Starting their season with great results, The Coronado High School Varsity Baseball Team, stomped San Diego High School 15-1, obliterated Otay Ranch 7-2, and then worked their way past Westview High School 3-2 last week. All three games were part of the season-opening Bully’s East Tournament, where the Islanders find themselves competing in the Upper Division.

Discussing the victory over Westview, CHS Head Coach Sam Ceci called the contest, "a classic baseball game. We had good pitching, which always makes a difference, and good defense. We got out hit, but we still won." Kevin Couture went the distance for the Islanders, scattering eight Wolverine hits, while allowing two earned runs. The secret to the junior right-hander’s success was striking out seven batters, while walking only two. Couture yielded only one extra-base hit, a double in the third inning.

The heavy lumber, or nowadays the almighty aluminum, was supplied by third baseman Danny Cepin, who batting in the ninth position was 2-3 and drove in two runs, including the game-winner in the bottom of the seventh inning. The final frame began with Michael Denson reaching base on a throwing error by the Wolverine pitcher, followed by Jimmy Gersonde’s second sacrifice of the day. Blake Spitzer was intentionally walked, the next Islander hitter struck out, setting the stage for Cepin, who lined a two-out hit up the middle, allowing pinch runner Brandon Wheeler to score from second base.

Said Ceci of the sophomore Cepin, "he did very well Friday with two key hits, both 2-out singles, which is absolutely clutch. Cepin will play third base when Kevin pitches and when Josh Okerman pitches, he plays leftfield. He’s our first utility guy and a pretty good contact (hitting) guy. He’s done just fine."

Five of the 15 players on the 2005 Islander roster are seniors, and features returning lettermen David West in right field, Ryan Nunn in centerfield, pitcher Mike Hollinger, and leftfielder/pitcher Okerman. Hollinger, who is big enough to go bear hunting with a switch, and is referred to as ‘Sarge’ by his teammates, is one key to a potentially successful season for the Islanders. "If he clicks on the mound, he can really make a great season for us," said Ceci. "He’s got a lot of power behind him. When he pitches and he’s on, he’s tough."

The junior class is led by pitcher/shortstop Couture, third baseman/shortstop Blake Spitzer, second sacker Max Weinfurtner and catcher Denson. Ceci refers to Spitzer and Weinfurtner as "the anchors of the whole defense," while Denson is taking a crash course behind the plate, a position he hasn’t played since Little League. Ceci, a catcher on two NCAA title teams at USC under the legendary Rod Deadeaux, will help Denson with his receiving skills. "He’s caught every inning so far, by design," said Ceci of Denson. "All in all, he’s doing fine."

In the immediate future, the Islanders have a pro-type schedule ahead of them, brought on by the rain earlier in the season. Monday they host Horizon, Wednesday they host Mira Mesa in a make-up game, and then host Mar Vista in a double-header Saturday at 10 am and 1 pm. If they advance in the Bully’s East Tournament with wins in the Monday and Wednesday games, they would add a tournament championship game to the mix on Thursday. Add in games in the annual Lions Tournament next week on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, and if all goes well the semi-finals and finals on Thursday, and you have wall-to-wall baseball. "We don’t have a problem yet," said Ceci of his pitching corps. "We may call up a couple of freshmen from the JV who can throw strikes for some of those games."

The Islanders return to the tough Western League again this year, which includes Mission Bay, USDHS, University City, La Jolla, Point Loma, and Clairemont. Ceci considers USDHS, University City and Coronado as contenders for the league title. "With Kevin on the mound, we can compete with anybody. The trouble is he can only pitch once a week. If we get a couple of breaks, we can challenge (for the league title). We’re going to have to get hot with the sticks (hitting). The pitchers are going to have to pitch better than they have so far, but it’s doable. The days of sneaking up on people are over."

Coronado will again be the smallest school in CIF Division III, a grouping that includes USDHS, St. Augustine, Mission Bay, Valhalla, San Marcos and Point Loma. "They (the CIF) brought Valhalla down to Division III and they are a first-rate team. The playoffs and the seeding meeting are so important. If you’re not in the top four seeds, you don’t have a chance (due to the playoff format, including byes). You have to be so, so deep (on the mound) to make it work."

Head Boys Tennis Coach Robbin Adair has accumulated over 1,000 victories at the helm of the Islander tennis program, both boys and girls. Last week he added two more wins to that impressive total as Coronado defeated Point Loma at home 10-8 and then knocked off Canyon Crest at the Torrey Pines High School courts Friday 17-1.

Six of the nine players representing Coronado last week were seniors, including the entire singles lineup. Playing No. 1 singles is Daniel Souza, No. 2 singles is Allan Hernandez, and No. 3 singles is Matt Rowan. Adair’s No. 1 doubles combo is comprised of seniors Lewis Guess and Dan Schneider. No. 2 doubles are sophomores Mike Holman and Chris Mitchell and No. 3 doubles features senior Javier Arozarena and sophomore Pedro de la Fuente. Sophomore Ryan Jones will see some time at both singles and doubles, while Schneider may also compete in singles. Junior Alex Bryan currently has some knee problems, but will contribute to the team, as will freshmen Evan Wheeler and Frankie Harrison.

"Souza, Hernandez, Rowan, Guess, Schneider, Mitchell, Arozarena, and Jones are all returning letter winners," said Adair. "Holman is a new kid from Texas who can play. Wheeler and Harrison add some depth to the lineup."

For the week, Souza won all six of his sets, defeating the Point Loma singles lineup 6-3, 6-2, and 6-4; and dominating Canyon Crest 6-1, 6-2, and 6-0. Hernandez was 5-1 in his six sets played during the week; Rowan was 4-2; while the doubles team of Guess/Schneider was 5-1 and Holman/Mitchell were 4-2.

This week the team hosts three matches, facing San Dieguito Academy Tuesday, El Capitan Thursday and Mar Vista Friday. All three matches are scheduled for 3 pm at the Glorietta Tennis Center.

Despite missing six players who were involved in SAT testing Saturday, the CHS Girls Softball Team rolled to a 4-2 victory over Horizon and a 13-1 win over San Diego H.S. in the annual Montgomery Aztec Tournament.

A sign that things may be going particularly well this season was when Head Coach Ed Shanholtz tapped his top JV hurler Juliette Zimmer to pitch for the varsity in the second game of the day against the Cavers. Zimmer responded with a complete game two-hitter, went 1-3 at the plate and scored two runs. Junior shortstop Farrell Pompa contributed a triple and two runs scored, while Lisa Bernardy added a triple. The Islanders were the beneficiaries of 10 walks, which helped lead to the one-sided score.

In Saturday’s first contest, Sara Noceto twirled a complete game four-hitter to earn the victory. She helped her own cause by going 1-2 at the plate, with a run scored and a stolen base. Rosie Harris was 2-3 and Bernardy added a double. "Lisa played extremely well on the defensive side at second base as well," said Shanholtz. Kristina McElroy, our JV first baseman played the first game against Horizon and did a really good job."

This week the Islanders host Mar Vista Thursday at Green Field and then travel to Francis Parker Friday. Both games are scheduled for 3 pm.

About the only thing that went wrong in Friday evening’s season opening Girls Lacrosse game was that the Islanders opponent Bonita Vista scored a goal in the last 5 seconds of play to make the score 13-1, ruining the shutout for Coronado goalie Liz Thaete.

For the other 49 minutes and 55 seconds, the Islanders ran over, around and through the Barons defense. Freshman Hannah Sebenaler scored the first goal of the regular season 2 minutes and 50 seconds into the first half, which was followed in close order by goals from Lindsey Negrete, Marissa Nagler, Alex Vido, with Negrete found the back of the net again, and a nice backhand shot from Amanda Purvis completed the scoring for the first half.

In the second half the goals started with a natural hat trick (three goals in a row from the same player) by Hope Alexander, followed by Negrete’s third goal, a tally by Greer Goebels, a score from Julia Schelkun, with Nagler’s second goal completing the Coronado scoring.

The Islander offense was orchestrated in large part by Schelkun, who along with Christine Siefert serve as the team’s Co-captains this season. "Julia is our center and is doing a phenomenal job," said Head Coach Jessica Battle. "Christine is doing a great job and has improved a lot since last year. (Twins) Angela Naple and Lindsay Naple help the line defense along with Siefert. Vido returns at a defensive wing."

Talent abounds on the squad, which as you might expect makes Battle happy. "We have a really solid team this year, which I’m excited about. We have a lot of great players, with really good chemistry and they play really well together. With so many great players, it’s tough to predict who is going to be in the starting positions. It’s a great position to be in as a coach. Against Bonita Vista, everybody played well. Our offense really connected and our defense did a great job stopping them."

The Islanders play in the City Conference, where their main rival is La Jolla. The better girls’ lacrosse programs in the county remain La Costa Canyon, Torrey Pines, Poway, La Jolla and Coronado. Since all of the teams play in one division, it makes for an intense playoff situation at the end of the year. "The tough thing is that we have an amazing team," said Battle. "But most of the better teams graduated almost no one. La Jolla graduated only one senior and they are going to be tough."

This season the coaching staff has expanded and now includes Battle as the head varsity coach; Lisa Cherill, who played collegiate lacrosse at Monmouth University in New Jersey as the JV Head Coach; Varsity Asst. Coach Liz Mueller, who played at Dartmouth; and Mickey Crow, who returns as an assistant coach and all-around detail guy for the program.

This week the team hosts USDHS Tuesday evening at 7 pm and then plays at Serra at 3:15 pm Friday.

Starting their season with a bang, the Islanders traveled to Carson and the Home Depot Center to face state power St. Ignatius and came away with a 10-8 victory. The game was part of the First Four collegiate lacrosse event, which included games featuring Notre Dame, Syracuse, Georgetown and North Carolina.

Head Coach Alex Cade was pleased to earn the victory over St. Ignatius in what he described as, "a good win and a good rivalry for us. This is the second year we played them. We started out a little slow, but it was our first game and we’re starting a lot of young guys."

Joining Cade in running the CHS lacrosse program are Assistant Coaches John Fellows, Parker Anger, Dan Meehan, and John Chrismer.

The Coronado scoring was led by Kelcey Fischer and Geoff Worley with three goals each; two scores from Pat Murphy and one goal each from Blair Geiss and Will Purvis. Worley also contributed two assists.

This year’s team features seniors Kevin Chenoweth in goal; Ryan Cummins on defense; Corbett Vita as a long-stick midfielder; midfielders Alex Woolf and Geiss; and attack men Coltan Story and Casey Brown.

"Our prominent juniors include Fisher who is a standout midfielder for us; defensemen Kyle McArthur and Chris Arthur; and Purvis is a strong midfielder for us," said Cade.

The season outlook from a competition perspective is virtually identical to the CHS Girls Lacrosse Team. Both teams compete in the City Conference, where La Jolla and Serra are the better teams. On the county-wide level, Torrey Pines, La Costa Canyon and Poway join Coronado as among the favorites for the CIF title. "I anticipate we’ll win it (the City Conference title) again, if we continue to play good lacrosse," commented Cade.

This week the Islanders have three games. They host USDHS Tuesday evening at 7 pm, Friday they host Serra at 8 pm and Saturday they play at Torrey Pines at 1 pm.

The Boys Swim Team is headed by seniors Drew Ratcliffe, Dylan Carr and Justin Clapper, who bring an assortment of talent to the pool according to Head Coach Dave Throop. "Dylan is more of a sprint freestyle guy, while Drew swims the longer freestyle events. Justin is very myopic about the 100 butterfly. He works hard on other strokes, but nothing else matters to him."

A strong addition to the team is junior Preston Lujan, who reached the CIF finals both the 50 and 100 freestyle events last year, while attending Ramona High School. "We’re looking for Sean Castillo to contribute along with Juan Carlos De La Fuente," Throop added. "We have a good group of juniors who are working well together. Sophomore Eric Clapper is probably our hardest working kid. He’s more of a freestyle specialist."

We’re not as talented (as a team) as we have been in the past. This team is a good group of guys and they work hard. They have the best attitude and work ethic we have had in 4 years. They get along well and challenge each other."

On the Girls Swim Team side, the seniors include freestyle specialist Elizabeth Hopkins and breaststroker Brooke Clark. "Elizabeth will do a nice job for us and we are fortunate that Brooke is on the team" said Throop. "She’ll have a chance to contribute."

Returning to Coronado is junior Catherine Maguire, the younger sister of Dan Maguire who helped lead the CHS Boys Team to their first CIF title a few years ago. According to Throop, it looks like the younger Maguire will be an asset to the team. "She’s assimilated into the team really well. She has a long-time age group swimming background and is a good breaststroker as well. We have another year ‘round swimmer in Taylor Clarkson. We’re really happy she is on the team."

Sophomores Lizzie Hansen and Molly Patrick will again compete in the sprint freestyle events, while Katie Estrada is ticketed for the 100 butterfly and perhaps the 100 free. Freshman Carly Hoshko figures to be a team mainstay. "In our workouts, she’s almost always first to the wall. She’s strong and can sustain her stroke. We still need to figure out her best event."

Throop sees USDHS as the primary competition for the Girls in Division II, along with La Jolla, West Hills and Grossmont. "If anybody has a shot for a league or CIF title, it’s probably the Girls," Throop added. "It’s so early in the season, I really don’t have any idea where we stand."

Despite losing last week to Mar Vista (25-9, 25-14, 25-22) and USDHS (23-25, 25-19, 25-21, 25-22), CHS Boys Volleyball Head Coach Phil Trotter thinks good things are on the horizon for the Islanders.

"It looks like we’re going to do real well. It will take a while for the athletes to get their volleyball legs again, but it’ll be a good year. Against Mar Vista, we came out thinking we were ready to play. We made some great adjustments against a good USDHS team on Friday. We lost in four games and played right with them. We went away feeling we were the better team. We missed a ton of serves, but we fought hard and played as a team. Everyone went away feeling confident that it’s going to be a good year as long as we play together. We have some great athletes and some experienced volleyball players."

Trotter has three senior Co-Captains he relies on, including setter Jed Considine, outside hitter Jonathan Smith and middle blocker Alan Cooper. Jack Scott fills the other middle blocker slot; seniors Mario Batiz and Brady Penn, outside hitter Anthony Ott; junior Justin Hardy; and two freshmen in Dan Ross and Spencer Boyd all are important to the success of the team.

The team will compete in a diluted Harbor League, which contains only Clairemont, Madison, Crawford and Coronado this year. A weakish league schedule has allowed Trotter to upgrade the rest of the schedule, and he has included powerhouses Santa Fe Christian, University City, USDHS and La Jolla to an upgraded list of non-league opponents.

"As the program has gotten better, we are able to play better teams. In a month or so, we’ll be real competitive. The kids work hard and they are very good athletes. I always want to get good athletes and turn them into good volleyball players. Coronado should be the favorite in the Harbor League. We’ll be the hunted instead of the hunter. It’s going to be a lot of fun. I really like the kids and we should be competitive. We have a JV team for the first time and (former CHS player) Jared Gibson is coaching the team. We’re looking forward to a good year."

This week Coronado hosts University City Wednesday at 3:30 pm. Friday they play at Madison at 3 pm.

Coronado’s Boys Golf Team pushed the ball around with enough dispatch last week to score well, but lost to a couple of the strongest teams in San Diego County in the process. Monday they lost to USDHS by the score of 184-202 at Riverwalk Country Club. Thursday they shot a nifty round on their home Coronado Municipal course, but were outgunned by La Jolla 188-198. Coronado’s Stu Harris was the medalist with a 35 against La Jolla.

Head Coach Lee Price noted the improved play of Nick Finley, who shot a 39 against USDHS and freshman Michael Emerson’s find round of 38 shot against La Jolla.

This week the team faces La Jolla again at La Jolla Country Club.

Honesty compels me to report that Your Natterer is a member of the Rotary Club of Coronado, but don’t let that deter you from entering the 8^th Annual Jim Laslavic Charity Golf Tournament, that will be played Friday, March 18 at the Coronado Municipal Golf Course. The cost of $175 per golfer includes greens fees, a barbecue luncheon and buffet dinner, beverages and fantastic goody bag.

Most importantly the proceeds from the golf event help Rotary financially assist Camp Able; the Rotary Thousand Smiles project; Rotary International’s program PolioPlus, which hopes to eradicate polio from the planet; the Ione Harter Junior Wheelchair Camp and the Pan American Institute.

To sign up, or to get more information, please contact the Rotary Club of Coronado office at 435-8334, or contact any Rotarian.

In next week’s "Nado Natterings," we’ll have a preview of The CHS Boys and Girls Track and Field Teams from Head Coach George Green.