The Sacramento State women’s softball team hit the ground running on the first day of the spring semester to begin its season. And with good reason: a preseason coaches’ poll tabbed the team to place first in the Pacific Coast Softball Conference and win the title again.

The Lady Hornets are hoping to improve on last season’s 32-21 record in which Sac State won its first Pacific Coast Softball Conference title.

In her 17th year at Sac State, Head Coach Kathy Strahan is not letting her team get too hyped with its preseason ranking.

“We acknowledged the honor and then set it aside. It does not matter; we still have to go play,” Strahan said.

The team’s success is not rocket science to Strahan.

“We hit the ball pretty well and play pretty good defense. I think the conference recognizes that,” she said.

Strahan puts all her squad’s accolades in perspective.

“I reminded the team that in the conference’s history, 50 percent of the time the team picked to win the conference did not win it,” she said.

Strahan’s subdued outlook has spread to her players.

“(There is) no pressure. We have a good team. We just have to take it day by day. We cannot take anything for granted,” said first team all-conference outfielder Izmena Cabrera.

The Hornets will be tested early, playing teams the likes of Notre Dame, UC Davis, and UC Berkeley before they head into conference play.

“A win against any of those teams could give us a lot of momentum going into conference play,” said second baseman Whitney Loomis.

“The Cal Poly Tournament is a big tournament because we will see some good competition and the Stanford Tournament will get us ready for our conference schedule,” Cabrera said.

After its showdown with the California Golden Bears and a double-header at home with Cal State Bakersfield on April 1, the Lady Hornets finally get into Pacific Coast Softball Conference action with a four-game series at home against San Diego University.

Sac State will finish its home stand with four games against the Gaels of Saint Mary’s.

Although all conference games are important, the last two weeks of April will be a determining factor as to how successful the season will be for the Lady Hornets. Sac State will travel out of state to take on Portland State. The Hornets will then travel back to Sacramento and take on the Lions of Loyola Marymount in four games.

“Portland State and Loyola Marymount are always tough. We always have to battle it out with them,” said catcher Jamie Schloredt. “I am looking forward to those games, especially after what happened at Loyola Marymount last year.”

The Hornets will finish the season the way it began it – on the road. Sac State will play the Santa Clara Broncos in four games on May 2 and 3.

Sac State has a good mixture of wise veterans and youthful talent on the 2009 squad. The Lady Hornets bring back 10 girls from the 2008 team.

Five girls are position starters and three are pitchers, but the Hornets have six freshmen on the team as well, three of whom are starters.

“Though they are talented freshmen, we are a little bit inexperienced on the mound and pitching is a big part of our game,” she said.

Second team all-conference junior pitcher Brittani Clifford must guide a young pitching staff.

“It is a challenge but our team is really good. I just want to lead my team and work really hard and we will be fine,” Clifford said.

The challenges of having a younger team does not faze Strahan’s older players.

“Our freshmen seem to be further along with what they know and what they have experienced,” Loomis said.

If the Lady Hornets are going to succeed in 2009 they are going to have to rely on seniors like Schloredt to produce.

“I hope to win the conference again. To go out with a bang my senior year would be awesome,” Schloredt said.

With so many new players, Strahan has had to adapt to her team’s strengths.

“We had more speed last year. This year we have more power offensively; I anticipate scoring a lot of runs and playing good defense,” she said.

“We get outs quickly on defense and basically everyone can really hit the ball,” Cabrera said. “We have enough girls returning who know what it takes to win and they can help carry the freshmen.”

“There is great chemistry on this team,” Loomis said. “We have power offensively, the pitching staff will be good, our ultimate goal is to win the conference championship.”

Loomis hopes to turn her second team all-conference honor into a first team all-conference selection.

Schloredt hopes to improve on last season’s stellar performance as well.

“My personal goal is always to be better than the year before and as long as I do that I should be in good shape,” she said.

“It is exciting but it is going to be really tough,” Schloredt said. “Everyone in the conference is going to be coming after us but if we do what we need to do and not break down from the pressure, we will do fine.”

After a successful 2008 season, the Hornets hope to duplicate and even surpass last season’s achievements.

“I want to help our team get further into the tournament than we did last year,” Cabrera said. “We just need to continue what we have been doing. We need to have more confidence in knowing we can do it. All the talent is there.”

“It is a tough conference. We are just going to have to go out there and play the game better than anyone else in the conference,” Strahan said.

“We have a lot of talent on the team,” Strahan said. “If we can just put it all together and play well at the right times, that will be the difference in repeating as PCSC champs.”

“Of course we are a little bit nervous just because there are high expectations for us,” Loomis said. “We are excited just to know the expectations are out there and that we have something to work towards for the season.”

Andrew Hazard can be reached at [email protected]