By Glen Rosales
Special to the SUN

The numbers may not exactly look grand right now, but Española Valley softball coach Kourtnie Polanco knows better days are not far off.

“All my freshmen were eighth graders last year and they’ve been playing together since they were five through Little League,” she said. “I did my best to move them all up (from junior varsity) last year during games where we were struggling or getting beat heavily to get those reps. We did know we were going and that they have to take a leadership role. It’s worked out well for us.”

The team has three seniors and two juniors, leaving the rest of the squad plenty of room for growth.

“I think we should do well in districts,” Polanco said. “I do have high hopes. My personal goal is to finish in the top three. Want to get better in district and put games together. If our girls can keep working and keep improving, we’ll be fine.

What also has Polanco feeling fine is the way her defense is working out, with her pitching staff taking center stage.

And leading the charge on the mound, senior Aliah Villalobos is proving to be an effective workhorse.

“It makes such a huge difference,” Polanco said of having a veteran ace in the circle. “She has that confidence, the flow. She takes control. She sets the tone, striking people out and telling the team, ‘Get on my back, I’ve got you guys.’ The defense knows they’re going get to an easy grounder or a pop fly so it’s nice having that leadership in the circle.”

And freshman Kayla Quintana is rounding into form as a strong backup who is providing innings as she prepares to take on full pitching duties in the future.

It leads to a strong performance from the fielders.

“Defensively is our strength,” Polanco said. “We have little to no errors. I know we’re not coming up with wins, but offensively, if we don’t score, we don’t win games. Defensively, we’re really tough. We just have to put a game together to get those Ws for us.”

The two pitchers rotate into center field when they’re not on the mound and they are flanked by youngsters Dionicka Maestas, a freshman leftfielder; and freshman right fielder Nayleah Martinez.

Around the infield, senior Leah Vigil has been a mainstay at first base since she joined the program four years ago.

Freshman Kaycelyn Romero at second and sophomore shortstop Sarai Morales are looking to be a young double-play combination that will button down the middle infield for years.

And senior Alyssa Lomayma holds down third base, where she has been a fixture for several years.

Working with the pitchers, eighth-grader Sofia Mondragon is looking wise beyond her years.

“We met her through Little League last summer and we told her she’s the only catcher in the entire program,” Polanco said. “She’s working hard and it’s tough catching 14 innings in one day, but we couldn’t ask any more from her. I’m ex-cited to see how she’s going to do in the next few years.

As a matter of fact, that’s the way the coach feels about all the youngsters.

“The freshmen are quick and they work hard,” Polanco said. “I have a lot of speed this year and that makes a big difference.”

Now the Lady Sundevils need to figure out how to unlock the offensive potential.

“I remind them that hitting is 70% failure,” she said. “We have to work through how to make those adjustments.”

Polanco pointed out how the Lady Sundevils battled at the plate in a recent game against Capital High School to come up with a win.

“Hopefully, that gives the girls confidence that we need,” she said. “We can keep up with these teams that are a lot stronger than us offensively. We’ve been incorporating a lot of T work and we finally got a pitching machine so we’ve been using that a ton. I do have five pitchers in the program, and we get a lot of live reps and the coaches all throw batting practice so we can get them seeing different speeds and spins and spots. We’ve been hunkering down for an hour of practice hitting, then go to live and see what happens.”