UKIAH — In 2019 Doug Wingler was handed keys to a car that didn’t yet exist. In 2020 there was a car, one that had been fine-tuned in a year’s time, but after taking it out for a brief spin, Wingler had to put it back into the garage.
Welcome to the life of Mendocino College’s second-year softball coach who has strong Lake County ties. Wingler, prior to accepting the job at Mendocino College a year ago, served as the head coach at Clear Lake High School in Lakeport from 2016-2018, that after spending seven seasons as the assistant to former Clear Lake head coach Gary Pickle.
Wingler’s new charge, the Eagles, were off to a great start (4-0) in the Bay Valley Conference this season and looking to challenge the BVC’s dominant team, Solano College, when the COVID-19 outbreak pulled the plug on the 2020 campaign. Even if the Eagles were allowed to take the field again tomorrow, Wingler said there is precious little hope for completing the season.
“My heart aches for my (three) sophomores,” Wingler said of shortstop Riley Goff (Kelseyville), pitcher Erin Hale (Geyserville) and pitcher Jamie Johnstone (Willits). “They’ve been with me since the start. They are a great group of athletes and they are even better people.”
When Wingler accepted the job at Mendocino College in 2019, there was no softball team. The sport had been disbanded in the years prior to Wingler’s arrival and no team existed. The Campbellsville, Kentucky native had to build a team from scratch and in a hurry with no offseason to prepare for the upcoming 2019 campaign. Wingler was reaching far and wide to land any softball player he could. The Eagles were the equivalent of an expansion team in Major League Baseball.
“I was a first-year coach trying to figure it all out and half of our team didn’t show up until the first day of practice,” Wingler said.
As you might expect, the results in the beginning weren’t very pretty. Mendocino started 0-14 with a group of players who were as unfamiliar with Wingler as they were with each other. But where no team chemistry existed at season’s start, Wingler’s hard work and patience helped turn it around. The Eagles won their final 11 games and finished second in the BVC behind Solano, which has captured the conference title 16 times in the last 17 years.
“And the only year they didn’t win it, they didn’t have a team,” Wingler said.
Returning only the aforementioned three sophomores — Goff, Hale and Johnstone — in 2020, Wingler was nevertheless high on the Eagles’ chances in 2020. He had a full offseason to prepare this time, including a complete fall ball season, and he scoured the high school ranks for the best talent he could find, including three incoming freshmen from Lake County schools — Sara Ogden and Sydney Lawler from Clear Lake and Mikelynn Rowe from Lower Lake.
Wingler scheduled a tough non-conference group of opponents so as to prepare the Eagles for a shot at a BVC title run in 2020. And the Eagles did struggle in the early going, posting a 4-12 record. But they were ready once conference play opened, sweeping doubleheaders from Yuba College and Los Medanos College. In the sweep of Los Medanos on March 10 in Ukiah, the Eagles won back-to-back shutouts, 8-0 and 13-0, Johnstone tossing a one-hitter in the opener and Hale coming back to throw a two-hitter in the second game.
The Eagles were rolling.
“We try to get 1 percent better every day, that’s our goal,” Wingler said of the lead-up to the start of conference play. “We made huge strides. What’s great is to see these young ladies mature right in front of your eyes. Last Monday (March 9) we turned the page, we had a great practice that day. On Tuesday (March 10) we beat Los Medanos twice and played great in both games. On Wednesday (March 11) we had another great practice. On Thursday (March 12), we were 10 minutes away from leaving on an overnight trip to Lassen when they suspended our trip. On Friday (March 13) the CCCAA (California Community College Athletic Association) called off all games. Initially we were going to be able to practice, but then they moved all classes off campus.”
Softball is both a sport and a class at Mendocino. Players earn credits for playing, and the Eagles suddenly had no facilities to hold a practice. By Monday (March 16), the Eagles met for what could be the last time this season.
“It was an informational meeting,” Wingler said.
While the team’s three sophomores may be awarded an extra season of eligibility by the CCCAA because of the COVID-19 outbreak, Wingler said there is no guarantee they’ll be back at Mendocino College for the 2021 season.
“They’re at the point in their lives where they have other opportunities and may need to move on for their studies or because they’ll be playing somewhere else,” Wingler said. “This isn’t high school where you’re pretty much guaranteed to have players for four years. At this level players come and go.”
It’s a powerless feeling, too, according to Wingler.
“It’s a weird feeling to be honest with you,” he said. “I tell my players you can control your effort and attitude. Other things are out of your control and you have to deal with it.”
And that’s why Wingler said he feels so bad for his sophomores . They may never play again.
“At some point in life you don’t get to do it over again. You’re not guaranteed a next day of softball. It puts everything in perspective. Last Thursday we were 10 minutes away from leaving for Lassen, and a week later it’s all changed.
“I haven’t dealt with anything like this in my lifetime,” Wingler said.
“The finality that the season is over … it’s tough to see it, knowing that they (Johnstone and Hale) pitched their last games. People around sports will understand it, those that don’t know sports won’t. All athletes know that day is coming when they’ll play for the last time, but you can’t prepare for something like this.”
With Mendocino County joining a host of other Northern California counties that are sheltering in place for three weeks — through ealry April — Wingler said he can’t see a scenario where his Eagles play again this season.
“The reality is we’ll be off for three weeks and you just can’t come back and play the next day. It’s not safe. Anything short of a miracle, I don’t see us playing again.”
As Mendocino College’s head coach, Wingler certainly carried a slice of Lake County with him to Ukiah.
County players
“Riley has been with me from the start, our rock at shortstop, a leader by example, a team leader,” Wingler said of Goff, a 2017 Kelseyville high graduate and three-sport star (volleyball, basketball and softball) for the Knights. She was named the Lake County Record-Bee’s female Athlete of the Year for the 2016-17 sports season. “She definitely has the skills to move on,” Wingler said. “She’s our general on the field and will be hard to replace. Riley’s one of those kids you wish you could coach for another 10 years.”
Goff played in all 20 Mendocino games and was hitting .309 with a ,338 on-base percentage.
Of the three Lake County freshmen on this year’s team, Wingler said he is greatly pleased with their development and contributions at the community college level.
“I’m really happy with the Lake County kids,” Wingler said.
Ogden, an outfielder and lead-off hitter, suffered a freak injury early in the season when she stepped on the catcher’s foot scoring a run and sustained a high-ankle sprain.
“I just got her back and the last four games she went on a tear,” Wingler said.
Ogden, who played for Wingler at Clear Lake, participated in 13 of the Eagles’ 20 games and was hitting .343 with a team-best .452 on-base percentage.
Lawler, also an outfielder, split time with another teammate while starting in place of the injured Ogden.
“She’s a hard worker. From her junior year in high school to now, she’s really improved,” Wingler said.
A slap hitter, Lawler played in 15 games this season and was batting .241 with a .333 on-base percentage.
Rowe, a standout catcher for Lower Lake, pulled a quad muscle during the fall ball season and was splitting catching duties on the team this season.
“Once we got her dialed in (at the plate), she started hitting the ball and the last four, five, six games she was really coming on for us,” Wingler said.
Rowe played in 14 games and was hitting .310 with a .364 on-base percentage.
Wingler said he looks forward to having Ogden, Lawler and Rowe back again next season along with a couple of new Lake County recruits.
Coaching staff
Wingler said the huge improvement the Eagles experienced at the end of last season and into the first 20 games of 2020 wouldn’t have been possible without the help of his talented assistant coaches — Melissa Atherton (catchers and outfielders), Jessie Farmiloe (infielders and personal trainer), Arianna Bowers (fall ball coach and now head coach at Ukiah High School), and Katie Smallcomb (infielders and fall ball).
“They did a great job,” Wingler said. “You not only need people who can teach the game, but you need coaches who can deal with real-life issues and they’ve all been there and dealt with that.”
Wingler said his assistants also helped shorten the time it takes for players to make the transition from high school softball to college ball.
“One thing that’s different from high school is you don’t have four years to work with a player, and the players you’re working with are coming from different schools and they’ve had a lot of different coaches with different teaching styles growing up. Working together to become a team takes time and my assistant coaches help speed up that process,” Wingler said.
