Jenny Condon’s Cal Poly softball team had high hopes for 2017. After winning nine of their final ten non-conference games, Cal Poly had started the season 24-8 going into conference play and were ranked in the national top-25.

Cal Poly softball will see maybe their all-time best player move-on to play professionally next season. By Owen Main

But conference play proved difficult. After winning series against UCSB and eventual champ Cal State Fullerton, the Mustangs were swept by Long Beach State and lost a series to CSUN en route to a disappointing 10-11 record in the Big West.

Their strong start wasn’t forgotten though. Cal Poly was selected to play in the National Invitational Softball Championship — sort of an NIT for softball. The Mustangs won their group and traveled to Virginia for the final round of the tournament, where they finished their season by losing two out of three. 

The three victories in the NISC were their first postseason wins in eight years.

The final season of Sierra Hyland’s career was another stellar one. Hyland finished with the most Big West Pitcher of the Week awards and Big West Athlete of the Week awards in the conference’s history. She leads the conference all-time in appearances (161), In an elimination game during the postseason tournament, Hyland threw her third career perfect game. She was 24-13 this season. Oh yeah, at the plate she hit .352 with the highest slugging percentage (.484) and on-base percentage (.398) 

Hyland wasn’t the only Mustang to have a standout year. Chelsea Convissar, a junior shortstop, hit .319. Crimson Kaiser and Stephanie Heyward rounded out the list of Mustangs with over a .300 batting average. 

Along with Hyland, Ashley Tornio, Shawna McDonough, and Courtney Tyler are departing seniors. When you have a transcendent player like the Mustangs have for four seasons, how you bounce back from losing that player can be indicative of the program’s health and depth. Five juniors return next season, including pitcher Lindsey Chalmers. Chalmers had a great season in her own right with a 13-8 record and ERA under 2.00. After missing out on an NCAA Tournament goal that was in reach this season, it will be worth watching how Condon’s team bounces back next season. 

Jenny Condon is entering her 11th season at the helm of the Cal Poly softball program. By Ray Ambler – RAPhotos.com

Going into her 11th season at Cal Poly, Jenny Condon has two conference titles under her belt, three Big West Coach of the Year Awards, and an incoming freshman class that composes about half her roster. We talked about what that means for her young squad and the challenges of having just one senior on her team.

We also discussed the speed of the game of softball, bat testing, tournaments, and what her first impression of San Luis Obispo was.

The Mustangs’ season begins Friday in Arizona. You can find Cal Poly’s softball schedule here.