Hockett was an All-Big West second
team selection last season, slugging .429 and boasting the fourth-best
on-base percentage (.386) among Titan regulars.
Senior infielder Amy
LaRocque had a career year as a junior, making 56 starts in 59 appearances,
LaRocque hit .272 with a pair of home runs and 25 RBI while setting career
bests in just about every category.
LaRocque saw action at three different positions in 2002, playing mostly
at third base when Oaks was pitching, and designated player.
Senior Kristy Halagarda
saw action in 36 games last season, mostly as a late-inning defensive
replacement in the outfield or as a pinch runner.
Halagarda hit just .174 in 23 at-bats while scoring nine runs and tying
Cox for the team lead with two triples. She amassed an on-base percenatge
of .406 and was a threat to steal, swiping 3-of-6 bases for a team which
did not run very much in 2002.
Senior Krista O’Hanian,
who is in her second season with the Titans after tranferring from Illinois
State, wowed the crowd on more than one occasion with diving catches in
the outfield and should compete for starting time at the position this
year.
O’Hanian appeared in 38 games for the Titans, mostly as a defensive
replacement or pinch-runner, but did show some skill with the bat when
given the chance. She hit .294 on the year with 13 runs scored, three
doubles and four RBI.
The junior class is thin for the Titans, but all will play major roles
for Cal State Fullerton in the upcoming season.
With the loss of Topping for 11games early in the season due to injury,
Jennifer Holt did a stellar job of holding the pitching staff together.
After missing the latter part of her freshman year due to injury, Holt
hit just .167 on the year with six runs scored, a pair of doubles and
two RBI. In the field, Holt made just one error in 267 chances (.992),
ranking fifth on the team in that category.
Sparkplug Julie Watson,
who enjoyed a stellar rookie campaign in 2001, struggled in 2002, hitting
just .214 on the year with 19 runs and six RBI. However, she was very
productive with runners on base, finishing second on the team with seven
sacrifice hits.
Sophomores Heather
Saltarelli and Caylin
Hornish saw limited action as rookies in 2002, but should compete
for playing time on the squad this season.
Saltarelli appeared in 39 games, mostly as a pinch runner, scoring 12
runs and stealing 3-of-6 bases. Perhaps the highlight of her year came
on the road in the rarified air at Utah State, where she smacked a two-run
home run down the right field line for her first career hit.
Hornish appeared in 14 games, making six starts at catcher and first base
early in the year with the losses of Topping and Monica Lucatero to injury.
She hit just .211 on the season with a double and two RBI.
Cal State Fullerton will welcome four newcomers for the 2003 season, two
of those via the transfer.
Junior Inez Vasquez
from Santa Ana College will provide the Titans with a little bit of everything
after a stellar career with the Dons.
The outfielder finished her career with a .355 average – including
.394 as a freshman – 38 RBI and 37-of-40 in stolen bases. Vasquez,
a two-time All-Orange Empire Conference selection, amassed a career total
of 66 runs scored which stands second in school history.
Sophomore Jody Campbell
came to Cal State Fullerton after one season at Cypress College where
she helped the Chargers to the Orange Empire Conference title as a freshman
in 2002.
Cypress College went 46-8 overall in 2002 and was the No. 2 seed in the
state tournament before finishing fourth. Campbell hit .308 with 31 RBI
and 28 runs scored, while leading the team in doubles with 12.
Freshman Roxy Moran
will shore up the pitching staff and, if bloodlines have any say in things,
she may be destined for greatness.
Moran was a four-time all-league selection and a two-time All-CIF honoree
at Cajon HS. Her sister, Lana, was a 1998 All-America pitcher at Oklahoma
and was part of the 2000 National Championship squad.
Freshman Crystal Medina
will add depth and speed to the Titan infield in 2003. Medina, who played
second and third base and even did a little pitching with Mt. Whitney
HS in Visalia, Calif., was a three-time all-league selection for the Pioneers.
“As far as the newcomers go, we will have to include our sophomores
as well,” Gromacki said. “We, as a staff, think they need to
step up and contribute positively, whether that be on or off the field.
“It is vital for the future of the program and we will push for that
to happen.”
The schedule will be up to par with recent years as Cal State Fullerton
will face 14 teams ranked in the 2002 final polls – six of those
in the top 10 – and the possibility of five other top 25 teams at
the Kia Klassic.
The Titans will face Pacific-10 Conference powerhouses Arizona and UCLA
in non-conference doubleheaders, while taking on defending National Champion
California in Fullerton’s first game of the 2003 Worth Invitational.
Nationally-ranked Nebraska, Oklahoma, LSU, South Carolina, Stanford, Texas
A&M, and Massachusetts will dot the schedule in four tournaments at
UCLA, Arizona State, UNLV and the NFCA Leadoff Classic in Columbus, Ga.
Oregon State will close out the Worth Invitational slate and a three-game
home series with conference rival Pacific will highlight an always difficult
schedule in an ever-improving Big West.
“We believe that this year’s schedule is our most difficult,”
Gromacki said. “More knowledge is gained and more lessons are learned
early on. We’re not afraid of that.
“Sailing the ship through adversities is the only way we are going
to win the national championship.”
