Trans-Valley League play officially got underway this past week for the Escalon Lady Cougar varsity golfers. Their first two opponents were Ripon Christian and Hughson and both were home matches, played at the Escalon Golf Course.

“The results were not exactly what we were hoping,” admitted head coach Chris Casazza. “As far as varsity league play goes, we have a fairly inexperienced squad. So the pressure of league play was something a lot of the girls felt for the first time. And that mental grind of a competitive golf match kicked in for sure.”

Hosting Ripon Christian on Aug. 24, it was a 180-197 loss. Samantha Bruns paced the team with a 41 on the Escalon course, followed by Kristina Mendoza, 48; Jayci Trimble, 52; Lori Brown, 56. Not counted were the scores of Areli Herrera 57; and Sofia Da Silva, 58.

“I did see improvements even from our match Monday to our match Wednesday,” the coach said. “Determination and tenacity were some things that we emphasized for our second match. Golf can really get in the head of a high school golfer when she gets in a rut and hits a few bad shots in a row.”

Though Hughson took the win in the second match of the week, the coach noted the overall change.

“Having a short memory and the tenacity to keep going and give full effort to turn that bad run around is huge,” Casazza explained. “I saw a lot of that during Wednesday’s match.”

It was a 167-191 loss for Escalon, and the team was paced again by Bruns, carding a 40 on the afternoon. Herrera was next with a 48, followed by Trimble at 51 and Brown carding a 52. Scores not counted against Hughson were Da Silva, 56; and Mendoza, 64.

This week, the girls were to be on the road, taking part in the Merced Invitational and then return to league play with matches hosted by Ripon and at Sonora.