Junior left handed pitcher Aiden Chen wound up before hurling a pitch in a home game vs. Fremont on April 30. The pitch zipped into junior catcher Nathan Lee’s mitt. Chen had struck out yet another hitter.
However, in the next inning as the Falcons went up to bat, the first three batters struck out in quick succession, ultimately being unable to capitalize on the team’s strong pitching and defense in a 3-2 loss.
This trend was consistent throughout the season: despite often strong pitching and defense, the team didn’t score enough runs to win.
The Falcons finished in fourth place in the El Camino League with a 5-10 record.
Chen said their defense cleaned up and improved in execution throughout the year, especially because the players grew more comfortable playing together. Both Chen and junior Samanyu Ram, who recovered from a hamstring injury in February to become a key player for the team, allowed just over two earned runs a game while fellow junior Doug Bettinger finished with an ERA of 4.06. On offense, the team’s batting average was just .219.
“We were just not able to put pressure on the other team’s defense,” Chen said. “We gave them too many outs. We needed to have more competitive at-bats. The quality of contact needed to be better.”
Although the team did not qualify to CCS for this first year after qualifying for it in the past two seasons, the pitcher has seen the silver lining in this past season.
“The struggles would have been worth it if we perform to our potential next year. It’s just a lot of growing pains, and we just have to do better individually,” Chen said.
Chen feels that the team has a chance to drastically improve next year, considering that most of the players on the team will be returning and will have experience.
“Everyone’s gonna be a returner. We might lose a couple of transfers, but everyone’s going to have a year of experience and a proper off-season,” Chen said. “And we’ll have strong senior power because we have six juniors right now. If everyone stays healthy, we’re gonna be a problem [for the opposing teams] next year.”
