In baseball circles, it’s referred to as a "no-no," a no-hit, no-run game. Saturday Coronado High School’s right-handed pitching ace Kevin Couture twirled a no-no against Point Loma, pacing the Islanders to a 5-0 Western League victory.

"It makes coaching pretty easy," said Head Coach Sam Ceci of Couture’s mound gem. "He was dominant and it was a good game all the way around. With him shutting them down like that, it changes the whole complexion of the game."

"It was the first time I’ve ever done it," said Couture of his no-hitter, his first such effort at any competitive level. "It was an awesome feeling. I had all three pitches (fastball, curve, change-up) working. That was the first time all year all three have been working. Most of the game I was hitting my spots. I had five walks, but most of the game I was hitting my spots." Reflective of that last statement, Couture struck out 13 Pointer batters.

Baseball etiquette calls for the pitcher of a no-hitter to share some of the reflected glory with his catcher. Couture was more than willing to acknowledge the effort of fellow junior Blake Spitzer. "Blake called a great game. He’s been calling great games for Kyle Pokorny and me this year. He’s great to have back there."

Spitzer, who caught Couture in their youth travel baseball days, called the 100 pitches that Couture threw in the game, 61 of which went for strikes. "He used his change-up more than usual," said Spitzer. "The hardest pitchers to hit in high school have three pitches. His fastball was on, he was locating it well and his change-up was nasty." Spitzer estimated that Couture threw roughly a dozen changes, about 20 curves, with the balance being fastballs.

Although a full partner in the production of the gem, Spitzer didn’t claim star billing. "Kevin’s an amazing pitcher. You can’t teach an 89 mile an hour fastball and a breaking ball that starts at your waist and breaks down."

According to CHS Baseball Historian Bill Seager, the last no-hitter thrown by an Islander was by Joe Thivierge against Crawford May 19, 2003. There hasn’t been another no-hitter on the Coronado side of the ledger since at least 1992.

Another way to look at the masterpiece; a total of 95 high school teams play the sport of baseball in San Diego County, generating roughly 1,000 games played thus far in the 2005 season. Coach Ceci estimated that only two or three no-hitters have been pitched this year.

Couture’s pitching performance moved his record to 5-2 this season and lowered his earned run average to a sparkling 1.27. He also has an excellent 3.5 to 1, strikeouts to walks ratio this season, exhibiting unusual control for a young power pitcher.

Offensively, the Islanders came ready to swing the bats, pounding out seven hits. Sophomore Danny Cepin, who leads Coronado with a lofty .419 batting average and in runs scored with 20, started the festivities with a double and later scored. Jimmy Gersonde contributed a 2-run triple, and Couture added an RBI single, helping his own cause with an insurance run. Late in the game, Josh Okerman added an RBI single.

Senior David West had an unusual offensive day, walking twice, was hit by a pitch, stole two bases and scored two runs. West is the team leader in on-base percentage at .558, meaning he reaches base more than half of the time he appears at the plate.

Saturday’s effort by Couture overshadowed a strong pitching performance by Pokorny, a precocious freshman hurler, against Christian High School Monday afternoon. Pokorny was credited with his first victory of his high school career on the strength of five shutout innings, which helped propel the Islanders to a 4-0 win over the Patriots. Ceci was impressed with Pokorny’s outing. "He continues to impress. He deserved to win his first two starts, but this one happened for him. He gave up only two hits and struck out four. Then Ryland Gill pitched an inning and Michael Denson pitched an inning. They were all good enough for us to finish up with a shutout."

Cepin added two hits and Couture was 1-3 at the plate with two RBIs, while Okerman provided a triple and knocked in the other two runs. Junior Dustin West added a pinch hit to the Islander offensive mix.

Ceci summarized his team’s efforts for the week. "We had six hits against Christian and seven against Point Loma. The hits are timely, which is nice to see. We’re striking out less than we’re walking, which is always a good sign. I was happy with the week."

The victory over Division III rival Point Loma was important for the CIF playoffs, as the Islanders and the Pointers have similar records. Only 12 of the 22 Division III teams in San Diego County will make the playoffs. The Islanders are 14-9 overall, but Ceci knows that several of the top slots in the Division III playoff field are already spoken for. "Santana is a shoe-in, as is Mission Bay. Valhalla and San Marcos are both now Division III and both of them may make the playoffs. There’s a lot of extra pressure this year."

This week the Islanders host La Jolla Tuesday, play at University City Thursday and then travel to USDHS on Saturday.

As the mother of junior class twin daughters who play lacrosse, Susan Naple has seen plenty of big games, perhaps none larger than the Coronado at La Jolla game played Friday evening. Naple, who doubles as the Coronado High School Librarian, predicted a 9-8 Islander victory over the rival Vikings, 15 minutes prior to the first face-off of the City Conference game.

Well, she was really, really close. The final tally was 10-8 in favor of the Islanders, in a well-played, fast-paced game that featured an abundance of team play, with some fine individual moves thrown in for good measure. Keep in mind that La Jolla is the defending City Conference and CIF champion. Last year the Islanders lost twice to La Jolla, after the teams were conference co-champions in 2003. Coronado defeated La Jolla in their earlier meeting this year by the score of 9-7. So this game was for considerably more than bragging rights.

Coronado jumped off to a 2-0 lead on the strength of goals from Jennifer Young and Marissa Nagler. The Islanders were dominating play in the early going, but at roughly the 10-minute mark of the first half, La Jolla mounted a comeback, scoring three consecutive goals over a span of less than 3 minutes.

Shortly afterwards, Nagler scored her second goal, after retrieving a ball in a scramble in the front of the Viking net. Nagler found the back of the net for the third time 17 minutes later, as she took a pass from Lindsey Negrete to finish off a length of the field fast break that gave the Islanders a 4-3 lead.

Senior Co-Captain Julia Schelkun scored on an assist from freshman Greer Goebels at the 23:20 mark for a 5-3 Islander lead. A La Jolla goal one minute later was countered by a goal from Negrete and the Islanders held a 6-4 halftime advantage.

Any thoughts Coronado might have had of coasting through the second half were soon dispelled by a two goal outburst from La Jolla to tie the game. Schelkun scored a goal after a ‘lack of shooting space violation’ was called. La Jolla countered again with a goal. Schelkun scored three minutes later off of a set play and La Jolla then tied the score again at eight apiece. With just under three minutes remaining in the contest, Jennifer Young scored the game winning goal. With less than 10 seconds left, Schelkun scored her fourth goal, adding an exclamation point to a well-earned victory.

Lindsay Naple and Angela Naple both played sterling defense in front of goalie Liz Thaete, who was credited with 12 saves against the potent Viking attack. The Naples’ efforts had the added benefit of making their mom Susan look like the populace’s prescient prep lacrosse prognosticator.

Saturday, approximately 16 hours later, the Islanders were on their home field to face perennial power Poway, one of Coronado’s few opportunities this season to face a North County team. The Islanders prevailed in this contest as well, this time by the score of 9-7. Nagler scored five goals and freshman Hannah Sebenaler scored twice to pace Coronado’s attack. Schelkun and Negrete completed the scoring.

It was a physical contest between two clubs. "Poway is a good team," said Head Coach Jessica Battle. "Overall, we’re a little faster. We just got to them mentally and they fell apart. Their players were a little out of control on defense. I tried to tell my girls to keep their composure. If they got hit, they should let it roll off. We got up a considerable amount and stalled the rest of the game. It worked for us. To come off of a game like that (La Jolla), which mentally and physically drained us, and to beat Poway, shows a lot about our team."

In the somewhat unusual scheduling world of San Diego County Lacrosse, the victory over La Jolla clinched the City Conference Crown for Coronado; but the victory over Poway was perhaps more important in the overall big picture. "It seals the fact that we should be the first place seed going into the playoffs," Battle said. "I know that La Costa Canyon has lost to La Jolla. But once you get to the playoffs, those Top 5 teams are all going to be great teams. It comes down to whatever happens that day."

Coronado, is now 21-1 on the year, a total which includes an early-week victory over Patrick Henry. This week Coronado hosts Santana Monday and then hosts Carlsbad Saturday, May 7 at 1 pm.

This is not a repeat of the Girls Lacrosse article above, but the CHS Boys Lacrosse Team defeated La Jolla 10-8 Friday night to earn the City Conference title. The boys and girls games, which were started an hour and about 25 miles apart, had identical victors, scores and both games resulted in conference titles.

The Boys version of Vikings vs. Islanders game, featured three goals each from Alex Woolf, Will Purvis and Geoff Worley and a lone tally from freshman Cole McLean. Sophomore goalie Jake Benzian was credited with 15 saves, helping lead his team to the victory.

The previous meeting between the two teams was dominated by Coronado 9-2, but Head Coach Alex Cade saw an improved Viking team Friday night. "La Jolla is definitely much better than earlier in the season. They’re handling the ball a lot better. They’re going to be a tough team for a lot of people. It was a good win for us. We had some injuries, but pulled through."

The CHS Boys Lacrosse roster lists seven seniors, including Ryan Cummins, Woolf, Corbett Vita, Coltan Story, Blair Geiss, Casey Brown, and Kevin Chenoweth. Cade discussed their collective role in the upcoming playoffs. "The seniors are starting to do a real good job leading the team. We’re not going anywhere in the playoffs without them. This is their last chance to play high school lacrosse in Coronado, which is a special thing. They’re taking a leadership role on the team. They’re really stepping up."

The Islander Boys LAX fortunes come playoff time are a little more complicated than their counterparts on the Girls side. Despite a fine 14-3 overall record and a conference championship, Cade expects a playoff seed in the range of between fourth and sixth. "We’re legitimately one of the Top 3 teams, but we have lost some close games to the top teams. Being in the City Conference hurts us a little bit, because we have very little chance to play the top teams more than once. When you lose games, it hurts you.

Seeded above us will be Torrey Pines, La Costa Canyon, Poway and probably San Dieguito. San Dieguito had a nice win over Torrey Pines and you can’t argue the fact that they beat them and we lost to them."

The team has two regular season games remaining, as they travel to University City Friday evening at 4 pm and then host USDHS Saturday at 5 pm for a game that was previously postponed due to rain.

Former CHS multi-sport star Alicia Ghio (CHS ’99) helped lead her San Diego State University Women’s Lacrosse team to the Western Women’s Lacrosse League Division II championship recently, in a tournament played at UC-Davis. For her efforts, which included helping lead the Aztecs to a perfect 12-0 season, Ghio was also named Division II Player of the Year.

Entering the competition as the No. 1 seed, SDSU defeated UC Santa Barbara 12-11 in sudden death overtime, with Ghio scoring three of the Aztecs’ goals. In the finals, SDSU prevailed over Cal Poly San Luis Obispo 12-7, with Ghio scoring once in the title game.

Cal Poly apparently scouted the previous evening’s banquet well, where Ghio earned her Player of the Year designation, because she was triple-teamed every time she touched the ball in the final. "The last time we played them, I scored six goals," Ghio said. "But this gave other people on the team a chance to step up. I was proud of them."

Ghio, who is a Kinesiology major at SDSU, with an emphasis on physical education, is in her third year of lacrosse for the Aztecs.

The team has a strong Coronado lacrosse connection. Kelley Queisser (CHS ’00, Cal Berkeley ’04) is the team’s head coach; Megan Brydges (CHS ’00) scored the team’s first goal in the final; and Lisa Falleta (CHS ’04) scored three goals in the championship final. Anne Marie Strohbeck (CHS ’04) is the fourth Coronado player on the squad. All four ex-Coronado players play the attack position for the Aztecs.

Ghio, who was a three-sport star (volleyball, basketball, lacrosse) at CHS, was the Girls Lacrosse MVP her senior year and a two-time Lacrosse All-Star in high school.

CHS Head Track and Field Coach George Green provides a re-cap of his team’s efforts from last week. "The scheduled track meet with Christian Thursday was cancelled due to the rain. In retrospect, this was fortunate because we had three meets in a row lined up and several of our key athletes were nursing nagging injuries.

Friday Adam Munns and Reid McLean competed in the seeded flight of the high jump at the All-Boys Escondido Invitational. Munns was uncharacteristically off his form and only managed to clear 6’2," well below his season best of 6’7." His effort however was good enough for second place with McLean picking up third place honors, also at 6’ 2."

Saturday sophomores Sarah Player and Danielle Eckert, and Freshman Ben Enowitz competed in the Frosh-Soph Championships held at Mt. Carmel High School. Because of a sore hip flexor and a touch of tendonitis in her foot, we’ve kept Player out of competition since she broke the school 300-meter hurdles record and high jumped 5’5" a couple of weeks ago.

Because of these injuries, she entered the high jump competition a bit rusty, but still was able to clear 5’0" to win the sophomore girls’ city title. Since her foot wasn’t bothering her, we decided to run her in the 300-meter hurdles, with instructions to start out slow and to pull out if she felt any pain in either affected area.

Following instructions, she was in fourth place after 200 meters had elapsed. In the final stretch, her competitive instinct took over and she closed to second place with a time of 46.96, eclipsing her own school record of 47.30. She’s back.

Since there is no longer pole vault competition in dual meets in the Harbor League, Eckert has very few opportunities to compete in her favorite event. She qualified for the Frosh-Soph meet last week at the Jaguar Invitational with a third place effort of 8’6." That was her first and only previous pole vault competition this year, but it was good enough to get her ready, as she set a personal record of 9’6" in this meet. This was good enough for second place and a share of the school record with Lisa Robbins, who jumped the same height in 2002.

So at the end of the day, two sophomore girls set two new school records, won a championship and place second in two events. Not too shabby.

In the Frosh Boys 3,200-meter run, Enowitz’s first mile time was 5:03 and he looked very relaxed. However in the race’s latter stages, a stomach cramp forces him off the pace and he finished eighth with a time of 10:35. Still a pretty good time and finish in the tough San Diego Section."

The CHS Boys Tennis Team hit the road Tuesday for a match with University City. Head Coach Robbin Adair picks up the narrative. "This was one heck of a match.

They had beaten us 11-7 in the first round of Western League play, so we knew we could play with them, but had no idea what kind of drama might be produced in the return match. We started well, taking four of the first six matches.

In the first round, Daniel Souza beat their No. 1; Allan Hernandez beat the No. 2; and Matt Rowan killed their No. 3. Over in doubles, Javier Arozarena/Pedro de la Fuente lost a tiebreaker at No. 3; our No. 2 team of Mike Holman/Chris Mitchell lost 6-2. Lewis Guess/Dan Schneider beat the No. 1 in a tiebreaker. In the second round, University City reversed that by taking four of the six sets to knot the match.

Then the third round began. Rowan lost to their No. 1; Javier and Pedro lost 6-4 to their No. 1 doubles, so we were immediately down 8-6. Hernandez rallied from 4-1 down to beat the No. 3 and Souza held off a charged-up No. 2 to knot the match again at 8-8.

That put the match on the shoulders of our two remaining doubles teams. Holman/Mitchell were playing the No. 3 team, while Schneider/Guess were playing the No. 2. Holman/Mitchell played eight straight, long, deuce games but lost 6-2. Schneider/Guess rallied from down 4-3 to win the set in a tiebreaker and tie the match, but we ended up losing the match on game count.

This week we play St. Augustine at Glorietta Tuesday and make up the rained out match with La Jolla on the road Wednesday. The CIF Team seeding meeting is Thursday evening, and we start CIF Team Play-Offs Tuesday, May 10."

The CHS Boys Volleyball Team gave as good as they got last week, sweeping Madison 25-18, 25-20, 25-17 on the road, before losing to Clairemont at home 25-20, 25-18, 20-25, and 25-18. Both matches were Harbor League affairs and the Islanders are currently 3-1 in league play.

This year’s team is somewhat unique, according to Head Coach Phil Trotter. "I’ve never had a team like this where everybody plays during a match. It has helped us develop as a team. That was the first time we have played Clairemont and we play them again in a week and a half. That gives us something to look forward to. We haven’t been challenged in a while, so it’s nice to have a match with healthy competition. They are very good, but we proved we can play with them.

All of the team members are playing and playing well. Jed Considine is playing really well. Jonathan Smith is coming along on his hitting and middle blockers Alan Cooper and Jack Scott are playing well."

The only playoff scheduling more convoluted than tennis is golf. Perhaps that’s by design, but hang with us for a couple of paragraphs. We’ll cover the regular season first.

Last week, the CHS Boys Golf team lost to Bonita Vista 190-204 in a match played at the Auld Course. Tuesday, Crawford opted not to play a match for the second time, so call that a victory for Coronado.

Things got interesting Wednesday when the City Conference Championship were held at Balboa. Coronado entered eight golfers in the competition and five qualified for the Conference Match Play this week at Torrey Pines. The five qualifiers were Taylor Hakes, who shot a 71; Stu Harris with a 76, Stuart Gallant with a 78, and Nick Finley and Bryan Reed both shot 80’s. According to Head Coach Dr. Lee Price, Hakes is the Harbor League MVP, since his round in the City Conference event (the Harbor League is a member of the City Conference) was lower than any other Harbor League entrant.

It gets better.

Monday, the Top 32 in the City Conference go to Torrey Pines and play each other. The format is simple, win and keep playing. Lose, and go home.

That is, until the CIF Team Playoffs start May 10 at Warner Springs. At that event, the competition determines who will continue to play in the team tournament and will also dictate who will play in the CIF Individual Play Championships.

After resting up from that exhaustive golf entry, I may tackle the tennis playoffs next week. Then again, I may need a bye week.