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. 

Sierra Hyland is the most decorated softball player in Cal Poly history. By Owen Main

I wanted to write a quick note about Sierra Hyland. I haven’t covered Cal Poly softball this season like I wanted to, and Hyland’s senior campaign has been really good. She’s set the Big West mark for strikeouts and player of the week honors and I would think there’s a good argument that she’s the conference’s all-time best player. 

Today, Hyland was drafted fourth by the Chicago Bandits of National Pro Fastpitch.

The Bandits have won the league twice in a row and Hyland is the first Cal Poly player to be drafted. It’s just another accolade given to the most decorated player in Cal Poly history. 

After starting the season red-hot, Cal Poly is just 5-7 in Big West play this year.  

Congratulations to Sierra Hyland for being drafted 4th overall by the @Chicago_Bandits of National Pro Fastpitch! #RideHigh #NPFDraft2017 pic.twitter.com/wNELdzdfiO

— Cal Poly Softball (@CalPolySoftball) April 25, 2017

Who has the time anymore?

On Saturday, I attended six sporting events on-campus at Cal Poly over the course of about 12 hours. To do it, I had to use my bicycle, saddle bags, and a backpack. My photography gear went with me everywhere. Today is Monday and I have over half the photos edited and decided it was time to write something.

To find all the photos from Saturday and more, visit photos.fansmanship.com

Here’s how the day went:

The Alumni softball players seemed like they were having a great weekend. By Owen Main

10:30 – Softball Alumni warm-up (Janssen Field)

With two 11:00 events, I decided to ride my bike out to Janssen Field and start with the softball team. Jenny Condon’s team played their alumni game — the alumni arriving a little later than the current team.

I stayed long enough to talk to Condon for a few minutes, take some shots of both teams, and watch Sierra Hyland strike out the side on ten pitches in the first inning. The turnout there was as big as a lot of home softball games and the strength of the alumni group was impressive, but it was time to move-on.

Those swim meets go fast! By Owen Main

11:15 – Swimming and Diving (Cal Poly Swm/Dive Complex)

The Cal Poly women’s swim/dive team is not one that I’ve covered much, but I was on campus and I wanted to check it out. Their meet on Saturday was a home dual meet with Pepperdine. What I didn’t know coming in was how fast these meets go. I got there at 11:15 or 11:20 and there was ONE RACE LEFT. It was a relay and Cal Poly won, but I didn’t get a ton of photos.

Here’s the Cal Poly recap of the meet and the few photos I took that are actually worth anything.

No worries — I now have a jumping-off point to cover this team more in the future. Also, swimmers (and water polo players) are amazing to me. You want an activity to help you get all-around fit and strong? — swimming is a pretty good one.

12:00 – Cal Poly men’s soccer vs. UC Irvine (Spanos Stadium)

Senior Matt LaGrassa helped ensure his team didn’t play its last game of the season on Saturday. By Owen Main

This was the first “big game” of the day. Cal Poly men’s soccer faced UC Irvine in a Big West Conference Tournament first-round game. The Mustangs hadn’t ever won a Big West Tournament game.

I was there in plenty of time to get the kickoff. Honestly, the game was kind of an ugly one. UC Irvine did a really great job dispossessing Cal Poly’s midfielders and disrupting a lot of flow. Lucky for Cal Poly, they got a 5th minute goal from Justin Dhillon and then hung-on for dear life to win the match 1-0.

The match was really, really physical. I think that’s the game plan for other teams against the Mustangs — just try to wear the technically-gifted, albeit smaller side down. Wednesday’s semifinal match at Cal State Fullerton should be another interesting clash of styles. Fullerton will probably try to use UCI’s game-plan as a blueprint for stopping Cal Poly’s attack and the Mustangs will have to find a way to play through it if they want to go to the final.

My last quick note about the Big West Tournament — three of the four teams remaining are from the Northern Division. Cal State Fullerton is the last team left from the South.

While it’s been cold at night in San Luis Obispo, the temperature felt over 80 degrees on the field for the noon game, and I was a little wiped-out afterwards. But the baseball field was calling. I got back on my bike and headed for Baggett Stadium.

Cal Poly baseball vs. Loyola Marymount (Baggett Stadium)

It seemed like a long, fun day of Fall baseball for everyone out at Baggett Stadium on Saturday. By Owen Main

I was surprised at how many people were out Baggett Field when I had been at the complex for softball earlier. I counted over a dozen people that looked like scouts who were there before 11:00 to watch batting practice and warm-ups. I guess if you’re a scout and it’s November, having a chance to watch players in warm-up and game situations will probably give you some good off-season information. Or maybe there’s just not a lot else to do.

Whatever was going on, I think I arrived in the 5th or 6th inning of what was going to be a marathon 16-inning day. Players were BBQ’ing behind the bullpen, the smoke wafting into the late afternoon Fall haze — long shadows everywhere.

The atmosphere was a little surreal — the bleachers that make Baggett feel a little bigger aren’t there this time of year — and probably over 100 spectators were taking in the game. I always love shooting events like this because of the people you meet and the more relaxed atmosphere as compared to a regular-season game.

This was also the first time I’d seen Cal Poly baseball with Chal Fanning as the new pitching coach. He has a lot of new faces to work with this season, including Erich Uehlman, who looked pretty sharp for the inning or so I saw him.

It was past 3:00 at this point. I was tired. I was hungry. It was time to go to volleyball.

Cal Poly volleyball vs. UC Davis

This was the last point I shot at Mott on Saturday. By Owen Main

This was where I kind of hit a wall. I shot a little more than a set. Then, faced with over 2,000 photos I’d already taken on the day, went about editing during sets 2 and 3. Cal Poly seemed a little sluggish. Davis fans travel well and make lots of noise. It’s amazing to me what noise, positive energy, and enthusiasm in a gym do for a sport like volleyball. When I finally left at about 5:20, Cal Poly was up 2 sets to 1. They would go on to lose 3-2.

Their outside shot of making the NCAA Tournament probably disappeared with that loss. I thought the media asked Sam too much about potential playoff scenarios the other day. Those really only make a difference if Cal Poly would have won out or come close to it.

It was dark. I hadn’t finished editing soccer. Football was starting. I got on my bike and coasted down the hill, back to where I started — the parking lot at Spanos.

Cal Poly Football vs. Sacramento State

Jordan Hines is a really talented receiver for Cal Poly. Here’s the first touchdown of the game for the Mustangs. By Owen Main

After locking my bike up and putting some pants on (it was getting COLD), I went back into Spanos. The Fall in SLO can be really dynamic. After being in hot, scorching sun all day at the soccer game, the air was crisp and cool for the football game. Cal Poly and Sacramento State came in with identical records, but Cal Poly was pretty clearly the better team.

Nobody on the Mustangs rushed for even 100 yards, but the team still was able to control the game and score at-will. The Mustang defense and special teams were especially impressive, blocking a field goal attempt early, and holding Sac State scoreless until late in the the third quarter.

This Cal Poly season will be one I’ll remember for the teams Cal Poly played and the small bounces that turned a few games. Turnovers and mistakes against Eastern Washington, Portland State and Southern Utah could have easily bounced in Cal Poly’s direction. In the end, the Mustangs were on the short end of these plays and while I think teams earn their luck, Cal Poly gave themselves every opportunity to win those games against tough conference opponents — all of whom are in the Top-25.

In fact, by the time the season ends, Cal Poly will only have played two games (Sac State, @UC Davis) against teams who haven’t been ranked in the top 25 this season. I guess you could include Arizona State into that mix, but I think it’s safe to assume they also would have make the FCS top-25.

Nine out of eleven games against top-flight opponents. Cal Poly must still feel like they missed big opportunities, but it’s not like they played horribly or against a ton of bad teams.

I got my bike off the rack, loaded up my truck, and headed out, almost 12 hours and six games after I’d arrived.

Aftermath

It was 9:30 and I was beat. No, I didn’t go do post-game football interviews this night. Instead, I went home, to my patient wife, who had put up with a 2 year-old all day Saturday. Sunday was going to be rough, and the alarm clock that is a two year-old cannot be unplugged. So many photos to sort through and edit. So much content to write.

I’m glad I did what I did Saturday. It was fun. With a second kid on the way, I doubt I’ll do it again anytime soon. I encourage you to look through the photo galleries. I make a face at you if you’re a screen-shotter.

To find all the photos from Saturday and more, visit photos.fansmanship.com

While our area is beautiful, and nature provides its own entertainment much of the year, we live in a place that’s generally isolated from things like high-level sports and other kinds of entertainment. It’s my stance that we have to take advantage of these opportunities when they present themselves. And, while ALL six of the events I attended Saturday weren’t super riveting, they were all really fun. From an alumni game to a playoff matchup, a scrimmage to a football game between two teams with losing records, I am more thankful than ever that we have athletics right in our back yard.

Not to get too self aggrandizing or whatever, but we started this website because we are all geeks about sports in our own way. For me on Saturday, it was all in my back yard.

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.

Freshman pitcher Sierra Hyland started both Tuesday night games for Cal Poly. By Owen Main

Tuesday night was a big night at the Cal Poly baseball/softball complex. While the top-ranked baseball team played San Jose State, the resurgent softball program hosted Cal State Bakersfield for a doubleheader.

Both games went into extra innings. When Cal Poly left the bases loaded in the bottom of the eighth inning of the first game, the Roadrunners won it 7-5.

In the nightcap, the game remained scoreless until Lauren Moreno singled home the winning run in the bottom of the ninth inning.

The Cal Poly softball team is now 26-17 overall and tied for third place in the Big West Conference with a 7-5 record. They host the team their tied for third-place with, Cal State Fullerton, this weekend on Saturday and Sunday.

Photos by Owen Main

[See image gallery at www.fansmanship.com]