By EDWARD SEVERN, Staff Writer
SANTA ROSA — The District 32-3A champion Santa Rosa Lady Warriors’ small program is made up of only 12 girls.
First-year coach Nathan Alvarado shares his athletes with other sports at the school.
“The biggest thing that I try and preach to them is that we are establishing a foundation here,” Alvarado said. “Coach Molina is still here, these girls have lots of respect and love for her, they miss her and talk about her all the time. They know I am someone new and that I am trying to bring in my own flavor to the game.”
Alvarado said it is a young team, that some of the seniors it has have not played the sport in years. It is imperative that the team builds a foundation for next year, when they are placed into a more competitive district that features Rio Hondo and Lyford.
One of the seniors that returned to softball after not playing is senior first baseman Christy Perez.
“I am very excited and nervous,” she said about the upcoming area-round playoff series against Corpus Christi London. “I only played my freshman year, but I really believe in my team because we started at the bottom and grew a lot. I am very impressed with the youngsters.”
Perez has been impressed by one freshman in particular, DJ Ruiz. The freshman has played select ball since she was 5 or 6 years old.
“We have done pretty well this season,” Ruiz said. “It does not matter if we win or lose to London, it just matters to me how well we fight. A win is the best thing we can do, but whatever happens, happens.”
Junior state powerlifting champion Leslie Flores will hope to translate some of that power to the diamond when the teams square off in Falfurrias. Flores has seen the improvement of the team, too.
“From the start we were very rocky,” she said. “We have kept practicing and honestly got better. We have surprised everybody, even our coach. We have been in this situation before and it did not end well. Hopefully this year is better.”
Like many small schools, the Lady Warriors have to share their athletes with other sports and life. Some of the team ran track, creating logistical nightmares. On Tuesday, a couple of girls missed practice to get fitted for prom.
“The season is kind of weird,” junior shortstop Brianna Gaytan said. “We came back with only four returning players. Right now, we are in a district where we do not play people at our level. I feel like that impacts us a lot.”
Gaytan said that could hurt them when they go into playoffs because they played down to their opponents in district.
The Lady Warriors will face their sternest test of the season when they face Corpus Christi London. The series is set to begin Thursday.