DENNIS SILVA II | STAFF WRITER
MISSION — During the week leading up to the Region IV-5A golf tournament earlier this month, Sharyland High junior Ana Jose Erana made a proud proclamation to coach Fernando Rodriguez.
“She told me, ‘I feel good, Coach. I’m going to win,’” Rodriguez recalled.
The boastful claim was not characteristic of the humble player. But it was reflective of the cool calm that envelops the Lady Rattlers’ girls golf team. Erana, indeed, won a two-hole play-off and finished with a two-day score of 143 to win first place, and Sharyland High won second place as a team to earn a third consecutive trip to state next week at Wolfdancer Golf Club in Lost Pines.
“She predicted it,” Rodriguez said. “She played her game, she was focused and she pulled it out. She accomplished what she said she would.”
Sharyland High has a business-like approach heading into next week’s tournament. For the Lady Rattlers to play on the sport’s biggest stage is nothing new.
But Erana’s bold statement before regionals is indicative of the team’s mindset. The Lady Rattlers are not just happy to still be playing in late April.
“We just continue to practice and have the same mentality we have all year,” Erana said. “We know how much work it takes to get where we are. We’re not complacent. I think that’s what’s helped us.
“The main thing we’ve taken from these past few years is that we’re just as talented as anyone else. We need to believe in ourselves and we need to have confidence.”
While Erana is the leader of the pack, the Lady Rattlers are tough one through five. At regionals, three other Rattlers finished in the top 20 individually: Michelle Moroles (eighth), and sisters Mariana Flores (16th) and Raquel Flores (20th). Christina Shinn-Roldan barely finished out of that, with a 23rd-place finish.
“The girls have just been consistent,” said Rodriguez, coaching his fourth golf team and fifth individual to a state meet. “But at regionals, Raquel came through for us with a 78 on the second day. That’s big for a freshman.
“It’s just been a team effort, and to see all the girls step up and perform was huge. That’s what’s going to be needed at state.”
Rodriguez is in his first year as coach of the Sharyland High girls team. He coached the boys the last three years, but girls coach Susan Lopez left to head the Sharyland Pioneer golf program prior to this school year.
Attention to detail and team chemistry, Mariana Flores said, have been essential elements of Rodriguez’s coaching.
“He brought us together,” Flores said. “We practice a lot more and he taught us how to play hole by hole. With Coach, it’s about the details and not getting ahead of yourself. It’s about being together.
“We hang out more and we’re as close as we’ve ever been. It’s been something special.”
Rodriguez said he has done nothing more than bring positive energy and a “next hole up” game plan.
“What makes a successful golfer is someone who moves on quickly after doing something wrong,” Mariana Flores said. “You can hurt yourself by getting upset and mad and letting that stay. The golfers who can forget and move on are the ones who go far.”
Erana is a perfect example of the type of player Rodriguez desires. She speaks like a coach, emphasizing “playing the course” and “focusing on my game.” It’s a cliché, but it’s what’s worked.
The process entails learning from mistakes and experience.
“I’ve just improved overall,” Erana said. “My mental game is a lot better, and I’m not the same player I was a year ago. It’s not so much the technique or physical side, it’s the mental side that has really pushed me to another level.”
That focus has Sharyland High looking at next week’s tournament as just the next one on the schedule.
“It’s just another tournament. It’s 18 holes,” Rodriguez said. “And again, you’re playing the course. You don’t focus on other players. You stay positive and try and beat the course. Grind it out.”