Santa Clara Looks for Final Push in NCAA West Regionals

Track and field, softball, baseball and rowing conclude 2021 campaigns

Track and Field: Broncos Send Most Runners in School History to Regional Meet

Santa Clara Men’s Track and Field has had its fair share of shining moments throughout its run in the WCC. This year, Santa Clara will send five runners to the NCAA West Regional Championship meet in College Station, Texas from May 27-29. 

Broncos are spread across three different events: 3,000 meter steeplechase, 800 meters, and 5,000 meters. Senior Zach Litoff, redshirt senior Christian Razlowsky, and sophomore Harvey Chilcott will race the 3,000 meter steeplechase on May 28 at 4:10 p.m. PST. Litoff leads the group with a time of 8:43.4––a mark that has a standing chance to qualify for the NCAA Championships in June. 

In other events, sophomore Alex Scales will race the 800 meter Regional on May 26 at 5:50 p.m. PST with a qualifying mark of 1:49.8. Redshirt senior Jack Davidson will race the 5,000 meter at 6:30 p.m. PST on May 28. 

Before this year, the Broncos have never had more than two West Regional qualifiers in one season, which illustrates the program’s growth over recent years. 

Softball: Disappointing Season Offers Bright Spots for 2022 Campaign

Bronco softball has had a trying season, but they have shown flashes of what is to come for the young team filled with potential. 

Led by sophomore Emma Bickford and West Coast Conference (WCC) Defensive Player of the Year  Ashley Trierweiler, the Broncos started off playing .500 ball against teams like Stanford, California Baptist, and Sacramento State before losing 10 of 11 games at the midway point in one of the more rough patches of the season. 

Recently, the team has bounced back with a series win over University San Diego (USD) before stumbling against conference-foe Brigham Young University (BYU). They have accrued a record of 8-20, tied with USD at the bottom of the WCC. 

The team has averaged 2.67 runs per game this year and given up an average of 6.23 runs per game. This is not ideal but something to work on in order to get to the next tier within the WCC. If their offensive numbers improve, they show potential to rise above teams like Pacific and Saint Mary’s next season––especially because all but one graduating senior will return. 

Head Coach Gina Carbonatto will certainly have plenty of tools at her disposal next season and beyond, with a hungry roster that is ready to reach its potential and wreak havoc in the West.

Baseball: Looks to Bounce Back Against Bay Area Rival Saint Mary’s

The Bronco baseball team dropped its final two games against Pepperdine in what has been a subpar season. 

The team had a strong outing in the first game of the series with an 11-0 route against the Pepperdine Waves. The following two games, however, were not so promising, as they experienced an 8-4 and 3-2 defeat. 

Trying to salvage a series split on Sunday, the Broncos jumped to an early 1-0 lead before the Waves quickly rallied with two runs of their own. Santa Clara managed to knot it up at two runs apiece in the top of the 6th, but that did not last long; Pepperdine recaptured the lead with a solo shot by Billy Cook, now WCC’s home run leader. 

Santa Clara continues to average 4.9 runs per game with a .245 batting average. The team is giving up 5.5 runs a game with a 4.40 ERA, allowing an opponent batting average of .247. With an 8-19 conference record and 15-29 overall, they now sit second to last in the conference.  

The Broncos will look to bounce back against Saint Mary’s in what will be a four-game series, May 21-23. Some notable players to look out for are Jason Dicochea, Mike Bowes, and Jake MacNichols, who have combined for 81 RBIs this season (41% of the team’s total).

Rowing: Men Come Away with 1st, 2nd and 3rd Place Finishes; Two Women Named All-WCC

The Santa Clara Men’s Rowing Team had a successful weekend in the Western Sprints. The team managed to secure three top-three finishes, including a 2nd & 3rd place Varsity Eight boat finish and a 1st place Varsity Four finish. Some of the top competitors at the 2000m event were UC San Diego (UCSD), Gonzaga, and the University San Diego (USD).  

In the first Varsity Eight race, Santa Clara finished second with a time of 5:57.73, just two seconds behind UCSD, who finished with a time of 5:55.85. The Broncos lost some valuable seconds in the second race, but they still managed to come in third with a time of 6:12.78. The final race was Santa Clara’s most successful one of the day as they finished first in the Varsity Four boat with a time of 7:00.37.

The Broncos will look to carry this momentum into the season’s final event, the IRA National Championships. This event consists of 32 teams from across the country and will be held at Lake Mercer (West Windsor, N.J.) on May 28-29. 

The Women's Rowing Team finished their season in seventh place of the WCC with their lone racer at the Conference championship recording a time of 7:11.06. Morgan Jackson and Mollie Mertes were named all-WCC upon season end.