Girls pumping iron? That’s what the members of the Bishop’s softball team were doing Wednesday, Feb. 19, in the school’s weight room before a regular practice under the supervision of strength and conditioning coach Charlie Johnson.
“We lift two times a week during the season,” said second-year varsity head coach Joey Moreno, whose history and rapport with the girls goes back to the coaching days of former coach Art Schiele in 2016-18, when Moreno served as an assistant.
But this week may involve just one day in the weight room, as the Knights work out their schedule between game days on Tuesday (they downed Santa Fe Christian in the Coastal Conference opener, 7-4) and Thursday (they lost 9-2 to visiting Escondido Charter in another league encounter).
Sophomore third baseman Bailey Brightenburg, sporting a braided ponytail and doing ab rolls (extending the arms out in a difficult stretch on the floor with the roller, building the core) in a rotation of repetitions, represents the future of Moreno’s program.
“She’s headed toward being a captain,” the coach, a 2012 Bishop’s grad, confided during the workout. “Bailey has the spark of an at-bat, the energy” to get the team going on a run. Last year, she hit .456, eight doubles, and 31 RBIs, with an on-base percentage of .543 and an OPS of 1.190. This season, already with a third of the at-bats, Brightenburg is clubbing the ball at a .609 clip, with 12 RBIs, a .710 OBP, and 1.623 OPS.
The present of the Knights program, which roared to a 6-0-1 pre-league record this spring, includes juniors Bella Bravo, a centerfielder, and Sydney Mafong, a pitcher and catcher, along with senior shortstop Jayla Stafford, a commit to Duke next year.
“In centerfield, Bella is tracking it down, covering a ton of ground. That’s key because I have someone who can take charge of the outfield,” said Moreno. “At the plate, she leads off (hitting .455, with an OBP of .548 and OPS of 1.228). She gets on with a walk or base hit.”
Bravo, who uses the term “community” a lot to describe the tight-knit team, observed, “I’m interested in neuroscience. I think our (U.S.) school system is lacking in that it doesn’t engage more learning styles. Mine consists of a lot of visuals and audiobooks. I sit down with the (written) text while listening to the audio, which is like watching TV with subtitles. It makes it easier (to get the point of the text).”
Mafong, slashing .455/.600/1.282, said: “I pride myself in the mental aspect of the game. For example, as a catcher, in first-and-third situations, we throw to the shortstop to prevent the runner from scoring from third.”
Stafford, with a slash line of .607/.645/1.966, with four home runs already, has secured her college future. They all play for a coach who, as a quarterback, helped lead the Knight football team to the Div. IV state title in 2010.
