Santa Rosa Junior College softball has gotten off to a hot start, winning all nine of its first nine games.

After starting 6-0 in conference the Bear Cubs advanced to 7-0 after a 3-1 victory over Ohlone College Feb. 11.

After falling behind 1-0 in the fifth inning, sophomore Krissy Pardoski got the Bear Cubs on the board with an RBI triple before coming around to score on a RBI single by sophomore Megan Stroud in the sixth inning.

“I execute in these situations by reminding myself that I practice this everyday and I visualize success before every at bat,” Stroud said about her key RBI.

The Bear Cubs got their offense up to speed against tough Ohlone pitcher RaeAnn Garza, who allowed only three runs over seven innings.

SRJC’s Dana Thomsen struck out six batters and only allowed three hits over four scoreless innings before turning things over to Megan Winters, who closed out the affair with three hitless innings.

“I am so lucky to catch for our pitchers, we are constantly communicating through the game and we work well together,” Stroud said about catching for the Bear Cubs.

The Bear Cubs reached 8-0 by defeating West Valley 5-2 Feb. 15.

Trailing, the Bear Cubs pushed across five runs to capture the lead in the decisive third inning.

Sophomore Chauntel Cesna’s RBI single with the bases loaded pushed across the first of the five runs in the inning.

“My approach at the plate is just to relax and focus on the fundamentals that I’ve known for years,” Cesna said when asked about her approach at the plate.

Five runs were more than enough, as Winters allowed only three runs, to pick up her second victory of the season.

The Bear Cubs’ push for a perfect season ended there. SRJC dropped the second half of the doubleheader against West Valley 1-6.

“We really beat ourselves and didn’t capitalize on scoring chances we had; win or lose every game for us is taken as a learning experience,” Pardoski said.

It was a sloppy game; the Bear Cubs committed five errors, leading to Winters allowing a season high six runs.

“Following the loss it humbled me in a way, it also made me feel more ready than ever to improve not for myself but for my teammates,” Cesna said.

SRJC rallied quickly from its first loss of the season, defeating De Anza 10-3 on Feb. 18. The Bear Cubs pounded out 11 hits compared to only six by De Anza.

Samantha Bardee, Cesna and Alexandra Coirds each collected two RBI’s. Pardoski collected her first home run of the season as the Bear Cubs put the cruise control on en route to their ninth win of the season.

The Bear Cubs have a rare combination of dominant pitching and hitting.

“Our team is playing great, we are constantly getting better, I couldn’t be happier with the way we’ve been playing,” Pardoski said.