Best of: Baseball, softball talk playoffs and future

As Chapman’s wacky 2021 sports season comes to a close, its baseball and softball teams are lacing up their cleats for the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) playoffs. DANIEL PEARSON, Staff Photographer

It’s been possibly the strangest athletic year in Chapman history. But a group of Panthers isn’t quite ready for it to end. 

Chapman’s baseball and softball teams, two programs that had successful spring seasons — both ranked as top-two seeds in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) — are gearing up for the SCIAC playoffs.

Grant Manning, a sophomore pitcher on the baseball team, was hyper-focused on the team’s final series of the season against California Lutheran University and the implications that came with it. The Panthers took the first game 11-2 May 14, then won both games of a May 15 doubleheader 2-1 and 6-5. With the series sweep, the Panthers will host the SCIAC playoff tournament starting May 21 and will be the No. 1 seed. 

“It’s just really fortunate we can be in this situation,” Manning said. “We’ve shown the administration that they can trust us to be safe (with COVID-19) and it’s paid off.”

Baseball head coach Scott Laverty is relieved to be playing at their home of Hart Park — where the Panthers have not lost a game all season — for the SCIAC playoffs.

“Huge,” Laverty said of the importance of playing at home. “Our park is definitely an advantage.”

The softball team, too, had home-field advantage in its first playoff game against the University of La Verne May 14. Senior Zela Chahbazian said the unorthodox dimensions at El Camino Real Park paid dividends in the 7-2 victory.

“Our outfield is a lot bigger than some other schools. We know how to play it,” Chahbazian said. 

Despite the win, the Panthers continued play at the University of Redlands the remainder of the weekend in a double-elimination tournament setting. Their first game came May 14, a 9-2 loss against Redlands, but the Panthers beat California Lutheran 8-3 later that day. That earned them a spot in the SCIAC championship against Redlands May 16 where they fell to Redlands 6-2.

Although the programs may not have a shot at their respective national championships — with the SCIAC not fielding enough teams over the course of the season to qualify — they believe playing this season in the first place will give them a sizable advantage come next year.

“The other teams will have to make up for two years,” Chahbazian said. “We had the opportunity to build a team atmosphere with each other. Every other school will have to start from scratch (next) year.”

As a freshman himself on the baseball teams during the shutdown last season, Manning recognized how important it was for this year's new class to get some playing time down the stretch, putting them a step ahead for the future of other programs in the SCIAC that didn’t have a season. 

“Our current freshmen right now will have far more experience than freshmen throughout the league,” Manning said. “With that, they can hone their raw skills they brought in this year and develop them over the next year.”

Experience and games aside, both Manning and Chahbazian see this season as a win — not only for their teams, but for the university and the athletic department as a whole.

“It’s a great community boost, especially right now, for Chapman to come together over something and athletics has the ability to do that,” Chahbazian said.