Good times for baseball team

It seems like years since the Brahmas’ baseball team has had something to really be proud of about itself, but this season the diamond has been hot.

The Pierce Brahmas are not only contending for a playoff birth and are second in the Western State Conference northern division, but they are playing with a style and flair that hasn’t been seen since former Brahma, now Oakland Athletics outfielder Coco Crisp flashed the leather.

First off, the Brahmas hitting numbers are off the charts. As a team the Brahmas lead the state, in team batting average. That’s right, not in conference but the state hitting 324. They are ranked second in on-base percentage and third in slugging percentage. If that is not impressive enough, the Brahmas have six players that are hitting over 350. Combine that with a pitching staff that has had four quality starts in a row during the recent winning after struggling during the beginning of the season, the Brahmas now have a recipe for getting wins.

Pierce’s baseball team now has finally arrived. They have won four in a row and recently annihilated the number five ranked Allan Hancock Bulldogs scoring 26 runs in the two game sweep including going all the way up to the Bulldogs kennel and scoring 16 runs showing that this Brahmas team can now compete with any team on a daily basis.

The freshman now are showing that they have the ability to play at a high level. Much maligned former Chatsworth High School stars, shortstop Austin Peters and pitcher Harsa Prahara have become mainstays for the Brahmas. Peters after getting off to a slow start has embraced his role as being not just a productive hitter with a now .358 batting average, but his defense has massively improved too. During the win against Santa Barbara he made big plays including a game saving leaping catch in the ninth inning. Better yet he didn’t commit an error against the third ranked team in Southern California and his poise and confidence is growing with seemingly every game he plays. Harsa Prahara has shown maturity much like Peters, but on the mound. His command of his breaking balls are now helping a Pierce team that are slowly but surely becoming a team that can not only hit the ball, but can deliver solid starts and keep teams at bay. He is leading the Brahmas in victories and is now showing that he can go deep into ball games. Now the Brahmas have the ultimate test coming up this week. After playing the Santa Barbara Vaqueros on Tuesday, the Brahmas get to square off against the Oxnard Condors on Thursday March 27 and Saturday March 29, with the game on Saturday at home. The Condors are ranked second in the Southern California rankings and feature one of the top pitchers in the state Patrick Weigel who throws a 95 mph fastball. to Sylmar High School and played baseball,” Bloom said. One of Bloom’s best memories was winning the Best Wave of the Day and Wright winning the Dog Heat on the Ventura surf. Both competitive by nature, it was only right they would end up together in a competitive team sport.

Last time the Brahmas played the Condors, they were swept in the two games they played getting outplayed in every aspect of the game. However during this stretch the Brahmas have gone on, they have proven that they can not only score runs, but now the pitching is coming alive. The recent outing from freshman right-hander Harsa Prahara who went seven innings and gave up only three runs, is proof that the Brahmas are now becoming a complete team.

A showdown with first place on the line against Oxnard this week. The Brahmas are out to prove that they are they a competitive team. Pierce will need everything they have shown during their recent run and they can only hope things will be different this time.

“I reach on the air a lot because I think the defenders see me and they don’t expect me to be that fast, but my nick name in high school was ‘White Lightening’ so I am quick down the base paths,” Wright said.

“I’m still shaking out cob webs, you know I haven’t seen a lot of curve balls in the last ten years – little hard to pick up, but I control what I can control and that’s the hustle: the part that might get me on base or get me a hit. But it’s my own. It’s as good as that.”

Athletic Director Bob Lofrano said that he would hope these young guys, younger than Wright, listen and pay attention. It is a pretty good lesson, but maybe they don’t have to learn that way (in the service). God forbid they would have to learn it that way.

“From a coach’s standpoint it’s good to have someone like that. That brings maturity, and it brings more focus, because he was dodging bullets. Now he is just dodging the fast ball. It is a total difference,” Lofrano said.

Wright laughs when talking about his game stats.

“I definitely lead the team in hardest 90’s down the line,” Wright laughs. “Batting average is somewhere around the Mendoza line.”

The “Mendoza Line” was created as a clubhouse joke among baseball players in 1979, when pro ball player Mario Mendoza’s average was always within a few points of .200 either way. Wright is batting .230.

As far as being a role model for his teammates, he shares these words:

“I think they all respect me a lot. I’ve always been the kind of leader to have power people around me; I try to help these guys have their own leadership voice,” Wright said. “I kind of guide them on the back side, not too vocal, but when they need a kick in the butt, like your mom telling you to clean your room, I’ll definitely be there to tell them to do that. These guys do a good job of being leaders themselves. I think that is why we are so successful as a team.”

Former athletic trainer returns to playing field Pennsylvania native helps CSUN form women’s lacrosse team

Atheletes sometime sacrifice what they love to play for the betterment of their lives. For Holly Sirotta, she had to stop playing her favorite sport lacrosse to come to California for an affordable education at Pierce College. Now at California State University Northridge, the former athletic trainer’s assistant has found her passion and is back to playing lacrosse.

Sirotta is from Philadelphia, Pa. where she first discovered her love for lacrosse when she was about seven years old.

“My sister played before me, I followed her,” Sirotta said.

Sirotta played varsity lacrosse at Arvington and Hempfield High School in Pennsylvania and moved to Los Angeles in 2010 to study kinesiology, sports science.

After completing her degree at CSUN, Sirotta plans to transfer to either Temple College in Philadelphia or the University of North Carolina located in Chapel Hill, N.C. But there’s one problem with North Carolina. “North Carolina doesn’t have a lacrosse team,” Sirotta said.

Sirotta loves lacrosse. She started playing when she was about seven years old, and now plays goalie for the Women’s Lacrosse Club for CSUN. Not only does she play on the team, she is also president and founder for the Women’s Lacrosse

Club, which is new to CSUN.

“We became official in December, 2014,” Sirotta said. Including Sirotta, there are four members of the Lacrosse Club and their coach.

Their coach is 21-year-old Gabriela Gomez, a forensic anthropology major at Pierce.

She started playing lacrosse when she was 14 years old. She played defender for the variety team at Glendale High School and the Granada Hills Club Team.

“Lacrosse has anyways been a big, big assign of mine. It’s a great way to relieve everyday stress. It’s a great sport, I encourage anyone to play it ,” Gomez said.

Kirsten George is 19 years old and plays cover point on the team. She played lacrosse in high school but likes it better in college.

“It’s easier in college because it’s a club team, George said.

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