Latest stop in TJ Pruneda’s incredible baseball journey? As the softball coach for Central Catholic in Portland

By Dan Brood 

From baseball to softball. 

From playing to coaching — although, still playing some. 

From Tigard, to Newberg, to Vancouver (Wash.), to Iowa, to California, to Texas, to New Mexico, to Arizona, to Mexico and then, finally, to Portland. 

It’s been quite a journey, in more ways than one, for TJ Pruneda. 

It’s been a journey that has had some ups and some downs. There have been disappointments and silver linings.

And maybe, just maybe, the journey, for the most part, is slowing down.

That’s OK with Pruneda, because he absolutely loves where he is right now.

Where he is, exactly, is serving as a first-year head coach of the Central Catholic High School softball team.

“Record-wise, it hasn’t been the greatest. But coaching-wise, for me, it’s been phenomenal,” Pruneda said after leading the Rams to a 5-1 win over Reynolds in a Mt. Hood Conference game Friday, April 21, at Delta Park. “I’m trying to build a culture and an environment that people really want to get into. Central is a great school. When you hear ‘Central Catholic,’ it means something, and I want to continue that.” 

Pruneda, a 2010 Tigard graduate, definitely has a tone of enthusiasm and joy in his voice as he talks about the Central Catholic team, the school and softball.

“I want people to know that when they play Central Catholic, that it’s going to be a dogfight, and it’s going to be a good thing for both sides,” he said.

His optimistic attitude really shows when he talks about his Rams squad.

“I try to be very positive,” Pruneda said. “If you make sure they know you believe in them, they’re going to run through a wall for you. I want them to know that I would run through a wall, or anything else, to make sure they know I have their best interests at heart. I want every one of them to go to college and play, if that’s their dream, and I want them all to be set up to be super successful after Central Catholic.”

Pruneda’s positive demeanor has certainly been noticed by the Central Catholic players.

“He’s great,” junior pitcher Gracie Huston said. “He’s such a positive role model for us, and he’s always got our back.”

“He’s not one of those coaches that just yells at you, and I really appreciate that,” senior catcher Sofia Maykut said. “He’s just a real team player. He’s always got our back, both on and off the field. He’s always there for us.”

The 31-year-old Pruneda and Central Catholic certainly seems to be a good fit — and maybe a fitting end to a journey that had Pruneda chasing a baseball career for as long as he could, as a player and then possibly as a coach. 

“I never thought I’d end up coaching softball,” he said.

Starting the journey

Pruneda, a left-handed finesse pitcher, wanted to continue his baseball career after helping Tigard reach the Class 6A state playoffs as a senior. 

That’s where the journey began.

Here’s a bit of a condensed version of where that journey took Pruneda. After things didn’t work out at George Fox University in Newberg, his first stop, he started his collegiate baseball career at Clark College, a two-year school in Vancouver, Wash. In his second year with the Penguins, the 5-foot-9 Pruneda had a 4-3 win-loss record and an earned-run average of 2.96.

From there, Pruneda moved on to play at the AIB College of Business in Des Moines, Iowa. In his second year at AIB, he earned first-team all-conference honors while helping the Eagles win the 2015 Midwest Collegiate Conference championship.

That is where college baseball ended for Pruneda, but his baseball journey was still going strong.

He next played in the California Winter League, which was a month-long tryout league, where he paid to play in front of scouts from various independent leagues. Following his stint in the CWL, none of those scouts gave Pruneda a call. But he wasn’t about to give up.

From there, Pruneda hopped on a plane, and it was off to the Pecos League, another tryout league, this one based in Houston. Pruneda pitched for the Roswell (New Mexico) Invaders of the Pecos League, putting together a 5-1 record. He moved on to pitch for the Laredo Apaches of the Arizona Winter League, going 2-1 with a 3.14 ERA.

While there, Arizona League CEO Jose Melendez, who also served as the president of the Pericos de Puebla (Puebla Parakeets of the AAA-level Mexican League), signed Pruneda to the organization. At first, he pitched for the organization’s affiliated Algodoneros de San Luis team. He went to spring training and spent three weeks with the team before getting promoted to the Puebla club. He pitched for the team in 2017 and 2018. 

He was released from the team after the 2018 season. But the journey was far from over.

Coming back home

Even before the 2018 season in Mexico, Pruneda had made a trip back north.

“After that 2017 season, I came home for the offseason, and my wife (then-fiance Katarina Vela, who played softball at Clark College and AIB College of Business) was coaching a travel softball team,” Pruneda said. “I was just going to help out, give my two cents and try to help the girls get better, and that team, the Northwest Raptors (a team of 14-year-olds) based out of Vancouver, really got me going with coaching.”

After that 2018 season in Mexico, his final season south of the border, Pruneda came back home — for good. And what exactly was it that brought him home?

“The wife,” he said with a laugh. 

And a return to coaching, of course. 

“It was a super cool experience, and it was like I never really went away,” he said of coaching softball. “I left for the next spring training, another season in Mexico, when I came back, everything was the same. So, I jumped right back into coaching.”

He stayed there.

“I decided that I wasn’t going to play baseball in 2019, so my wife and I started our own (softball) team, the Invaders, which was pretty much the same group of girls that we coached before,” Pruneda said. “My wife and I then opened a hitting facility in Vancouver.”

But the Prunedas, like many other people, had their plans derailed because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We were about to start our season,” Pruneda said. “The high school season just got canceled, and our season went under, and the facility went under. But it’s crazy how timing works. My daughter was born that June. So, everything closed. It sucked and it was heartbreaking, because we put all that time and energy into the facility and coaching, and having it all taken away from us, but we got to spend some good, quality time with our daughter. So, the silver lining definitely outweighed the unfortunate outbreak.”

Pruneda gets a smile when he talks about his family.

“I’m married, with the same woman, so lucky her — no, lucky me,” he said with a laugh. “I’ve got two kids and a third on the way, due in August. So, it’s super exciting.”

Switching to softball

Pruneda always thought his future would be in baseball — one way or another.

“I always thought I was going to stay in the baseball world. I coached at Portland Baseball Club right out of high school,” he said. “I coached with Joe Taylor for a handful of years. I’m still really close with all of them over there, and I still lean on Joe for some coaching decisions.”

There are other coaches who have influenced him and given him advice.

“In middle school, Coach Rich McClain from Sherwood, he was my JBO coach, and he was a guy who really kept me going,” Pruneda said. “He always knew how to make things fun and exciting. No one likes 8 a.m. games, but he made warmups fun. He had us do cartwheels in warmups. My dad (Isidro Pruneda) has always been one of my coaches. He was a pitcher growing up, so he and I do a lot of talking back and forth. He’s always been a coach that I’ve relied on.”

Now, when it comes to coaching softball, there are others he turns to.

“Making the switch to softball, my wife’s softball coach from college, Coach Kim Jones, is super knowledgeable,” Pruneda said. “She pitched at Arizona State. So, if I have any softball questions, she’s usually the first person I call — besides my wife.”

Even the switch to softball at the high school level might have been a bit coincidental.

“Whenever I went online, I’d look at coaching jobs, because it’s something I’ve always wanted to do. It’s a calling that I’m really passionate about,” Pruneda said. 

One of the coaching openings he saw, and applied for, was an assistant coaching post with the Central Catholic baseball team.

“I actually applied for a baseball assistant position. But Gracie (Huston), who had played for me at one of the travel ball tournaments, said to me, ‘Hey, our coaching staff left,’” Pruneda said. “So, I thought about it, and I put more weight into the head coaching job, because I can sort of run things. And this is a great school. Central Catholic has been great forever. I played for Coach (Tom) Campbell at Tigard, and he’s a Central Catholic guy, and Central Catholic is just a place I’ve always been drawn to.”

Leading the Rams

In his first season as Central Catholic’s head coach, Pruneda’s Rams are 5-11 overall, but they’re 4-2 in Mt. Hood Conference play.

“The girls are awesome and super fun,” said Pruneda, who coaches the team with assistants Jessica Lauderback-Smith, David Thomason and Logan Kelly. “We’ve got great leadership, with Gracie Huston and Sofia Maykut. We’ve got another leader, (junior) Elle Merlino. The freshmen are really coming into their own. It’s super fun seeing them get more and more confident each and every day.” 

The team is young, with four seniors and eight freshmen on the 19-player roster. That youth, of course, provides a challenge — especially for a first-year coach. 

“It’s a fun challenge. It’s a great group of girls that I’m with right now,” Pruneda said. “It’s a good mix. It’s a super young group, which is exciting.”

Exciting and challenging.

“Building that chemistry, that’s the challenge. It’s a whole new group,” Pruneda said. “There’s eight freshmen that are still getting to know the school. Half of them, I think, haven’t played at a high level of softball before. That’s a big challenge, going from Little League to facing an 18-year-old. We’re starting to conquer that challenge.”

And there are other challenges, being a first-year head coach.

“Coaching at high school isn’t as easy as I’ve thought,” he said. “I’m learning a lot of the back-end stuff — how to order gear, how to make sure I have enough inventory on the team for next year, learn how to forecast and build schedules for next year, maybe a spring break trip.”

For right now, Pruneda likes what he sees from his team.

“These girls know how to compete and how to battle,” he said. “That’s all I’m really asking for. We’re going to play hard, we’re going to give respect, we’re going to earn respect.”

Pruneda has already earned the respect of his players.

“He’s always thinking three plays ahead,” Huston said. “He’s always working to better our team and finding ways for all of us to improve.”

“He’s really smart, thinking ahead when we’re on the field,” Maykut said. “He knows what he’s talking about, and he’s super supportive.”

Playing and coaching future

The days playing far from home have come to an end, but Pruneda’s playing days haven’t. 

“I ended up playing another year in Mexico, so it was 2018. After that, I took a couple of years off from playing, because I got released, and I figured it was probably time to put the adult shoes on,” he said. “But then, the Mavericks League popped up, down in Salem, in 2021. So, I went down there and played the past two years, and I plan on playing again this year. So, I’m still playing, maybe not at the same high level, but it’s pretty competitive.”

Pruneda is enjoying his chance to keep playing competitive baseball, but he seems even more enthusiastic when talking about his future, and the Rams’ softball future, at Central Catholic.

“I want to be the (longtime Rams football coach) Steve Pyne of softball at Central Catholic,” he said. “I want my name to be one and one with softball at Central Catholic. Ideally, I’d like to build and build and build Central Catholic softball to a perennial powerhouse, just like Steve Pyne has done with football. I would love to be able to do that here at Central. I’ve leaned on Coach Pyne when I started up here at Central.”

So far, so good. 

“It’s always fun when girls are buying in, and these girls are really buying in. We’re 13 games in, so we’ve seen a lot of pitching. We’ve seen a lot of things, unfortunately, not go our way. But that just means the tide is going to roll our way eventually. That’s just the way sports are,” Pruneda said.

“The challenges were what I thought they’d be coming in. I didn’t expect this group to accept me as quickly as they did. They’ve pushed me to be a better coach every day, as much as I expect them to grow as a player every day.” 

Worth the journey

Looking back at all the baseball, all the travel, all the ups and downs, Pruneda said his long journey has played a big part in the type of person he is now. 

“It’s kind of been my life story, to be honest,” he said. “I’m not big in stature. I’m not overpoweringly talented. But I work hard. I work my butt off every day. That’s what got me to Mexico, playing ball. My determination keeps me playing ball, even down there in Salem. I’m determined to make this program an absolute powerhouse. I’m determined to get all of these girls to college. My determination, my work ethic and, I like to think, my mental fortitude are big strengths of mine. I don’t rattle very easily. I don’t lose faith or get scrambled.” 

Pruneda is hoping to pass those attributes, and the lessons he’s learned, to the players he coaches. 

“It comes from all I’ve been through,” he said. “Being cut, being released in pro ball is a different animal. You know it’s a business, but you don’t really believe it’s happening until it happens. You just have to adjust and move on. 

“All of those little struggles I’ve gone through in life, I just want to pass on. If I would have known a couple of these lessons before I got into pro ball, or into coaching, I think it would have helped me advance a little quicker or be a little bit more aware. So, if I can pass on these little life lessons from what this wonderful game gives you, and some of these girls can use (them) the rest of their life, that’s a win to me.” 

Pruneda is hoping for another win down the road. 

“A goal of mine, and I told this to all of the players and all of their parents, hopefully, with the bond and relationship we build, maybe I’ll get invited to a couple of weddings when the time comes,” Pruneda said. “I want to be a positive influence.” 

For Pruneda, that would be an amazing late chapter in an incredible journey.