The Santa Rosa Junior College Bear Cubs softball team lost its regular season finale in heartbreaking fashion April 21 at Marv Mays field.
In a game that represented a perfect microcosm of the season, the Bear Cubs fought back from an early deficit to take a sixth-inning lead, then immediately coughed it up as a result of shaky defensive play.
Sophomore ace Dana Thomsen, one of six graduating sophomores, pitched a complete game in the losing effort, giving up eight hits and four runs. A couple of grooved pitches and timely hits allowed Sierra College to spoil the final game of Thomsen’s stellar two-year run at SRJC.
SRJC finished the season 20-20 overall, with a 7-14 Big 8 Conference record. As a young team, SRJC endured its fair share of growing pains throughout the season, but continued to play as a cohesive unit.
Thomsen said she’ll miss the feeling of unity and being a part of something bigger than yourself that playing for SRJC brought. For her, it is an unmatched feeling. “A team goes through everything together; always working towards a single goal. Though I look forward to graduating this spring, I will miss my teammates, my coaches and everything else that helps to make SRJC softball the unforgettable experience that it is.”
The Bear Cubs will head into next season with valuable experience from their last 40 games — a fact not lost on freshman shortstop Breanna Doane. While she admits the team didn’t advance as far this season as she had hoped, Doane is confident SRJC will take a big step forward next year and vie for a conference title.
She spoke highly of the coaching staff. “I am so grateful for the coaches we had this year, I learned so much from them about how important it is to stay positive and to shake off our mistakes, which allows us to move forward and keep improving.”
Doane said what she’ll miss most about the graduating women is their attitude. “They had a passion for the game that spread to all the players,” she said. “And they all had an amazing way of staying positive through the worst of our struggles; always there to pick up any teammate who was feeling down. I will miss them deeply next season.”
SRJC bids farewell to Thomsen, Hannah Williams, Mariah Gabriel, Jennifer Martin, Rebecca Steiner and Rusti Foster.
Though the resounding feeling among the tight-knit team is that each of the graduating sophomores is irreplaceable, the team is confident in its ability to compete for a playoff spot next season.
