After the underseeded Lancers won the first game of their three-game first round playoff series on Friday against Santiago Canyon, anticipation built as to whether PCC might pull off the upset in a potential double-header on Saturday.
Despite the Lancers losing the finals, they managed to hype those rooting for them when they won their first game. They finished their playoff run, however, with consecutive losses, losing by scores of 4-3 and 6-4 in games two and three, respectively.
Left fielder Briana Hernandez was the Lancers first run which sparked the Lancers first point in game one. Angelica Lopez followed with a triple in the fourth ending and the point was unearned.
Game two was a one run contest, with the Lancers narrowly missing a two-game series sweep. By the fifth inning in game two on Saturday, Briana Hernandez had scored on throwing a error, a misstep that appeared to spark their opponents. The Hawks swooped in scoring their first point and ending game two with four points in total, forcing a decisive game three.
The Hawks capitalized in game three, displaying an unstoppable offense that left Lancers behind. It wasn’t until the second inning when Alex Howard scored the first point for the Lancers and Angelica Lopez scored their second run in the third inning causing them to slowly but surely catch up with the Hawks. Despite them trying their hardest to catch up, it wasn’t enough for them to steal the game.
Amanda Flores shared a competitive philosophy that she thought was helpful and wants to continue to use next season,“some techniques that I thought was helpful was the whole score first and score last…that really helped our team and for us to score first and get things done even faster,” she said.
If the team continues to work on their hitting, while also keeping their recent improvements on their score first and score last techniques, The Lancers could find greater success in the playoffs next time around.
While Flores ended the season with more walkoffs than anyone on the team, she had some personal struggles early in the year “For myself, [the problem] was hitting…I wasn’t all there as a teammate and as the season came by my hitting improved way more and my coach was happy about that.”
When it comes down to the nit and gritty, what this team has to do now is work on their hitting and making that their top priority when entering the new season next year. That’s what they struggled with the most as a team this season. If that is worked on from the beginning they’ll see the improvement and get them that win they want.
Being under the wing of head coach Monica Tantlinger, the Lancers have been to the postseason two years in a row for the first time since 2005-2006. If improvements are made they might make the two years in a row mark into three next season.
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