Fairfax, Va.- The prospect of moving far away to attend college is either difficult to fathom or a necessity. Factors in staying or going can boil down to family, the opportunity, weather or comfort level. For five members of George Mason University's softball team, each sought out a unique college experience that only Mason could provide.
The two longest tenured Patriots from California are senior outfielders Julia Czarnecki and Sarah Solano. While Solano was born and raised in Santa Clarita, Calif., just north of Los Angeles, Czarnecki hails from Clayton, Calif. which is east of San Francisco in the northern part of the state.
To illustrate just how far apart these two California towns are, driving from Fairfax, Va. to New York City would actually be quicker by seven minutes.
While investigating Mason, Czarnecki knew a native Californian had recently graduated from the program so it wasn't a surprise when she found out she'd be one of two incoming freshman from the most populated state in the country.
“Coach told me he was talking to a girl from southern California,” Czarnecki recalled. “By the time official visits came around, I was aware that Sarah was going to be attending Mason and we'd be the two Californians in our freshman class.”
Each player had separate reasons for wanting to venture 3,000 miles the Golden State to northern Virginia. Going into her junior year of high school, Czarnecki knew she wanted to go out of state. Both of her parents grew up on the East Coast, her dad in Pennsylvania and mom in New York, so she, too, wanted the experience of living alongside the Atlantic Ocean.
“Mason offered great diversity and being located so close to Washington, D.C. was something I couldn't pass up,” Czarnecki said. “In my mind, I was given a chance to take an opportunity that my fellow peers and friends weren't really given at the time, so I took it.”
Solano, a criminology major, also jumped at the opportunity to relocate to the East Coast.
“I chose to come to Mason because of the government job opportunities in Washington, D.C.,” she said. “I also wanted to see the other side of the country while I had the opportunity, as I [had] lived in California my entire life.”
Mason's California connection extends beyond the players on the roster. Head coach Joe Verbanic grew up in California as well and coached at San Diego State. When he got the job as the head coach of the Patriots, with whom he reached the Atlantic 10 Conference semi-finals last year, he first wanted to build a solid core of local recruits before branching out.
“I wanted to establish my mid-Atlantic recruiting base first,” Verbanic said. “I spent the first four years learning about the local teams out here because I didn't know many programs or coaches.”
Verbanic had to play catch-up considering coaches of other programs around the area had been scouting the mid-Atlantic region for years prior to his arrival. Once he got a feel for which high school programs consistently manufactured top players, Verbanic got creative and returned to his roots.
“I started going back to California for a pre-Thanksgiving tournament and another softball tournament in Las Vegas during the winter time,” he added. “I was able to kill two birds with one stone because the mid-Atlantic teams would go out there and obviously California kids were playing in the tournament as well.”
Verbanic eventually made this a habit and started reconnecting with former coaches and programs, most of which located southern California. A major selling point for Verbanic was Mason's strong academic record as well as the 2006 Final Four appearance by the men's basketball team. Along with publicizing the basketball program, it also gave the school exposure across the country.
“I was trying to recruit a good-package kid," Verbanic said. "First and foremost, they had to be a solid person. Then they had to be solid academically, a good softball player and somebody who was fine with the weather and the distance away from home.”
Sometimes, Verbanic would use slightly negative marketing tactics just to see how tough a certain recruit was. The Mason skipper of 11 years didn't want recruits just to come for softball and then leave when adversity struck, he was looking for players who looked at this opportunity as an adventure.
When California's economy took a hit in the late 2000's, the price of attending Mason became quite comparable to that of a school from the UC system. All Verbanic had to do was convince parents and athletes to simply research George Mason and once they clicked on the website, the information spoke for itself.
“It became close to or over $30,000 a year to stay in-state,” Verbanic said. “The costs are very similar now, before it was a 20,000 dollar difference and much harder to get into the UC schools. All of a sudden, it started making more sense for better students to check out Mason as a viable option with good medical sciences and a few other popular majors being offered.”
Although the two Californians in the recruiting class of 2012 - Czarnecki and Solano - learned and adjusted to the landscape of the East Coast, Mason would go three years before landing another California recruit. When that finally happened, however, the program swept a trio of West Coast players.
Three of the freshmen in 2016 - pitcher Marina Vitalich, outfielder Victoria Webster and first baseman Samantha Zaccari - all came to Mason from southern California. All three grew up north of San Diego along the southern West Coast of the state - Vitalich from northernmost San Pedro, Zaccari from Placentia in the middle and Webster from southernmost Vista.
Growing up, Vitalich and Webster faced each other at the Rec-Ball All-Stars level when both were playing U-8 softball. Coincidentally, Webster's mother was able to dig up an old scorebook containing a game that was played 10 years ago next month, in which Webster's team faced Vitalich's team.
In her first at-bat of the game against Vitalich, Webster worked the count full and singled off of "Mina". Later in the contest, the pitcher would get her revenge against "Vic" by striking her out twice. Ultimately, the outfielder had the last laugh as her team won the game 5-1.
Zaccari also competed against Webster and Vitalich throughout travel ball during the ages of 12-14. Sam and Mina were teammates even before Mason as they played together on the Firecrackers select team during high school. During the final months of their season, both realized that they would be attending Mason together and were looking forward to continuing their careers as teammates.
“I thought it was cool that I was teammates with someone I'd be playing with at Mason,” Vitalich said. “It was like a jumpstart to the next four years of my life.”
Although all five are pleased with their decision to attend Mason, there have been setbacks that each has had to overcome. Being away from their families for eight months out of the year makes each text or phone call that much more meaningful.
“The hardest part is not being able to see my family every day,” Zaccari said. “The time difference also makes it pretty hard to coordinate phone calls and FaceTime sessions around times when everyone's available.”
Another burden for these players is the drastic weather change. In sunny California, the weather rarely dips below 70 degrees whereas in Fairfax during the fall and winter, temperatures in the 50s are considered a blessing.
“Everything is fine for the most part, nothing that I wasn't already anticipating,” Webster said. “Except the wind, I hate the wind.”
One of the adjustments that native Californians had to go through was that the tricky NoVA weather often forces Mason to practice indoors, even after the season gets underway in mid-February. Back home, the five consistently played softball year-round without weather hindering practice schedules or canceling games during travel ball and high school seasons.
“Not having much sun would sometimes affect my mood and definitely made my vitamin D levels drop,” Czarnecki said.
A topic that comes up from time to time between the southern California raised players and the single northern California raised player, Czarnecki, is just which part of California is better.
“Northern California rules the West Coast in the majority of all categories; better teams, better outdoor activities, better food, and so on,” Czarnecki said.
Vitalich respectfully disagreed with Czarnecki's assessment, a sentiment was shared by all southern California representatives.
“Southern California is the best because that's where everyone goes when they visit,” Vitalich said. "We have Disneyland, Los Angeles, Hollywood, better beaches, etc.”
Even though they all hope to make it back one day, all five plan on staying in the DMV area for the foreseeable future. The three freshmen will return to Mason for their sophomore seasons in the fall and the two seniors will stick around for work. Czarnecki will assist Mason microbiology professor Dr. Jonas while Solano will conduct criminal justice research as a project assistant at the Police Foundation in Washington, D.C.
Despite the occasional debate, all five are grateful that they can call the Golden State home.
“Playing on the same team 3,000 miles away from home, we put aside our differences and in the end, we all come from a great, beautiful state.” Czarnecki said.
No objections this time.
