Not everything can end happily ever after.

Though the Pomona-Pizter Women’s Softball team capitulated their season with five straight losses in the SCIAC round robin, there are plenty of positives to look back upon.

After beating Whittier 7-2 in the opening game of the round robin, the team lost to Occidental 5-2, to Cal Lutheran 7-0, to La Verne 3-1, to Redlands 5-3, and then to arch-foe CMS 5-3.

The last three losses all came on a hectic Saturday last weekend, and culminated with an exciting match against one of the top teams in the conference - CMS.

"It was a tough game," said departing senior, Keeley Wynne ’99. "I think we surprised them cause we refused to just roll over and die."

The team played with all their heart and gave CMS a good run, significant as they were coming off several losses and their hopes of an upset SCIAC title were long gone.

Karen Hamilton PI ’02 was given the job to pitch against CMS, as her delivery is a little slower and tends to throw off the powerful hitters from an opponent such as CMS. She pitched an excellent game, but to no avail as CMS came out on top in the end.

Pomona-Pitzer did rally from behind after the Athenas opened up the scoring, but mistakes in the field were the difference in the outcome.

"The CMS game was close," said Coach Kris Martini. "We made a couple of early mistakes and then came back and hit pretty well, [but could not pull out the win]. We only won one out of six games, but it was a good end to the weekend. We [did] have some players in crazy positions due to some injuries."

"We had a couple of errors and they had a couple of hits, and that was kind of it," added Emily MacRae ’99. "As my last game here I found it frustrating, but as a team we played well. Compared to our first two games on Saturday, CMS was a big improvement. They are a really good ball club [with] incredibly good pitching. We are very solid too, but there is a point at which a couple of errors [can make a big difference]."

A loss to CMS is not uncommon, and a close loss is a remarkable achievement for the team which finished fifth in SCIAC. CMS is headed to the NCAA Regionals as the fourth-ranked team in the nation, and yet Pomona-Pitzer played them close three times this year.

The team will lose three key seniors next year, however, including Wynne, MacRae, and Casey Troy. Still, a solid recruiting class combined with the current freshman talent on the team this year should allow the team to be more competitive in years to come.

"I am looking forward to coming back and seeing them in the next few years because [the team] will be really awesome," said MacRae. "We have a lot to build on."

Reflecting on the season is difficult, as the end was far from perfect.

Yet optimism reigns in the minds of the players.

"We’ve had a dismal season as far as our record goes," said Wynne, "but that doesn’t really reflect how positive our season [really] went."

"I think we had a lot of potential for this season," added Coach Martini, "it was just a little hard to put it together. Injuries [affected] our stability. [However], our young base, freshmen and sophomores, will be key to next year."

Though the story of this season has come to a conclusion, the future looks to promise some of those elusive happy endings the team has anxiously awaited for several years.