By virtue of being the most active Coronado High School sports team over last week’s spring break and with their participation in the annual Lions Tournament, the Boys Varsity Baseball Team headlines this week’s column.

The Islanders participated in the AAAAA level of the 56^th Annual Lions Club Tournament, moving up from the AAA level a year ago. For CIF purposes, Coronado has a school enrollment of 945 and playing up in the Lions Tournament allowed them to face larger school programs such as Division III’s Steele Canyon (enrollment 1,925) and Westview (2,037) from Division II.

Coronado’s first opponent in tournament play last week was Woodcreek High School of Roseville. The Islanders came out on the short end of a 5-3 result, despite a well-pitched, complete game from senior right-hander Michael Baker-Denson. "We kind of beat ourselves," said Head Coach Sam Ceci of the tournament opener. "Mike pitched well enough to win."

Over the past couple of weeks, we’ve made note of the vintage Nike commercial starring pitchers Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine, where they lament that "chicks dig the long ball." Well the Nado Natterings Award, consisting of a firm handshake and a hearty smile for this season’ first Islander long ball goes to senior first baseman Jimmy Gersonde, who accomplished that feat against Woodcreek. His well-struck two-run homer sailed over the right field wall.

In fairness, it should be pointed out that in addition to Gersonde’s ‘big fly,’ the team now has three triples to their credit in the long ball sweepstakes. One each has been contributed by Blake Spitzer, Alex Rowan and Jake McMahon.

Tuesday’s home game against Steele Canyon marked the first mound appearance of hurler Kyle Pokorny, who had been hampered by arm problems earlier in the season. The sophomore right-hander pitched 6.1 innings, and yielded only three hits and two runs, throwing 76 pitches in the game.

"The bright spot of the week was Pokorny’s outing," said Ceci. "Having him back is a big plus. We had a 60 pitch count on him, but he refused to come out on three different occasions. It was a good outing. He gave up three hits to a pretty good hitting team. He was good."

Senior Blake Spitzer also had a fine game, with two singles and a double in four trips to the plate. He also turned in a defensive gem in support of Pokorny in the sixth inning, when knocked down a smash to third base, kept the ball in front of him and threw out the runner at first on a bang-bang play for the third out of the frame.

McMahon, the squad’s sophomore lead-off hitter, had singles in the fourth and sixth innings, driving in four of the Islanders five runs on the day. Gersonde’s first inning double drove in the other run for Coronado. Rowan added a single in the fourth. Sophomore closer Josh Fink completed the game for Pokorny, retiring two of the three batters he faced to earn the save.

Since the Islander Junior Varsity wasn’t scheduled to play during the spring break, Ceci dressed several members of the JV for the tournament. With the varsity and JV squads totaling 22 and the coaching staffs of both teams present as well, the Coronado dugout resembled rush hour at New York’s Grand Central Station.

Wednesday the Islanders traveled to Westview High School to face the Wolverines. Freshman Kyle Couture, the younger brother of staff ace Kevin Couture, took the ball for his first varsity start. According to Ceci, Couture the Younger had two wins including a shutout at the JV level, and pitched well against Westview. "He did real well in the first inning and we had a couple of misplays in the second inning."

Ceci thought the Islanders could have beaten the eventual Lions Tournament AAAAA Champion Wolverines, (Westview defeated University City 3-0 in the championship game) on their home field. "We caught up and went ahead and we had opportunities to win it and we didn’t. Chas Marks pitched four innings and did a real nice job. He plays hard and hustles. He throws a fastball and keeps it down low. He has also gotten some clutch hits for us and he runs the ball down in the outfield. He works hard."

Spitzer’s five base knocks last week pushed his battering average into second place among the Islanders who have played in 10 or more games this season. His .340 batting average is second only to Max Weinfurtner’s team leading .370 effort. Also hitting above the .300 level for the season are McMahon (.323), Gersonde (.313), Rowan (.311), Baker-Denson (.306) and Danny Cepin (.302). According to Bill Seager’s impeccable and detailed statistics, the Islanders are hitting .278 as a team.

This week Coronado (10-7 overall, 0-1 in league) returns to Western League play, with away games at La Jolla, Point Loma and Cathedral Catholic. The Western League is considered to be probably second or no worse than third in strength of their teams from top to bottom. In the running on any given year are the Avocado League (Carlsbad, El Camino, Fallbrook, Oceanside, RBV and Vista) and the Palomar League (La Costa Canyon, Mt. Carmel, Poway, Rancho Bernardo, Torrey Pines and Westview).

This year in baseball the Western League from top to bottom (Coronado, Cathedral Catholic, La Jolla, Mission Bay, St. Augustine, Scripps Ranch and University City) is certainly in the discussion for the toughest conference for competitive purposes.

Ceci knows the Islanders have their work cut out for them. "We have to win two out of three this week. After the loss to Mission Bay a week ago, winning twice would get us back to .500 in the league. We’ve got enough talent this year, that with a few breaks we could make it happen (win a league title). A few breaks the other way and we could be in fourth or fifth, place, which is typical of the Western League."

The only other CHS team competing last week was the Boys Lacrosse squad. A week ago Monday, the Islanders traveled to Serra and came away with a 10-5 victory.

ISF President Lee Pontes filed this report. "Kelcey Fisher and Cory Couture (Note: Cory is a cousin of baseball’s Kevin and Kyle. This may also constitute an extended family alliteration run amok) had three goals each, while Geoff Worley had two goals and three assists. Coronado dominated the first half and led at the half 7-1. The Islanders were actually outscored in the second half, but the game was never really in question. The Serra goalie was really good, with seven saves in the third quarter alone."

This week Boys Lacrosse returns to the field for two games. The first is Thursday against Garden City and the second is Friday at Scripps Ranch. See below for the details

To help you reconnect with your favorite sport or your favorite athlete after a week off, here is this week’s CHS Varsity athletic schedule.

Boys Golf – Mon. vs. St. Augustine at Coronado Muni., 3 pm; Tues. vs. Crawford at Coronado Muni., 3 pm; Thurs. vs. Madison at Doubletree Country Club, 2:30 pm.

Baseball – Wed. at La Jolla, 3 pm; Fri. at Point Loma 3 pm; Sat. at Cathedral Catholic 1:30 pm.

Boys Volleyball – Wed. at Bishop’s, 3:30 pm; Fri. at El Capitan 3:30 pm.

Boys and Girls Swimming – Wed. vs. La Jolla at Coronado 3 pm; Sat.; Iron Man Relays at Palomar College, 9 am.

Softball – Wed. at Point Loma, 3 pm; Fri. at Clairemont, 3 pm.

Girls Lacrosse –Wed. at Serra, 3:15 pm; Fri. vs. Scripps Ranch at Niedermeyer Field, 7 pm.

Boys Lacrosse – Thurs. vs. Garden City at Niedermeyer Field, 7 pm; Fri. at Scripps Ranch, 7 pm.

Boys Tennis – Thurs. vs. La Jolla at CHS, 3 pm.

Boys and Girls Track – Thurs. vs. Christian at Niedermeyer Field, 3 pm.

CHS Trainer Connie Martinez has caught the teaching bug and the beneficiaries are the 32 Islander students who took her sports medicine class, offered through the Adult Education/ROP program. Perhaps not coincidentally, her students included many of the best athletes in the high school.

"I started the class because I wanted to expose the students to the world of sports medicine, something I wish I could have taken when I was in high school," said Martinez, a graduate of Arizona State and a former staff trainer at the ARCO Olympic Training Center. The personable Martinez also holds a Masters in exercise science from Syracuse University.

"Many students take the class because they are interested in knowing how to take care of their own athletic injuries," Martinez continued. "And they want to know how to help their friends and family. Others take the course because they are interested in becoming orthopedic doctors, nurses and pediatricians."

And there is a practical side to the knowledge the students have gleaned. "The biggest reward for me as their teacher is to see the students apply what they have learned in class. They had the opportunity of gaining experience first-hand by helping on the sidelines during sporting events this year. They observed fractured bones, dislocated shoulders, lacerations and more. After experiencing these unfortunate injuries, the students all went away with more confidence, knowing how to care for injuries and how to handle emergencies."

In addition to the injuries and treatment solutions they observed, the students also learned the important elements of cardio pulmonary resuscitation. "The week before spring break, the sports medicine students were certified in adult CPR and learned how to operate an Automatic External Defibrillator (AED)," said Martinez. "The students now know the importance of the AEDs and where they are located on the CHS campus."

The lesson here is that if you are contemplating a sports injury in the near future, try to accomplish that feat near one or more of the following CHS students, who have received their training from Martinez: Patrick Ahern, Sabrina Anonas, Enrique Araiza, Kimberly Battaglia, Lauren Bell, Brandi Bible, Collin Bowman, Jeffery Bucklew, Caitlin Clark, Erin Colvin, Bryan Crabb, Jessica Davis-Ricci, Jesse Farquhar, Cameron Feallock, Thomas Foote, Antonio Gastelum,

Also well on their way to completing the sports medicine course work are: Greer Goebels, Heather Ireland, Toni Johnson, Hayley Kitzmiller, Benson Lorden, Preston Lujan, Chris Redding, Morgan Ronimus, Neisha Scales, Hannah Sebenaler, Steven Sullivan, Teddy Taylor, Ben Thorne, Jake Vita, Josh Watts, and Lance Winslow.