The drought is over. Southwestern College will see postseason softball. Finally.
Riding a six-game winning streak, the Lady Jaguars slugged their way into the playoffs for the first time in SWC history.
The Lady Jags caught fire at the right time and in a three-week span beat four PCC foes: Grossmont, Mesa, Imperial Valley and San Diego City.
After a 25-12 regular season the softball players insist they are ready to play some hardball.
Head Coach Yasmin Mossadeghi has transformed SWC’s squad into a hard-hitting lineup that is feared throughout the region.
Mossadeghi, who literally wrote the book on hitting a softball a long way, said her team will hit the playoffs swinging hard.
“I am very confident in my team because the last three games we’ve been really prepared against strong opponents,” she said. “We’ve been behind, but came back in the seventh to win it. That’s what the playoffs are like. At this level, all the teams are tough, so we just gotta stay with the short game, stay with the power hitting and stay with our pitching. It’s very important to hit our spots to
keep our opponents at bay.”
Her players said Mossadeghi’s enthusiasm is contagious.
“We’ve been doing good,” said pitcher Monica Armas. “We’ve gotten farther than we have in the past years and even though we’ve lost a couple games on errors, games that we could have won. I’m pretty satisfied with what we’ve accomplished so far.”
Armas said she sees the Lady Jags going deep into the playoffs.
“We work together as a team and we don’t let each other down,” she said. “It’s not about individuals, we just work as a team and that’s what keeps us together.”
Outfielder Michelle Centrullo said her team faced tough opponents, but were able to overcome the challenges.
“We did a lot more than what other people expected,” she said. “We were the underdogs and we came up and beat a lot of teams that were highly competitive.”
Armas said the gloves and bats will be the deciding factors.
“I’m pretty confident in my team,” said Armas. “But we just gotta make sure our defense and our hitting are on. That’s the key.”
Assistant coach Dani Bishop added pitching to that recipe.
“Our pitching has to be on,” she said. “We gotta hit ground balls, line drives and score runs. We’ve had a little trouble popping up, so we gotta keep the ball on the ground and hit it hard in the gap.”
Mossadeghi said the softball team’s history as winners starts now. For everything there’s a first time.