MC’s Devine makes most of Pan Am experience

Nate Devine is still buzzing from his trip to Toronto.

From going over scouting reports with USA baseball coaches Jim Tracy and Rene Lachemann, to meeting and talking baseball with Major League Baseball legends Carlos Delgado, Roberto Alomar and Carlos Baerga (Team Puerto Rico baseball coaches), to marching in front of 50,000 people at the Pan Am Games’ opening ceremonies, Devine said the experience was everything he hoped it would be and more.

The softball was pretty good too.

The Merced College pitching coach was a representative on the USA men’s fastpitch team, serving as a utility player.

It was the first time in 12 years that men’s fastpitch was an event in the games, so Devine and company had high hopes of bringing home a medal, especially after reaching the medal round. It wasn’t meant to be, however, as a 1-0 loss to Venezuela in the semifinals forced Team USA to settle for fourth place.

“We just got back from the World Championships prior to the Pan Am Games, so we’d seen all of the teams before,” Devine said. “Finishing fourth was the biggest letdown, because we’d made it to the medal round and were so close to getting that medal. We just ran into a buzz saw with (the Venezuelan) pitcher. He shut us down basically three games in a row between the World Championships and Pan Am Games.”

Devine didn’t get a lot of opportunity to contribute, appearing in five games. He went 0 for 5 with two walks and a run scored.

Despite the disappointment of the team’s finish, Devine said the experience was something he’s going to always treasure.

“Canadian fans really love fastpitch softball and their men’s team, so we had some really big crowds,” Devine said. “They had close to 10,000 at a couple games. Not bad for a bunch of guys with day jobs.

“The way the fans and all the support staff treated us was amazing. The Pan Am Games is the absolute pinnacle of our careers in softball, because we all know we won’t get an Olympic bid, at least not in my playing days. The last time we got to play in the Pan Am Games was 2003, so to get the opportunity to represent the United States in such a big event was the opportunity of a lifetime.”

MC’s Davis stockpiling offers

The summer of love hasn’t slowed for Merced College cornerback Devron Davis.

The flurry of offers to the sophomore continued unabated, with Baylor, Kansas State and defending national champion Ohio State all joining the fold in the last two weeks.

There’s some dispute online as to whether the Buckeyes made an offer, with the school unable to publicly comment on it because of NCAA rules, but Rivals.com and a few other reputable recruiting sites list OSU as having done so. Whether the Buckeyes are after Davis or not, the former Golden Valley and Merced High student has no shortage of big-name suitors, including Oregon, Alabama, Florida State, Florida, Oklahoma and Texas.

None of the sites agree on the number, but the consensus is Davis has more than 30 Division I schools vying for his services, with offers being made by 22 to 25 of them. He has a visit planned for Arizona State on Wednesday and another scheduled for Nebraska later this summer after already visiting Colorado State in June.

UC search continues

The UC Merced women’s basketball head coaching position remains open as the Bobcats search for Kevin Pham’s replacement.

Pham will take over the struggling men’s program after head coach John Sykes and the school agreed to part ways at the end of the 2014-2015 season. Sykes was the school’s inaugural coach, accumulating a 23-87 record in four years. The team’s best season came in 2012-2013, when it went 11-20.

The new women’s coach should inherit a fully stocked pantry as the Bobcats return most of the team that captured the school’s first-ever California Pacific Conference Championship and postseason berth. Pham also compiled a full recruiting class before accepting the men’s job.

This story was originally published July 21, 2015 at 6:26 PM with the headline "MC’s Devine makes most of Pan Am experience."