LBCC softball was eliminated by Palomar College in super regionals after a two-game series sweep on April 11, but its team chemistry paved the way for an outstanding season.
The Vikings end their year with a 32-12 season record, a 17-4 conference record, and a first round regionals victory against Citrus College.
“We haven’t had 30 wins here at Long Beach City since 2005 I believe. Our main mantra the entire year is to be a good teammate and I feel like that could be interpreted in so many ways… It’s really been true to us and who we are as an identity,” Director of Softball Operations Megan Martinez said.
A person on the team who represented that and left everything on the field was South Coast Conference most valuable player Anaya Togia, who crushed the ball all season long with eight home runs, had a state batting champion average of .511, a state-high 59 RBI’s in 40 games, and led the state with 67 hits and 22 doubles, with an SCC-best .863 slugging percentage.
In a post on the LBCC softball instagram account about Togia’s MVP award, she credits her team for all of these accomplishments, stating “couldn’t have done it without my vikes”.
Her comment shows that the “be a good teammate” mindset that Martinez described has stuck with Togia and her teammates throughout the season.
“We’re all a bunch of girls loving the sport, and we love our team so much that we come together and put everything together that we’ve been practicing all throughout the season, and it looks great in the end,” Togia said.
LBCC’s hitting was on point this season, with a .398 team batting average, .479 on base percentage, .564 slugging percentage, and a massive 318 runs scored in 40 games.
Not only were the Vikings clutch with the bats, but the pitching was incredible too, and star pitcher Bayleigh Frye was one of the reasons for that.
Frye put together a phenomenal statline with a 17-8 win-loss record, 2.12 ERA, 134 strikeouts, and 1.12 WHIP through 155 innings pitched.
“I worked my butt off to become that star pitcher and to get all those wins. Yeah, I took a couple of hard losses, but those losses were only by one run. The sisterhood here to get to regionals is probably the best I’ve ever had,” Frye said.
Frye ws a force to be reckoned with on the mound, but the same can be said for the rest of Vikings’ pitching staff.
As a whole, the pitchers accumulated a 2.48 ERA, 1.35 WHIP, 189 strikeouts, 13 shutouts, and allowed only two home runs through 242.1 innings pitched.
The Vikings will look to build on what they did as a team this season in hopes of an even better season next year.