PCC Softball coach turns heads, program around
Anthony Martinez, Courier
After biking her way to the softball field, she must unlock the gate near the dugout and the equipment shed. Not to be mistaken as a player, head coach Monica Tantlinger is ready for another productive practice.
Entering her second, yet first full season as the Lancers' head softball coach, Tantlinger has a history of coaching at the university level. A product of community college softball herself, where she played for Antelope Valley College before walking on for Cal State Fullerton's team, Tantlinger eventually became a student coach for the Titans. Following her stint at Fullerton, Tantlinger was an assistant coach at UC Riverside for three years and another three years at Purdue University. Most recently, she assisted for the East Los Angeles College Huskies.
While she enjoyed coaching at the Division I level, Tantlinger's heart lies within the community college programs in addition to teaching. Though some may question her move from coaching at Division I programs to community college ones, Tantlinger prefers to build up the talent that will feed into higher levels of competition.
"I started to realize that I love teaching, almost as much as I love coaching," she said. "I mean, they really are synonymous with each other, so I decided to get my master's and come back and help student athletes get the opportunities that I got from a community college going on to play at a four-year, whether it's DI, DII, DIII or NAIA."
For Tantlinger, coaching at PCC is somewhat of a dream come true. She can finally prove her abilities as a head coach and lead a previously struggling program towards success. Most importantly, Tantlinger strives to show her players that success is always a possibility.
"I want them to understand that there are multiple ways to achieve the goals you want," she continued. "So that's why I came back, and that's why I dropped out of Division I…I wanted to be a part of something that's before that."
As far as turning the program around, Tantlinger has seen a strong preseason, one of the strongest in recent history. In this turnaround effort, the team lives by the motto "turn some heads," which they've done so far.
"We want people to kind of take notice of PCC," she said. "Like, wherever we go, let's turn some heads, let's get people to stop and be like, 'Wow, that's Pasadena?'"
Looking down the road, Tantlinger would greatly like to see the Lancers win in conference yet she doesn't want to give a solid yes or no. Anything is possible at this point, and she'd rather take the season on a game-by-game approach. However, this doesn't mean she has little faith in her athletes, she just prefers to focus on the process of getting somewhere before basking in the results or predictions of what could have been.
Outside of life on the field, Tantlinger enjoys a healthy dose of competitive spirit, participating in a few half marathons and one full marathon. Claiming her competitiveness is a "kind of a sickness," even seemingly uncompetitive activities like her bike ride to the field becomes a competition. Keeping track of her daily times, she constantly tries to break her previous best time just for the sake of competing with herself.
With a warm, friendly personality, competitive drive, and knowledge, Tantlinger serves as both a mentor and an inspiration for her athletes.
"I've had lots of coaches, both male and female, and by far, she is probably the most knowledgeable, the [easiest] to talk to, the most absolute amazing coach," said freshman catcher Holly Riker-Sloan. "I absolutely love her personality, I love the way she handles situations on and off the field, and how she just kind of is a mentor to each one of us."
Sophomore utility/pitcher Breanna Rodrigo holds similar views of Tantlinger's personality, noting her enthusiasm.
"I've never had a coach that has been so passionate about softball and passionate about us," she said. "She cares about winning, but she really cares about making us better and being able to make us move on past PCC."
Although her players have nothing but positivity for her, and the general response that Tantlinger changed the team around, she's humble about all the credit people give her, directing said attention to the athletes themselves.
"At the end of the day, it's them," she said. "I can coach them all I want during practice, but in a game, there's nothing I can do but give them a sign and they have to execute it."
Despite a 12-4 loss to Southwestern College and losing 13-5 in the South Coast Conference opener against Cerritos College, the Lancers still hold an impressive record so far at 8-2. With a few adjustments to their defense, the Lancers should be in a good position for the rest of the season.
"They need to believe how good they are and play like a team that can do some damage in this conference," Tantlinger said about the team's consecutive loses.