Softball: All Heart

Steve Virgen

If there’s one thing the 2001 Orange Coast College softball team

will not lack, it is character. The most important reason first-year

coach Jim Bollinger took the job at Coast was because of four sophomores

who have displayed a strong drive to succeed, which has carried over to

the rest of the team.

“When I talk about this team, I use the word heart,” Bollinger said.

“It really exemplifies what a little talent wrapped around a lot of

desire can do.”

The Pirates’ talent comes mainly from sophomores, Meredith Miles,

Renee Snyder, Kim Guillen and Jennifer Jensen.

Miles played shortstop last year and hit .317 in Orange Empire

Conference play.

This season, she will move to catcher, where Bollinger said she may

have a Division-I future.

Snyder will be the starting left fielder and can also move to

shortstop. She is from Mater Dei High where Bollinger coached. Snyder was

on the Monarchs’ 1998 CIF Southern Section Division Ichampionship team,

as well as the runner-up squad of 1999.

Bollinger coached the Monarchs from 1994-1997, guiding them to one CIF

championship and two runner-up finishes.

Guillen, out of Los Amigos, will play second base and pitch.

Jensen, nicknamed “Jenn-I”, will pitch and play outfield. Bollinger

said she has exceptional speed.

“Those four girls are taking charge,” Bollinger said. “They are

helping mold the team the way I want them to shape up.”

Freshman Julie McMath bolted Long Beach State (she was not going to

play softball) for OCC to reunite with her former coach. She, too, is

from Mater Dei and will play either second base or shortstop, depending

on who is in the circle.

The best scenario is when Erin O’Hara, who also played for the

Monarchs, pitches, Bollinger said.

The Pirates are 3-2-1 after a 9-3 victory over San Diego City.

Freshman Karie Green, in her first year in the program, was 2 for 3.

Because OCC is so thin in numbers (just 10 players), first-year players

like Green and Gabbie Davalos are expected to fill in and hopefully

improve.

“If they’re athletes,” Bollinger said. “I believe I can train them and

teach them to play the game.”

Bollinger would have had one less worry if Kristen Degree was able to

return this season. But, she accepted a scholarship to play at Concordia.

Last year, as a freshman, she earned first-team all-conference honors

and set a school single-season record with a .435 batting average. She

also tied the school single-season record with 40 stolen bases.

“She’s probably one of the best outfielders I have ever seen,”

Bollinger said of Degree. “That’s a huge loss to the team.”

The Bucs finished 17-25, 6-15 in the OEC last year and created little

excitement. But, with a new coach, combined with desire, the Bucs may be

headed for a bright future.

“I’m not good at tolerating inefficiency or lack of drive,” Bollinger

said. “My goal is to come here and build a program for this school. (OCC)

softball will be something that people will look at and say, ‘I would

like to go to Coast and play softball there.’ Every girl who is here, I

want to get them into a four-year institution.”

2001 Orange Coast Softball

3 Meredith Miles C So.

4 Julie McMath 2B Fr.

5 Renee Snyder OF/C So.

7 Karie Green RF So.

9 Jennifer Jensen 1B So.

21 Fugi Zuniga 3B/P Fr.

22 Gabbie Davalos OF Fr.

23 Gina Mitchell 3B/IF Fr.

33 Kim Guillen 2B/P So.

Erin O’Hara P Fr.

Coach: Jim Bollinger