Prep baseball games are designed to last seven innings, so with three games on the slate last week, the Coronado H.S. Baseball Team had the reasonable expectation of playing in the vicinity of 21 innings against their Western League counterparts. To add a degree of difficulty to an already potentially tough week, all three games were on the road.

Part I of the plan went well, as the Islanders dominated La Jolla 12-1 behind a strong six-inning outing from senior pitcher Mike Baker-Denson. The crafty right-hander scattered five hits and yielded only one earned run to earn the victory. Benson Lorden pitched the seventh inning and closed out the Vikings.

Danny Cepin led the hit parade for Coronado, going 3-5, including a double and three RBIs. Baker-Denson helped his own cause with two hits in three at-bats, including two RBIs. Senior David Sand ripped a double and a triple in two plate appearances, driving in one and scoring a run. "Cepin hadn’t played for a couple of games, and came back with a vengeance," said Head Coach Sam Ceci of the junior infielder’s offensive contributions. "Sand is a great kid and he had some success at the plate for us."

Coronado pounded out 13 hits and drew five walks against the Vikings. Both Blake Spitzer and Max Weinfurtner scored twice for the Islanders.

Friday Coronado hit the road again, this time heading up the coast to Point Loma. Thus begins what Coach Ceci describes as the ‘character building’ portion of the week. Sophomore Kyle Pokorny in his second start of the season, after coming off of an arm injury, wasn’t as sharp as he was in his first outing. But, when he left the mound after four innings, the Pointers had only scored once.

A total of four pitchers toed the rubber for Coronado at Point Loma and collectively they yielded 10 hits, 11 walks, and hit three batters over 9.2 innings of play. Yet, the Islanders lost only 6-5.

Coach Ceci liked the fact that his club forged a comeback in the game. "We were trailing them and battled back into it, which was nice. We got 14 hits and scored five runs over 10 innings. We must have left eight or nine runners in scoring position. We didn’t get timely hits and we made some very poor base running mistakes. This one hurt. We battled back in regulation and went up by two runs in the top of the 10^th. We couldn’t get the three outs to finish it."

Ceci continued his assessment of the game. "Josh Fink did a nice job, pitching 4.2 innings. Kevin Couture was 4-5 at the plate; while Lorden was 3-4 with two RBIs and made some good plays in the outfield. Alex Rowan went 2-4."

On to Saturday’s matinee at Cathedral Catholic, which found staff ace Kevin Couture returning to the mound after a relief stint the previous day against Point Loma. Couture hurled six innings against the Dons and gave up only two runs and six hits, while throwing 120 pitches. A brief appearance by Ryland Gill was followed by a 4.2 inning performance by Cepin, making only his second pitching appearance of the season.

"He did a very, very nice job," said Ceci of Cepin’s mound performance. "It was pretty remarkable. In the top of the 12^th inning, Danny tried to leg out a base hit and clipped the ankle of their first baseman. He pitched to one hitter in the next inning and we took him out. We lost in the bottom of the 12^th and it was a well-played game. Jimmy Gersonde had two hits in the game. He had a clutch double and had both of the RBIs in the Cathedral game. We were down to our last at-bat in the seventh inning, and he knocked in the tying run. He hit the ball real well and played real well. Jimmy has had some big clutch hits for us. We put the ball in play and had our opportunities, but we couldn’t get it done. There was a lot of character building taking place."

The 3-2 extra inning loss to Cathedral Catholic meant the Islanders played the equivalent of four games last week, 29 innings total and emerged with a 1-2 record. Currently Coronado is 11-9 overall, 1-3 in the Western League.

This week the club faces a more modest two-game schedule. They host Clairemont Wednesday at 3 pm and Saturday in a home double-header of sorts, the JV will play University City at 11 and the Varsity will play the Centurions at 2 pm. This game is a make-up game from a postponement earlier in the season.

"U.C. is 3-0 in the Western League," said Ceci of Saturday’s opponent. "They’re in the driver’s seat right now."

CHS Head Track and Field Coach George Green provides the scoop on Coronado’s recent dual meet with Christian High School. "We knew the Girls Track Team would have a tough time with Christian, because of their section-leading sprinter Mandy Ross. Islander Danielle Eckert finished a close second in the 100-meter dash to Ross in a time of 13.4 seconds, while Sarah Player finished in second in the 200 meters in 26.6 seconds. In both cases, Neisha Scales picked up the third place points for the Islanders.

Player also won the high jump, the 100-meter hurdles, and the 300-meter hurdles. Eckert won the long jump, and placed second in the triple jump to Coronado’s Megan Mushovic. The senior three-sport star Mushovic also won the discus throw and placed third in the long jump. Ashlee Houston finished second in the long jump and was third in the 100-meter hurdles.

Chelsea Newson and Claire Hejl placed 1-2 in the 400 meters, earning eight points, and Kelsey Fitzgerald picked up three third-place finishes in the 1,600 meters; the 3,200 meters; and the high jump. At the end of the day however, it wasn’t quite enough and the Islanders lost by two points 64-62.

The Boys meet was even closer, as they lost by a single point 63-62. Kasey Zapatka picked up his share of points by winning runs at distances of 800 meters; 1,600 meters; and 3,200 meters. He also placed third in the high jump. Drew Stacy won both the 200-meter and 400-meter dashes and was a close second in the 100. Kenny Twomey was third in the 400 and second in the 300-meter hurdles, with Alton Smith picking up the third spot. Smith also placed third in the 110 hurdles.

Michael Davies and Turner Stanley picked up the second place points in the 1,600 meters and the 3,200 meters respectively. Levi Lozano added the Islanders’ only points in the throwing events by winning the discus throw in a personal record of 120 feet, 9.5 inches and placing second in the shot put with a toss of 39 feet, 10.75 inches. Last week over spring break, Lozano set a personal record in the shot put at the Jaguar Invitational with a heave of 41 feet, 10 inches."

Head Boys Tennis Coach Robbin Adair checks in with last week’s match results vs. La Jolla. "We had just one match this week, and we fell to La Jolla 16-2 Tuesday. In the first round of Western League play, they shut us out, but this time we really competed. The whole team stepped it up, and they had to do it without (No. 1 singles player) Krishna Samperio, who hurt his wrist and has been out for a week.

Freshman Patrick Holman led the team by winning one set and losing a close tiebreaker. Evan Wheeler also won a set before falling 6-3 and 6-1. The first doubles team of Chris Mitchell and Matt Oakley had one of La Jolla’s best doubles teams down, but were unable to hold it, ultimately falling in another tiebreaker. Sophomore Frankie Harrison played singles for the first time all season, and although he lost all three sets, each set was hotly contested, with long points and great rallies.

This week Coronado hosts Otay Ranch Monday, we travel to Scripps Ranch Tuesday and host St. Augustine Thursday."

"We were good Wednesday, but it was ugly Friday," was the way CHS Softball Head Coach Ed Shanholtz described last week’s Western League games against Point Loma and Clairemont respectively. To quantify the results, the Islanders lost to Point Loma 2-1 and fell to a tough Chieftain squad 14-0.

"Sara Noceto was pitching a no-hitter going into the sixth inning," said Shanholtz of his junior hurler’s effort against Point Loma. "She gave up a homer in the inning, but she pitched really well and had good control of her pitches."

Christy Mebust contributed a two-out RBI in the top of the sixth inning, driving in Lisa Bernardy, who in turn was 1-2 with a walk. Farrell Pompa and Mebust were both 1-3.

Friday was another kettle of fish, to coin a phrase, as the Chieftains scored in each of the first four innings. "We took the day off," said Shanholtz of his team’s performance. "Lisa was 1-1 with a walk, Farrell was 1-2 at the plate and Hayley Kitzmiller was 1-1."

The Islanders currently have a 5-8 overall record. They host Cathedral Catholic Wednesday and travel to University City Friday. Both games will start at 3 pm.

The Boys Golf Team completed their regular season last week by winning two of their three matches. In a non-league outing Monday, they lost to St. Augustine at Coronado Municipal 193-198. There was a three-way tie for medalist honors at 37, with senior Stewart Harris representing Coronado rep in the lowest scoring group.

Tuesday the Islanders had a Central League match against Crawford and the Islanders emerged victorious by the score of 199-221. Dillon Hakes earned medalist honors with a 38. The last match of the regular season was played against Madison at Double Tree Country Club and the Islanders were paced by their third different medalist of the week. This time senior Bryan Reed shot a one-under par 35 to lead the way.

The Islanders completed the season undefeated in Central League play with a 9-0 mark. One league match was postponed and wasn’t re-scheduled.

Wednesday and Thursday of this week, Head Coach Dean Cummings will send eight players to compete in the City Conference Tournament to be held at Balboa Park. The squad includes: Harris, Hakes, Reed, Bobby Senter, Nick Finley, James Carney, Michael Emerson, and Weston Moore.

The top 32 players from the City Conference Tournament will advance to CIF match play, which will be contested the following week at Torrey Pines. CIF Team play will be held the week of May 9.

Sophomore Hannah Sebenaler scored five goals to lead Coronado past Serra 17-1 last week in the Girls Lacrosse game between the two schools. Later in the week, it was Caitlin Kennedy’s turn to lead the scoring attack with five tallies as the Islanders dismantled Scripps Ranch 15-3.

All of that is a prelude to this week’s schedule, which includes a trip Wednesday to Patrick Henry and then an important home match against City Conference rival La Jolla Saturday. The La Jolla varsity game will be played at 10 am, with the JV game following at 11:30 am.

The following week the Islanders will host La Costa Canyon, the defending CIF champions, in a re-play of last year’s CIF final. LCC is currently ranked No. 1 in the CIF San Diego Section, while Coronado is ranked No. 3. Coronado holds a 13-2 record this season.

According to Head Coach Jessica Battle, a team talk before spring break helped improve her team’s play. "What we got away from were goals and assists from the midfield and up. Then we just had goals, predominantly from Marissa Nagler. We had to get back to a team offense to compete against the tougher teams we play."

Line attacks Nagler and Sebenaler, along with midfielder Greer Goebels are the team’s primary scoring threats in most games. If you try to key your defense on stopping one member of the high-scoring trio, the other two are likely to break loose.

In other lacrosse news, over the weekend Goebels, a sophomore and freshman Melissa Humphrey earned the right to represent the Pacific Regional National High School Team in a Memorial Day Tournament to be held at Lehigh University, located in Bethlehem, PA. "This is a huge tournament and has been going on for 75 years," said Battle of the event, in which she played while in both high school and college. "There are probably 60 teams and 1,500 players. They will represent our region, which includes California, Nevada and Hawaii. This weekend they will find out if they are on the ‘A’ or ‘B’ teams, but regardless, they will go back to play in the tournament."