Although the Falcons went on a season-best three-game winning streak during their last four games, they were unable to pull themselves out of the cellar of the De Anza Division, finishing with a 4-10 record.
In addition, they were also eliminated in the first round of the DAL Playoffs on May 6 against Homestead and consequently failed to make CCS.
As a result, they will be competing in a lower El Camino Division next year.
Junior catcher/pitcher Nathan Peng attributed the disappointing record to the team’s inconsistency.
“On days when we had good offense, our defense lacked and vice versa,” Peng said.
Likewise, junior pitcher/outfielder Chris Auches said that the team’s end to the season stemmed from overconfidence and bad play.
Peng said players recognize the need to seriously reflect on what went wrong against Homestead.
The Falcons lost the May 5 game 17-4 to the Mustangs, followed by a frustrating 9-6 defeat the next day.
“We only needed to win one more time [to advance further], but we became overconfident because we beat [Homestead] three times in a row prior,” Auches said. “Also, our pitchers threw more walks than usual. These free bases led to runs that ended up really hurting us in the end.”
Had the boys won these games, they would have advanced to the second round of the DAL and most likely made CCS.
On May 5, Peng said many controversial calls, walks and other miscommunication between the players led the lopsided result.
“We had a 2-0 lead up until the fourth inning. Then they scored many runs and we lost bad,” Peng said.
In the May 6 game, the Falcons were leading 6-4 going into the seventh inning. Homestead rallied and scored five runs to grab the victory.
“Many of the same things which we failed to improve came back to haunt us in this game. It is a bitter end to a fun season,” Peng said.
This year the baseball coach changed to Sean Hudson, whose main focused on offense much more than the previous coach.
Despite the disappointing conclusion, Peng said that he really enjoyed this season and looks forward to next season.
“I think there are many key issues we need to work on such as communication, and not giving up,” Peng said. “We need to train harder so these same mistakes don’t keep hurting us game after game.”
Auches said that next year the Falcons will be able to do better in a lower league, as well as continue to refine the skills they had been lacking on this year, including teamwork and communication.
“We have the skill; we just need to improve on our defense and approaches at the plate,” Auches said. “I am confident that if we train the right way and avoid miscommunication between players during the game we can go far.”
