Lack of experience plagues team

After showing great improvement and finishing the 2009-10 season with a record of 16-22 overall (12-12 in the Bay Valley Conference), everyone in the softball program had high hopes entering the 2010-11 season under third-year coach Ed Miller.

The Comets, however, could not manage a single win for the season as the team even struggled to put enough players on the field after an off-season altercation between players resulted in Miller having to remove some players from the team.

"We had a couple of cancerous cells on the team and it didn't make right for a positive (experience), so I had to get rid of those players for the sake of the program," Miller told The Advocate earlier in the year. "We're basically starting over again and it's going to be a challenge this season."

Miller said he entered the season expecting 15 to 17 players to play for his squad, but after the dust settled the Comets had only nine players.

Due to the short roster CCC (0-28 overall, 0-24 in the BVC) found it difficult to field a team, cancelling 15 preseason games and forfeiting five BVC games.

In spite of these obstacles, Miller continued to run practices with his nine-player roster in hopes of completing the season.

In the games that were played by the Comets the squad was often blown out, or games were cut short by the 10-run lead "mercy rule," due to the team having young and inexperienced players.

"It will haunt a team if it doesn't have experienced players," Miller said. "(The lack of experience) came back to haunt us."

Lack of experience by CCC was evident in games as players, primarily on defense, often looked confused and failed to communicate with each other resulting in numerous errors. For the season the softball team committed a total of 77 errors.

Many of those errors occurred between the pitcher and catcher as often the catcher would overthrow the pitcher after a wild pitch, resulting in the opponent stealing bases.

"We still have a new team; some of us are new to our positions," Comet shortstop Jessica Miller said after a April 26 home loss against Napa Valley College. "Defense is something we need to improve on."

Due to CCC having such a small roster, fatigue would work against it as the team lost its intensity resulting in lopsided scores.

While the Comets failed to win a game this season, Miller and his Comets kept their heads held high and stayed optimistic for games.

"I'm proud that my players were able to do work on and off the field," Miller said. "And several players did extremely well in the classroom."

Players agreed that despite not winning a game they learned a lot from the season to help build their character.

"I learned to keep (fighting)," freshman third baseman Juanita Jackson said. "We lost every game, but we still came out to practice and competed in every game."