Submitted photo – The College of the Redwoods softball team

The Corsairs are hoping a tough early-season schedule in softball will help prepare them for conference play, which gets under way next month.

And they’re also hoping the home support will give them a boost this spring.

The College of the Redwoods women got their first first win of the year in front of a home crowd at Bear River Casino Resort on Tuesday, splitting a doubleheader with Diablo Valley.

Redwoods lost the opener 6-4, but bounced back to take game two 6-5.

With the win, the Corsairs are now 1-6.

Despite the losing record, however, a young CR team is making progress as head coach Megan Valente and her players begin to figure out some things.

“We’re definitely pretty young,” said Valente, who has eight freshmen on the roster this year. “And we’re kind of working things out and figuring out who’s going to play where and finding the right positions for people.”

Valente, however, has seen improvement from several of the players, with some of the sophomores leading the way, including Ashley Pierce.

Perice, who is in her third year with the program after red-shirting in 2023, was not even slated to start early in the season but was thrown into the starting lineup because of injuries and immediately took full advantage of the opportunity.

Through the opening seven games, the former Eureka Logger has been the team’s most consistent player and has been a team leader.

Another sophomore, Kyla Cockerham, also has impressed her coach early in the new season and has been “a beast on the bases,” according to Valente, while making plays when she gets on.

Cockerham, out of El Cerrito High, is one of four CR players — along with Maeghan Hampton, Nae-rew Martin and Allie Egbert — who give the team some legitimate speed on the bases.

“If we get them on base they’re going to compete,” Valente said of the four.

The bats, however, are still a work in progress and the CR women batted just .273 through the opening five games.

Submitted photo – Ashley Pierce

But with a lead in four of their opening seven games, the Corsairs have shown what they’re capable of and Valente believes the best is yet to come from this year’s team, which opens an expanded Golden Valley Conference that now also includes Mendocino and Yuba on March 22.

“We are a young team fighting through the struggles at the plate and on defense,” the coach said. “We are getting better each game and we just have to keep working off of that.

“We’re using the games before conference to get ready for conference.”

Allie Egbert

The Corsairs also have some depth in the circle, with four reliable arms this spring, including sophomores Francesca Hart and Egbert, who are the staff’s only returning players.

Freshmen Nathalia Chavez and Sierra Bautista round out the pitching staff and all four are likely to see plenty of action this year.

Hart impressed on her way to the win in the circle on Tuesday.

“We have pitching, we just have had some issues with walks,” Valente admitted.

Former Hoopa Warriors Diamond Bibancos-Knight also impressed in Tuesday’s win and was 2-for-3 with two RBIs, a stolen base and a triple she turned into a run on an error.

The Corsairs will try to build on their first win when they play a make-up doubleheader at Monterey Peninsula on Friday, which gets under way at noon.

The team’s next home games will take place on March 9 at Bear River, when the Corsairs welcome Cabrillo to Humboldt.

And Valente is hoping the home support can help her players this spring.

“We had an amazing crowd on Tuesday and we want to thank the community for their support,” she said. “And when we have home games in March and April we hope to have big crowds. It really does hype up the girls.”