That's exactly what coach Bret Gladden is facing with his Willow Glen baseball squad this season in the Mt. Hamilton Division of the Blossom Valley Athletic League.

The Rams saw 10 seniors on a team of 15 players graduate last year. There are only four seniors and one junior returning from last year's varsity squad that finished third in the division and advanced to the quarterfinals of the Central Coast Section Division II playoffs.

"We have a bunch of young players with four sophomores playing a predominant role on the team," Gladden said. "In fact, our whole outfield is sophomores.

"We are inconsistent and make a fair amount of errors. Our pitching has been OK, but our defense has broken down at times. And we are not hitting and that's not a good combination."

The error bug bit the Rams when they lined up against Oak Grove last Friday in a division contest. Before they could break a sweat, the Rams had given up four unearned runs in the first inning. "Since we don't score much," Gladden said, "it's tough to overcome something like that."

The Rams were only able to put one run on the board in a 9-1 loss to the Eagles. In the third inning, Jose Torres worked his way on with a walk and promptly stole second. Jason Jeffrey slapped a single to drive in Torres. Jeffrey's hit was one of only three on the day for Willow Glen.

"That's been about par for us," Gladden said.

That pattern held true earlier in the week in another loss to Oak Grove. Willow Glen was able to knock out only two hits--one each off the bats of Brent Kompelien and Matt Arevalo. Tyler Smith was tagged with the loss and dropped to 0-2 on the year. "Smith has been pitching good but has gotten no run support," the coach said.

The two losses to Oak Grove left the Rams winless in BVAL Mt. Hamilton Division action with a 0-4 mark. Willow Glen dropped two games to Westmont to open league play.

"I would like to think that we can turn this thing around, but it's going to be tough," Gladden said. "Our kids are learning how to play at this level and they are going to make mistakes."

"But we will continue to try to compete because that's who we are and that's what we teach them."

The Rams will continue to look for that evasive first league win with a couple of games against Branham on March 16 (at home) and March 18 (at Branham). Both games start at 3:30 p.m.

Alumni baseball game

Willow Glen has an alumni game scheduled for April 2 at Willow Glen High School. Gladden is looking for any former Rams that would be interested in participating and hopes to get a good representation of alumni to play in the game.

Anyone interested in learning more or participating can contact Gladden at Willow Glen at 408.535.6330.

Girl's softball

Coach Scott McCollum had to say good-bye to a talented group of seven seniors from his Willow Glen softball team last year that finished third in the BVAL Santa Teresa Division and advanced to the quarterfinal round of the Division II CCS playoffs, where it was edged out by Monterey in a 2-1 heartbreaking loss.

"Our goal is to win league this year and then advance further in CCS than we did last year," McCollum said.

To the outsider looking in at a team returning only three players, including only one senior, that goal might seem a bit optimistic. But the players coming in are a group of juniors that went undefeated last year in frosh-soph league action and lost only one game the year before. They step into varsity roles with a rich winning tradition and knowing what it takes to do that.

In addition, two of the returning starters are senior catcher Caitlin Edmunds and junior pitcher Michele McCollum, who provide a solid foundation for this year's squad. Last year McCollum was Sophomore of the Year and a first team all-league selection while Edmunds earned second team all-league honors.

"We are solid at pitching and catching and that's a large part of the softball game," the coach added.

McCollum expects the "big bat" of outfielder Jeanette Sulay, the "good base running" of outfielder Corina Lopez, and the "strong defense" of first baseman Lillian Smith to be key factors in the success of the Rams this year.

However, McCollum also points out that "we have no real standouts and emphasize that no one player can't be replaced and we have a bunch of interchangeable parts."

The Rams certainly seem to be on track and proving their point as they prepare to open Santa Teresa Division play on March 17 at home against Piedmont Hills. They have compiled a 6-2 non-league mark including four wins over "A" league teams. The Rams also brought home the consolation trophy in the Del Mar tournament.

One of the wins was a 2-0 affair over Mills last week. McCollum went the distance to nail down the win. The offense came from Smith who ripped a triple and sophomore Allison Herman who banged out a double and drove in a run.

Later in the week, the Rams' bats broke loose in a 10-2 shellacking of Sacred Heart Cathedral. Sulay hammered a home run and a triple and drove in three runs to lead the charge. Aurora Donnelly came through with two hits that produced a pair of RBIs. McCollum was on the mound and got the win, improving her record to 6-2 on the year.

The league opener against Piedmont Hills should answer some questions right away for McCollum and his Rams. The Pirates have always given the Rams problems and usually the two teams are evenly matched.

"We are playing good and looking really strong and are anticipating a good competitive season."