The article below originally appeared in the San Mateo Daily Journal and is being reprinted with permission.

The very nature of community college sports means coaches are every year forging a team built on a core of returners along with an amalgam of first-year and transfer players.

The athletic clock of community college athlete — two playing years — is constantly ticking and programs go through a rebuilding period every year.

Despite the yearly turnovers, the College of San Mateo softball team continues to be one of the best squads in Northern California. The Bulldogs, who finished second in the Coast Conference-North, open the season at home 11 a.m. Saturday against College of the Sequoias.

“We look pretty good,” said CSM’s fifth-year coach Nicole Borg. “Offense looks good, defense is solid. As long as we throw strikes, we’ll get people out.”

The Bulldogs were 13-3 in Coast Conference-North play in 2010 and finished 27-13 overall.

As is usually the case, there is good news and some question marks heading into Saturday’s opener. Offensively, the Bulldogs should be strong, as long as Alyssa Jepsen (Notre Dame-Belmont) can retain the form that made her the Coast Conference Player of the Year in 2010.

The biggest question facing the Bulldogs, however, is who will replace pitcher Lauren Cole, who wrapped up her two-year career with a 40-14 record. Again, some good news on the pitching front: CSM does return the three players who threw a pitch other than Cole, including Jepsen, who pitched just over an inning last season.

But Callie Pacheco (Half Moon Bay) and Ashley Rincon (Sequoia) saw the bulk of the work behind Cole last season — as little as it was. Pacheco and Rincon combined for 13 starts last season, with Pacecho getting 11 of those. They had a combined earned run average of 3.45 (led by Rincon’s 2.95). If nothing else, the two have the experience of pitching a college game.

“They got a lot of throwing time in the fall,” Borg said. “I think they’re going to do great.”

Offensively, the Bulldogs lost six players that batted .300 or better. They do, however, return a strong nucleus of solid hitters and, if the freshmen can develop some consistency, there’s a chance to score some runs.

Someone will need to step up and protect Jepsen in the batting order. Jepsen did it all for the Bulldogs last year: .435 batting average, 41 runs scored, 13 extra-base hits (including two triples and two homers), 24 RBI, 13 steals and reached base in more than half her plate appearances (.522 on-base percentage).

If not for Jepsen’s breakout year, perhaps first baseman Sam Pacheco (Mills) would have taken player of the year honors. She batted .362 with 19 runs driven in and two homers and was a first-team, all-conference selection.

Catcher Morgan Elkins (Carlmont) showed a lot of potential in limited playing time. She got only 35 at-bats in 2010, but made the most of them. She had 14 hits (a .400 average) and drove in runs with half of them. Defensively, she committed only one error in 28 games.

Justina Luna (Antioch) showed some promise off the bench last season. In 23 at-bats she had six hits — but drove in seven runs.

“I put her in some clutch situations (last season) and she came through,” Borg said.

If nothing else, the Bulldogs’ freshman class should bring the experience of playing on some of the best high school teams in the Peninsula Athletic League. Lindsay Handy (Hillsdale) played for the Bay Division championship team last season, and Vika Kafoa (Capuchino) was part of a Mustangs’ squad that made it to the Central Coast Section Division III championship game. Both showed they could swing the bat at the high school level, but will have work to do to be successful in the college game.

The Bulldogs will have a pair of intriguing newcomers in Trish Malaspina (Burlingame) and Danielle Brenner (South City).

Malaspina has spent the last two years as a member of the CSM women’s basketball team. Malaspina was a heavy hitter in high school — offensively and defensively. If she can quickly round into softball form, the Bulldogs could have a hitter to rival Jepsen’s production. Borg said Malaspina will be playing softball when it doesn’t interfere with her basketball schedule. Since this is Malaspina’s first year of college softball, she is considered a softball freshman and has five years to play four years of college softball.

Brenner returns to the Bulldogs following an 11-year hiatus. Brenner played her freshman season at CSM in 2000 before life got in the way. Now she’s back, giving Borg and Bulldogs a different dynamic.

“When she played, she was an all-state player,” Borg said of Brenner. “She brings a different maturity to the our team.”

“We have a great core with our sophomore class and the freshmen have picked up the slack,” Borg continued. “The thing I have really enjoyed is, the chemistry is great. The girls really love to play together.”