GHS pitching legend Sarah Caudle is back home with a college
degree and a passion to teach softball
GILROY – Her name rings through every Gilroy household with a budding young softball star in the family. She is the purest example of what hard work and determination can result in. She’s one of the toughest competitors ever to don a Gilroy High Mustang uniform.
She is Sarah Caudle – who guided the Lady Mustang diamond girls to their last Central Coast Section Championship her senior year in 1999 before shoving off to Baylor University in Texas on a full athletic scholarship.
After breaking five school single-season hitting records during her four-year collegiate career – as well as making the All-Big 12 Conference team her freshman season as a pitcher and All-Big 12 Tournament team her junior season as an outfielder – Caudle is back home molding Gilroy High’s future stars on the same home field that carries so many fond memories for her.
Before her glory days at Baylor University – where she also received her communications degree in only four years – Caudle started the long-standing trend of dominant pitching at Gilroy High School. Caudle handed the baton to understudy Andrea Bunten – who earned a full ride to Canisius College in New York. Then Bunten passed off to prodigy Jennifer Olvera – who received a softball scholarship to Vanguard University.
Caudle – who began teaching lessons for both hitting and pitching to area youth when she was a sophomore in high school – has returned to her roots for a little garlic hospitality and, more so, to get her softball clinic in full swing.
On Wednesday, Caudle worked with two of her students – sophomore pitcher Sarah Villar, GHS’s next darling on the hill who dominated at the junior varsity level last season, and incoming freshman Amanda Tellez, a recent Brownell Academy graduate who hopes to make the jump to varsity ball as soon as next spring.
“She was No. 1 in high school (when I started working with her). That’s how I found out about her,” said Villar, 14, who has been under Caudle’s guidance for four years. “She has helped me with my pitching needs, my velocity, and just everything.”
Villar, now playing with the San Jose Sting, meets with Caudle two to three times a week for hour-long sessions – rotating for pitching one day and hitting the next. Villar led the Gilroy Hotshots to a NSA World Series bid before she became Gilroy High’s junior varsity ace last season, also getting some action on varsity.
“She’s a big idol for me. I totally look up to her,” said Villar, who wants to follow in Caudle’s footsteps to greatness. “She’s more like a big sister to everyone she coaches. I’m able to talk about anything with her – pitching or not, batting or not.”
With Caudle sitting on a bucket behind her portable batting cage tossing in pitches, Villar swings away – receiving positive reinforcement and direction from her instructor.
“Use your hands. Control the bat head. Keep your weight down,” said Caudle as Villar makes the necessary adjustments. “Good girl, every (swing) should be like that… Wait, wait, wait, explode. It’s not your body. It’s your hands. Rely on those wrists.”
Once Villar smacks one last shot into the outfield on her final bucket of balls, they both pick them up and return them as Caudle’s next student – Tellez – gathers the balls in the outfield. Although Villar’s session is over, the youngster hangs around to watch Tellez’s workout and later return the favor of retrieving balls from the outfield.
“I remember when I was little I used to pitch and started taking lessons from her,” said Tellez, 13, who has worked with Caudle for four years. “She’s not only helped me with my softball skills, but with the mental part of having confidence and believing you can do it.”
Tellez plays the hot corner at third base since switching over from pitcher. She takes hitting lessons with Caudle once a week.
“Before we just worked on basics,” said Tellez, who is playing for the Salinas Storm U14 travel squad. “Now it’s all coming together so we work on little things, little adjustments.”
Tellez’s lesson – the second of the day for Caudle – begins with her swinging a broom stick handle at wiffle balls. Then Tellez takes cuts at regulation softballs with a mini wood bat off a tee, using only her front hand.
“Go hard,” said Caudle before moving over to the softball diamond to toss pitches at Tellez in the batter’s box. “Use that bat head. Stay on top of it.”
Once again, Caudle only bellows words of encouragement to her student. Tellez has a wider stance than the norm – but she continually belts the ball far into the outfield grass.
“Fast hands. Great balance,” said Caudle to Tellez. “Your feet are fine. Don’t let anyone tell you different.”
After Tellez bashes her final shot, they retrieve the balls along with Villar – grabbing the rest of the outfield shots. Although her workouts are over for the day, Caudle takes her pupils to get a refreshing drink and the drives them home.
“These girls work so hard,” said Caudle, who currently has about 10-12 students. “I only fix things. The girls have to practice. They work their butts off. They are the best kids. There’s no attitudes and their work ethic is great.”
Caudle enjoys her time working with the younger generations who share her same passion for softball. Anyone interested in starting up a one-on-one lesson with Caudle, can contact her via e-mail at sa**********@****or.edu.
“I’m very excited to be home,” said Caudle, who opted to run her local business rather than start a broadcasting career at Baylor University in Waco, Texas. “It’s something I’ve always loved doing. This makes me happy. It’s not always about softball. It influences them in their lives as young ladies.”
The 22-year-old starlet has given everything she’s got into the game of softball – starting like any other garlic girl in Gilroy Little League, then advancing with a Gilroy tournament team called the Phillies, then joining a San Jose tournament team where she won a national title, and playing with the Gilroy High varsity squad where she won a CCS title.
“It was fun. Every year we got closer and closer and closer. I made it a point for my class to win it all and we finally did my senior year,” said Caudle, a first-team All-American. “It was a great feeling having that (championship) banner up in the gym.”
Caudle’s accolades on the high school diamond transformed into a scholarship to Baylor University – where she jumped right in as the team’s ace pitcher in her first season.
“It was really easy. I was ready, ready to be at the next level and compete against the best ball players in the nation,” Caudle said. “Baylor was a good, small school of about 40,000 so I still felt like a big fish.”
But Caudle endured back injuries, a stress fracture and turf toe – forcing her to take a year off from softball. When she returned, the team had several incoming pitchers so she stepped out of the circle and focused on her hitting as the starting rightfielder.
“I just hit. I loved hitting,” said Caudle, who would step back into the circle her senior season. “I did it when they needed me. I did really well. It was nice for me to go out pitching.”
In her career, Caudle finished seventh on the all time list with 180 games played and 179 games started. She was third in batting average at .339 and seventh with 522 at-bats. She was tied for fifth with 75 runs scored, third with 177 hits, third with 28 doubles, tied for first with seven triples, seventh with 62 RBIs, third with 22 total bases, sixth in slugging percentage at .425, seventh with 37 walks, third with 10 times hit by pitch, third with 35 stolen bases, and fourth in on base percentage at .394.
On the mound for Baylor, Caudle finished tied for fourth with 45 pitching appearances, fourth with 34 pitching starts, fifth with 14 wins, ninth in winning percentage at .483 (14-15), 10th in ERA at 3.78, fourth with 13 complete games, tied for fifth with two shutouts, fourth with 189.0 innings pitched, fifth with 123 strikeouts, and seventh in opponents’ batting average at .278.
“I left the game loving it – which is great. A lot of girls don’t. I still love it, but I’m ready to start watching it not playing it. I’m tired of playing,” said Caudle, standing on the Gilroy High diamond Wednesday. “I had to come back. Texas was fun. It’s a good state, but this is a good break.”
Caudle’s had her fill, and then some, of competing in softball. Her main focus this summer is teaching softball to others and passing along the skills that made her the toast of the garlic capital.
“That’s the draw with me. I’m just as happy sitting back and watching them play. I’m happy and I’m also happy for them,” Caudle said. “I’m not only their coach. I’m their friend and I want them to be good people. It’s about working hard, having goals, and working towards those goals.”
Caudle has instructed such Gilroy High players of past and present as Jenn Olvera, Andrea Bunten, Bria DeLorenzo, Christina Hernandez, Brooke Meskimen, Marissa Nowakowski, Sarah Griffis, Kendall Costa, Lisa Harmon, and Francesca Lopez.
“This is what’s going to make me happy,” Caudle said. “It’s easy for me to break it down for girls. I make it simple. I never tell them they’re doing something wrong.”
