An old baseball axiom says that ‘pitching and defense win championships.’ Well, the Coronado High School Varsity Baseball Team has consistently put that concept to the test this season.

Last week the Islanders rode the resilient right arm of senior hurler Kevin Couture to a 3-0 shutout of CIF Division IV rival Francis Parker. Friday the trio of Danny Cepin (four innings pitched), Josh Fink (two frames) and Benson Lorden (the seventh and final inning) combined to shutout Crawford 4-0, scattering four hits in the process.

"Our pitching has been unbelievable," said Head Coach Sam Ceci. "And the defense is equally unbelievable. Wednesday Kevin was in control. We’re still not hitting and against Parker they made some misplays for us to get some runs. We’re running out of those opportunities as the opponents get better."

Couture slammed the door on the Lancers, with 13 strikeouts. In the second, fourth, fifth and sixth innings, the USC-bound mound ace retired the Parker lineup in order, striking out two batters in each inning. Even elements of the rather snippy Parker parent rooting section knew they were over-matched.

In 27 innings pitched this season, Couture has struck out 45 hitters, walked three, hit one and yielded only 10 hits and zero earned runs. The team, which is now 7-2 overall, has a team earned run average of 1.03, a total that includes six shutouts. As a team the Islanders have committed only four errors in 267 chances for a fielding average of .981, which is superb for a baseball club at any level. For comparison purposes, the San Diego Padres fielded .982 as a team in both 2004 and 2005.

Offensively against Parker, all of the Coronado runs were scored in the third inning. Blake Spitzer led off with a single and stole second; Chas Marks singled driving in Spitzer and later scored himself; and Cepin reached on a relatively rare two-base infield error and subsequently scored the third and final run of the game. Sophomore second sacker Jake McMahon went 2-3 at the plate and drove in a run. "Jake is giving us a little spark," said Ceci. "I like his style of play. Hopefully Blake is breaking loose (on offense)."

Against Crawford, McMahon was 2-4 with an RBI; Alex Rowan was 2-2 with two runs scored; Spitzer was 2-3 with a run and an RBI; Couture contributed two RBIs; and Ryland Gill added a pinch hit single.

Both of last weeks games were part of the City Conference Tournament, which this week continues play as Coronado hosts University City Monday. Wednesday afternoon, the Islanders travel to Hickman Field to face the always tough St. Augustine Saints. Both games are slated for 3 pm starts. If things break right for Coronado, they could be playing in the City Conference semi-finals Friday and the finals Saturday. One key tie-breaker is ‘runs allowed,’ which seemingly works in the Islanders favor.

Next week Coronado begins Western League play with a re-match against University City Wednesday and Mission Bay Friday. Both of these games are to be played at the newly remodeled Strand Field at the post-time change starting time of 3:30 pm.

Ceci, along with help from past Baseball Booster Club President Ralph West, current President Rick Fink and many coach and parent volunteers, has added palm trees and signage to the park’s décor. The playing field itself has new crushed brick on the base paths and is immaculately groomed. Go for the scenery and stay for some great pitching and defense.

Last week in this space it was noted that the CHS Girls Lacrosse Team has re-loaded their talent level again and is off to another fast start. Staying in the swing of things, the Islanders crushed San Dieguito 14-5 behind five goals from sophomore Hannah Sebenaler. Wednesday against Scripps Ranch, Sebenaler’s goal production was off by 20 percent (you do the math), but she was ably assisted by three tallies from Caitlin Kennedy as Coronado kicked Scripps Ranch 14-3. Alyssa Littin was credited with 15 saves against the Falcons.

"In the Scripps game, everyone scored. We had the opportunity to get everybody in the game," said Head Coach Jessica Battle. "Greer Goebels and Hope Alexander also scored in the San Dieguito game and played well."

Trolling the websites Laxpower.com and Westsidelax.com, finds that the Islander Girls Lacrosse program is well-respected. Laxpower lists Coronado at No. 2 in the California South ratings, one notch behind defending CIF champion La Costa Canyon and just ahead of No. 3 Poway, No. 4 La Jolla and No. 12 Torrey Pines.

The element that makes this last paragraph significant is that Wednesday Coronado travels to La Jolla for a 6 pm game, before returning home Saturday for a 1:30 pm tilt against Torrey Pines.

According to Battle, the better teams in the county share a common element. "Every one of the top teams has great middle school program, like us. They are always getting great new kids coming in."

Last week’s two victories place Coronado’s won-loss record at a lofty 11-0 mark. But with La Jolla and the larger North County Schools on the scheduling horizon, the march for the playoffs now begins in earnest.

After opening the season with tough losses to St. Ignatius and La Costa Canyon, the Islander Boys Lacrosse Team muscled up on three teams last week. They started with a 10-5 victory over Bishop’s, followed that with a 15-4 pasting of Scripps Ranch, which in turn led to a 13-0 win over Patrick Henry.

The Scripps game, a home night contest, was 11-0 at halftime and 12-0 before the Falcons scored their first goal. By this point in the game, Head Coach Alex Cade was deep into his own roster. Contributing multi-goal games were Cory Couture (4 tallies), Kelcey Fisher (3), and Bobby Braun (2). Single goals came from Geoff Worley, Kyle Boatwright, Pat Murphy, Cole McLean, Will Purvis and Jack Christiansen.

Goalie Jake Benzian was working on a shutout until the 4:44 mark of the third quarter. He was succeeded in goal by Daniel Pressler, who completed the game. The same pattern held for the shared shutout against Patrick Henry. "He has to be ready to go if Benzian gets hurt, or has a penalty," said Cade of Pressler. "He’s a senior, a great kid and is putting in a lot of effort."

In a déjà vu lacrosse moment, Coach Cade, like Coach Jessica Battle, credited the middle school feeder program for the high school varsity’s success. "Scripps is pretty young and they are up-an-coming. They don’t have the same feeder program we do. It’s tougher to field a strong team when you don’t have a feeder program."

Much like their counterparts on the girls’ side, the Boys Lacrosse team has been receiving some positive attention on the web, being ranked No. 22 nationally by Laxpower.com. In San Diego County they trail No. 9 La Costa Canyon, No. 12 Poway and No. 14 Torrey Pines. This week the Islanders host La Jolla Wednesday evening at 7 pm and then host nationally No. 73 ranked De LaSalle High School Friday at 7:30 pm.

We have a quick hitter report from CHS Head Track and Field Coach George Green. "The track team will have a busy week, starting with their first dual meet on Thursday against Crawford. That is followed by the Runge Classic Meet at Patrick Henry Saturday. Last Saturday, Sarah Player posted nice marks at the Mt. Carmel Invitational with a time of 47.87 seconds in the 300-meter hurdles and a 5-foot, 1-inch clearance in the high jump."

From the files of the statistically improbable, the Coronado High School Boys Golf Team tied La Jolla last week 213-213 in a match played at La Jolla Country Club.

In boys’ golf, each team fields six players, with the top five scores combined to comprise the team score. In the case of a tie, the sixth place finishers compare scores, with the lower total resulting in the team victory. Except in the La Jolla match that score supplied for Coronado by James Carney was tied also.

"I’ve never seen that before," said Head Coach Dean Cummings. "Nick Finley shot a 40 for us and Stewart Harris shot a 41." The last time the schools met on the links, Coronado prevailed by two strokes.

This week the Islanders, now 4-1-1 on the year, immerse themselves in Central League play. They Play Crawford at Balboa Monday, host Madison Tuesday at Coronado Muni, and host Clairemont Thursday.

Several members of the CHS Girls Water Polo program earned recognition recently. Katie Estrada, Kelly Phelps and Morgan Ronimus were all named to the Division II Coaches All-CIF Team. Hannah Sebenaler and Sandra Fernandez earned Second Team honors.

Estrada also earned All-County First Team CIF honors, with Phelps and Ronimus named to the Second Team. In addition, Fernandez was named to the "San Diego Union-Tribune" All-Academic First Team, with a 4.05 grade point average.

Also of note is the fact that three members of this year’s CHS Boys Water Polo Team, Dan Pedrotty, Joe Moffit and Scott Simeral will all be attending the United States Naval Academy in the fall of 2006.

Looking for something for the kids to do for Spring Break? From April 10-13, the CHS Aquatics Staff will be holding a swimming and water polo clinic from 2-4 pm daily. The clinic is planned for kids from kindergarten through high school. The cost is $25 per person.

"The plan is to learn to swim, or learn to play water polo and have fun," said CHS Swimming Head Coach Dave Throop. "The kids will be coached by the CHS staff and coaches from around the area. We’ll have some of the premier high school players from the San Diego area there."

For more information on the clinic, contact Throop at 619-851-9734.

Head Boys Tennis Coach Robbin Adair checks in with the week in review. "We traveled to El Capitan Wednesday and lost a close one 10-8. Krishna Samperio took all three sets, as did the No. 2 doubles team of Daniel Grazian and Frankie Harrison. Matt Oakley got a set in singles, and the first doubles team of Chris Mitchell and Evan Wheeler got one.

No. 2 Patrick Holman provided some real drama. With the match on the line, we were down 9-8 and he was playing their No. 3. The lead surged back and forth and went to a tiebreaker, before he lost 8-6 in the tiebreaker. Freshman Brenton Mashburn and sophomore Jordan Vance, playing No. 3 doubles were unable to win a set, but had two really close loses.

Thursday we played host to Cathedral Catholic. They were the runners-up in Division III of the CIF San Diego Section playoffs last year and did not graduate anyone. We knew it was going to be tough. We lost 16-2, but had shots at several sets. Samperio had his first loss of the year, falling to their No. 1 player 6-4. He then defeated their No. 2 and No. 3 players. Chris Mitchell/Matt Oakley at No. 1 doubles and Grazian/Harrison at No. 2 all had three good sets, but they were not able to win.

This week we play twice in the Western League. We are at La Jolla Tuesday and host Scripps Ranch on Thursday."

In their lone match last week, the CHS Boys Volleyball Team fell to Montgomery by the scores of 25-8, 25-15 and 27-25. But, the score progression shows improvement.

"With every game they play, they do a better job," said Coach Stacie McKissick. "Mike Holman did a good job blocking in the front row and Oscar Herrera did a great job hitting. The team’s confidence will increase as they improve."

This week the Islanders travel to St. Augustine to play the Saints Friday at 3:30 pm.