Nipomo softball was on a mission to make a comeback — now it’s heading to CIF championship

After a stunning win Tuesday night, followed by another strong performance Thursday — Nipomo High School varsity softball has transformed from a team that was once committing about 10 errors an inning to one that actually has a shot at being named CIF champs.

And according to Head Coach Robert Oliver, its been quite the “emotional roller coaster.”

Oliver told The Tribune the season may have begun “horribly,” but after the team’s most recent win against Capistrano Valley Christian from San Juan Capistrano on Thursday, it is now turning out “better than anything that I’ve ever coached.”

The Nipomo Titans beat the Capistrano Eagles 5-3 in its semifinal game, which means the team will move on to the 2022 CIF SoCal Softball Championships Division V final on Saturday, playing an away game against Caruthers High School at 4 p.m.

The Nipomo team made it to the semifinals last year, but has never won a CIF championship, Oliver said. Now, they’re making a run at that coveted title.

That the team would end up with a chance to win the championship wouldn’t have been expected earlier in the season — Oliver said he didn’t even think the team would make it to the playoffs when looking at its early season performance.

Nipomo’s season once consisted of games where the team couldn’t even get to the fifth inning to exercise the mercy rule, and it even had to concede one game to Lompoc.

But Oliver said it was their “mission” to make a comeback. So they did.

Nipomo softball beats Capistrano in CIF semi-finals

Thursday’s game helped prove that transformation.

From the beginning, Nipomo came out strong against Capistrano, with a score of 3-2 in the first inning.

That’s in spite of Capistrano in general having better stats than the Nipomo team — the Capistrano Eagles’ batting average is significantly higher at .521, compared to the Titans’ .290 and Capistrano also beats Nipomo in other factors as well, including fielding percentage, on base percentage and win-loss percentage, according to MaxPreps.

A key factor in the win Thursday was senior outfielder Tania Conde, who had never played softball until this year.

Oliver said Thursday’s game really symbolized Conde’s growth throughout the season, as she saved the game at the end by catching a ball that was hit over her head. She also made three other huge catches in the outfield that saved the team, Oliver added.

“That was phenomenal,” Oliver said. “And that’s something that she wouldn’t be able to do two months ago.”

Another standout Titan is senior Key-annah Pu’a — the “backbone” of the team, Oliver said.

After playing club travel ball over the summer, Pu’a tore her ACL and underwent surgery — a question mark for any athlete.

Oliver said she was able to come back halfway through the season, but was “not even close to full potential.” While having her back made the team play better overall, Oliver said her return also forced individual players to improve in order to support Pu’a.

“She definitely can’t do it by herself,” he said. “She’s still not up to 100% of herself yet, but you can see her coming back. It’s been really cool to see her getting emotional after wins.”

Pu’a will be pitching for the University of Hawaii next year.

Oliver said a favorite moment from Thursday’s game was seeing junior Anissa Garcia hit a two-run home run to left center.

“To see her face coming around second base just so happy, so excited, pumping her arm, pumping her fist — it was such a cool moment to see that,” Oliver said.

NHS coach reflects on ‘stellar’ comeback win earlier in the week

Thursday’s win was a continuation of a great week for the Nipomo softball team.

The Titans won Tuesday’s home playoff game against Fallbrook by a score of 9-8.

Just like in their overall season, the game began with Nipomo lagging behind.

Oliver said the team’s pitcher wasn’t throwing her best, the catcher struggled a bit and defense made errors in some routine plays.

“We came out really flat, made some huge mistakes in the first inning and went down quick and kind of put our heads down a little bit,” Oliver said.

But it was time for a comeback.

The teams were tied when Nipomo began releasing “stellar” defensive plays, Oliver said.

What used to be one of the team’s biggest struggles became the reason they won the game: defense.

“You can just kind of feel the energy building and building,” Oliver said. “And then when they made that final last out, that energy just exploded.”

Oliver attributed the team’s “really goofy, really energetic” style partly to Assistant Coach Lauren Lozano, a former Division 1 softball player.

She’s had a goal all year to get the girls playing with more energy — both on the field and when they’re in the dugout cheering on their teammates.

“That was really cool just to see that grow over the year, seeing her teach what it takes to compete at the D1 level to our high school girls and just kind of play with that energy and that emotion,” Oliver said.

Ahead of Saturday’s CIF finals, Oliver said he’s looking forward to seeing the team be even more energetic and really have fun at the tail-end of the season.

“People are noticing that the trademark of our team is just how loud and obnoxious we are, and how much fun our girls are having,” he said.

This story was originally published June 3, 2022 at 8:33 PM.