Cal Softball goes 5-1 in opening weekend; Jack Clark earns 700th win as Rugby tops UCLA
Cal Women's Gymnastics stays undefeated after a tie at Oregon State
Cal Softball (5-1) hits the long balls in opening weekend
For Cal Softball to return to the NCAA postseason for the first time in the still-young year 3 of the Chelsea Spencer era, they will need to take care of business in the non-conference games. Golden Bears certainly displayed plenty of Pac-12 swagger, particularly in the two games that I saw in person at LMU, to open their 2023 campaign on a strong note.
Using some long balls to go with very aggressive base running, Cal got three run-rule wins (11-0 over USD, 14-6 over USD, 13-0 over Utah State) to go with road wins over LMU (10-7) and Cal State Fullerton (4-3). Bears did drop the last game of the weekend, a 2-6 decision at Cal State Fullerton.
Bears hit 10 dingers on the weekend, led by freshman 3B Tianna Bell who had claimed the clean-up spot in the Cal lineup with a strong fall camp. Fellow true freshman Elon Butler, handling the pivotal SS position, also had a solid debut in an otherwise veteran Cal lineup, led by C/RF Makena Smith (0.412/0.500/0.647) as the leadoff hitter. Sophie Medellin (0.417), who had a pivotal three-run pinch-hit homer in the win over Cal State Fullerton, and Kennedy Thomas (0.412) are also batting above 0.400 in the small sample size.
Cal Bears finished 28-27-1, 8-16 in Pac-12 in 2022 while not selected for the postseason despite an RPI of 53 that put them on the bubble. Bears returned essentially the entire team except for outfielder Amani Bradley who became a graduate transfer to Minnesota this year. Adding into the mix impact freshmen like Bell and Butler, Cal Softball should be a postseason team in 2023.
Against what was expected to be overmatched opponents, junior SP Haylei Archer dominated in her two starts and a relief appearance. Fellow junior SP and staff ace Sona Halajian struggled in the circle, however, by giving up 4 homers in just 9.2 IP. Halajian, who got the better stuff that Cal will need to navigate successfully through Pac-12 play, will need to find her consistency but that is why there are these non-conference games.
Cal Bears also had some defensive issues, particularly in trying to close out host LMU on Friday night. It was good to see the Bears hit the long balls, but there is always truth to the adage that pitching and defense win championships. For the Cal Bears, they will need better pitching and defense to return to the NCAA Championships postseason field of 64 this spring.
Cal will play 5 more games in SoCal this weekend when they visit Long Beach for the Wilson Invitational.
Cal Rugby (7-0 in Rugby 15s, 1-0 in PAC) stays perfect
Cal Rugby remains perfect in their spring 15s season. After three wins in abbreviated matches (combined 165-0) at the Dennis Storer Classic at UCLA, Golden Bears followed with a 79-3 win over Santa Clara, 115-5 win at UC Santa Barbara, and a 69-7 win over Grand Canyon. Calβs latest conquest was UCLA, who did manage to score 13 points (nearly matching the total points against the Bears had allowed this spring) but gave up 50 points to the Bears. This was also the first conference match of the season.
Now in his 40th season in charge of the program, legendary head coach Jack Clark now has 700 wins in Rugby 15s. Clark also helmed Cal to 232 victories in Rugby 7s.
Congratulations to Coach Clark! His squad will surely continue to add to that total for the rest of the season.
Cal will next welcome PAC opponents in Utah (Feb 18) and Arizona (Feb 25), ahead of the defending champions Army (Mar 4). Bears will close the regular season with road matches at Navy (Mar 11), Saint Maryβs (Mar 25), and BYU (Apr 1) ahead of the D1A Rugby Championship playoffs (assuming that Cal does take the PAC again).
Cal Womenβs Gymnastics (9-0-1, 3-0-1 in Pac-12) is still undefeated heading into the weekend showdown against UCLA
It should be a fun one at Haas Pavilion this Saturday afternoon (2 P.M. PT)when No.7 Cal hosts No.6 UCLA. There will be plenty of familiar faces on each side, including a sibling showdown between Calβs star freshman eMjae Frazier against her older sister redshirt senior Margzetta Frazier. Now leading the UCLA team is another familiar face in Janelle McDonald who played a major role in Calβs national successes in the last few years as a former assistant coach.
UCLA (2-1-1 in Pac-12) has a season-high team score of 197.850 so far. Calβs top score was 197.600 set at their most recent home meet over ASU. Mya Lauzon tied a Cal record with a 39.700 all-around score to lead No.7 Bears to the 197.600-196.800 win over No.21 ASU. Check out the highlights from that meet below.
Last weekend, Bearsβ winning streak came to an end. With a near-flawless floor routine (9.975) to close the meet, USA Olympian Jade Carey brought her No.12 Oregon State Beavers to a tie against Cal this past weekend in a 197.375-197.375 result. Coincidentally, Oregon State also managed to tie against UCLA earlier this season. Junior Andi Li finished with a solid 39.625 in the all-around as Jade Carey won all four events and the all-around to carry the Beavers.
Cal Bears are still working on ironing out minor kinks in their routines to improve the team score. Having a tough opponent like UCLA and a packed house are just the ingredients for another record-rewriting meet, like what had happened at Haas two years ago. Cal set a bunch of program records, including a program-best 198.050 team score, in that memorable meet. Will history repeat itself this Saturday?
Cal Lacrosse (1-2, 0-1 in Pac-12) opens the Jennifer Wong era with a win
New head coach Jennifer Wong led Cal to a dominant season-opening 17-9 win at Lindenwood. This Cal victory does come against a Lindenwood (a familiar name for Cal Rugby fans) team that was playing their first D1 match after a jump from D2.
Cal followed the season opener up with a competitive 12-15 loss to Central Michigan before a shockingly early conference road game at Stanford on Wednesday. Unfortunately, the Bears clearly got a lot of work to do to catch up to the rest of the Pac. Bears lost 8-20 despite having a lead going into the second quarter but were unable to prevent three separate Stanford scoring runs of 5+ goals.
Looking at the roster, Cal got a lot of upperclassmen in defense and goal but it is predominantly freshmen and sophomores on the offensive end. The team got plenty of room for growth before the end of the season.
No.4 Cal Womenβs Water Polo (9-2) dominates everyone but No.1 Stanford so far
Perennially trying to be just the fourth team to win the NCAA Womenβs Water Polo Championship, No.4 Cal has again looked a class above all the teams behind them in the rankings. With a fairly balanced attack and a strong keeper play from senior Isabel Williams, Golden Bears hope that 2023 will be the programβs long-awaited breakthrough season.
Against No.1 Stanford however, Cal was quite competitive in the first halves in both matches before faltering in the 3rd quarter to lose 6-9 and 8-14. Stanford, having several members of Team USA members on their team, is clearly the best squad in college. Cal has not yet got the chance to face UCLA or USC.
Golden Bears will rest this weekend before the Barbara Kalbus Invitational at Irvine next weekend where the Bears should be on the collision course against likely two of Stanford/UCLA/USC. We shall know a lot more about this Cal squad by the end of next weekend.
Cal Swimming and Diving heading into Pac-12 Championships (after Cal men host Stanford this Saturday)
Texas menβs swimming and diving fans were probably complaining again about how Cal head coach Dave Durden has managed to add another potential difference-maker late to his squad. In Calβs 171.5-124.5 dual meet win over USC, graduate student Lucas Henveaux made his collegiate debut. The Belgium native posted Calβs top 500y Free and 100y Free times of the season. Henveaux could score a dozen or so points at the NCAA in a couple of otherwise weak events for the Golden Bears in addition to boosting Calβs 800y Free Relay. That just might be important points in a three-school race against Texas and Arizona State at the NCAA Championships.
Cal got one more dual meet (vs. Stanford this Saturday at noon PT) ahead of an anticipated rematch against ASU at the Pac-12 Championships.
On the womenβs side, one can certainly credit Durden and David Marsh for improving the performances of all who stayed for this awkwardly trying season. Isabelle Stadden is a threat for the Pac-12 and NCAA titles in backstrokes. Sadly, one has got to wonder if Cal would be a national title contender alongside Virginia and Stanford had they got both Isabel Ivey (transferring to Florida to race next year) and Canadian Olympian Maggie Mac Neil, who dominated the FINA World Championships for the women (similar to what Calympian Ryan Murphy did for the men) before a record-breaking year at LSU. Mac Neil had committed to Cal as a graduate student before the Teri McKeever misdeeds were revealed.
We probably wonβt know until the end of the season about the future of the Cal Womenβs swimming program (if it will be again separated from the men and who will be in charge). Fortunately, the wealthy Cal Aquatics donors will make sure the program will have a bright future again.
GO BEARS!
Thanks, Ruey. I very much appreciate these non-revenue sports updates, especially softball.