We normally place the best team performance of the past seven days in the lead position of our weekly musings, but this time we’ll commence with an outstanding effort made by senior baseball player Max Weinfurtner.

To set the stage, it’s Saturday afternoon at Strand Field and the Islanders are hosting Western League rival La Jolla. Although the Islanders are leading 6-4 in the fifth inning, the Vikings have just scored three runs and have a runner on first base with two outs. Weinfurtner, a converted second baseman, is playing in centerfield with the La Jolla hitter at the plate. The Islanders need a big play in a big way.

The Viking hitter hits a shot to Weinfurtner’s left and Max gets a good jump on the ball. The wind, which is blowing in from the outfield toward the plate holds up the ball just enough for the right-handed Weinfurtner to leap toward the wall, away from the plate and make a diving, one-handed catch.

If it were a Padres home game, Jerry Coleman would have hung two stars on that one. Had there been television coverage of the contest, it would have been an ESPN ‘Web Gem.’ Coronado went on to win the game 9-7, powered in part by Weinfurtner’s great grab, and his two hits, two RBIs, and two runs scored.

Islander Head Coach Sam Ceci, who has seen a play or two during his playing and coaching career, described Weinfurtner’s catch as ‘extraordinary.’ Ceci provided additional commentary on the play. "That was a big league catch right there. We executed the play very well. (Right fielder) Benson Lorden took a good angle on the play as well. If Max misses it, Benson would be there to pick up the pieces. The wind held the ball up so he could get under it. That play was absolutely huge."

The Viking vs. Islander contest also marked the starting pitching debut of sophomore Josh Fink, who had pitched 18 innings in 12 previous appearances. "Josh did fine," said Ceci of the lanky right-hander. "We hoped to get four innings from him and that’s exactly what we got. Josh is a converted catcher. He has a strong pitching arm and throws a heavy ball with some ‘sink.’ He’ll be a big part of our pitching staff next year."

Shortstop Blake Spitzer also had a fine game. The senior honor student and leadoff hitter was hit twice by pitches, running his total to 11 for the season. He has also stolen 15 bases in 15 attempts, a total that now includes three swipes against La Jolla. He also scored twice. Ironically, the only time he put the ball in play –a liner at the La Jolla shortstop – was the only time he was retired in four trips to the plate.

"Blake is playing beyond expectations," said Ceci. "We put him in the leadoff spot seven or eight games ago and his on-base percentage is now .511. He’s really doing well and doing everything right. He plays hard wherever we put him."

Jake McMahon, who has been battling an illness, had an RBI triple in the second inning, and later scored on a wild pitch. In the Islanders three-run fifth inning, McMahon was hit by a pitch and scored on Ben Thorne’s double. Coronado pounded out 12 hits on the game, including two each from Jimmy Gersonde, Alex Rowan, Lorden and Weinfurtner.

"The whole team battled, which was real nice," said Ceci. "There was confidence in the dugout when they came back and we had kids who stepped up. Saturday was positive in the way we played and came back."

Unfortunately, the highlight of the week was the La Jolla victory. Earlier in the week the Islanders lost to Western League leader University City 7-5 and to current conference runner-up Mission Bay 9-3.

"We have three league games left and one non-league game," said Ceci of the regular season. "Next week we play at home against Point Loma Wednesday. They are charging hard and want a Division II playoff spot. And we play Cathedral Catholic Friday at home. Both of them want to beat us and both have already beaten us." The starting time for both home games is 3:30 pm.

A little while back, we wrote about Coronado High School’s sports medicine program under the direction of CHS Athletic Trainer Connie Martinez. Little did we know at the time, but there is a competitive aspect of sports medicine.

One week ago a seven-person team consisting of Cameron Feallock, Jessica Davis-Ricci, Preston Lujan, Brandi Bible, Josh Watts, Enrique Araiza and Hayley Kitzmiller won the 4^th Annual Sports Medicine Interscholastic Competition, which was held in Los Angeles. Kitzmiller took third place individually from a total group of 180 students.

The Top 4 finishers in the high school team competition were (in order) Coronado, Notre Dame, Woodside Priory, and St. Augustine.

Your Natterer ran into Coach Martinez recently at CHS and accused her of cheating in the competition. She took some of the school’s best students and best athletes to the event. No wonder she won. Congratulations to all of the participants.

Saturday morning the CHS Girls Lacrosse team hosted their counterparts from La Costa Canyon in a re-match of last year’s CIF championship title game. Unfortunately the results were much the same, as LCC prevailed 17-11.

In the final four minutes of the first half, and the opening six minutes of the second half, the Mavericks outscored the Islanders 7-0 to put the game out of reach. Coronado finished strong and scored the last five goals of the game. A factor in the contest may have been that CHS Head Coach Jessica Battle was without the services of Sasha Vido, one of her best defenders.

"It’s important that we got to see them (LCC) play this year. Last year we went in (to the CIF finals) blind, not being able to play them. The good thing is my girls know they are definitely beatable. (CHS Goalie) Alyssa Littin realizes what she is up against. We let our guard down and we can’t do that against a team like that."

Littin was credited with nine saves in the game. The Coronado offensive attack was spread out among six players. Hannah Sebenaler scored four goals, Greer Goebels and Marissa Nagler scored twice each, with single goals coming from Caitlin Kennedy, Lindsey Negrete and Hope Alexander. Kennedy’s scoring effort consisted of a full-speed, solo dash from mid-field.

"It was nice to see a lot of goals across the board," said Battle of her offense, before switching to her appraisal of the Islander defense. "I thought Kindall Caldwell had a great game. She had nine ground ball controls, which is pretty good. Angela Naple and Lindsay Naple did well also."

The regular season is coming to a close, as the final game will be played Monday evening at Rancho Bernardo at 7 pm. The girls’ lacrosse seeding meeting is Wednesday evening according to Battle. "I’m hoping for a No. 2 or a No. 3 seed. We have the same record as Poway and Poway lost to La Jolla. We beat La Jolla twice, which is going to be my avenue going in to the meeting." The first round of the CIF playoffs will be held Saturday, May 13, with games slated for the following Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

The Islander Boys Lacrosse Team suffered a tough home loss last Thursday to Cathedral Catholic, as the Dons prevailed by the score of 10-8. The upset loss will likely have playoff seeding implications, according to Head Coach Alex Cade. "That loss probably dropped us out of the Top 5 (in the county). One loss like that can hurt you pretty bad."

The loss to Cathedral sets up an important return match Wednesday when the Islanders take to the road for a 7 pm tilt, which will be played for the City Conference title.

In last week’s Cathedral game, Geoff Worley scored four goals and assisted on another, while Pat Murphy scored twice, and single goals were converted by Jacob Vita and Eric Karlsson.

Friday the Islanders rebounded nicely with a 16-0 pasting of University City. This week in addition to the aforementioned Cathedral game, the Islanders host San Diego County’s No. 2 ranked team Torrey Pines, Monday evening at 7 pm.

"The playoffs are a completely different beast," said Cade of the upcoming CIF post season, where only the Top 16 teams in the county participate. "I’m just hoping our seniors can pull some leadership together for the playoffs. When it comes to post season play, a lot of it (possible success) rests on the seniors."

Dillon Hakes led Coronado in CIF Division II individual match play, winning his first two rounds and advancing to the Final 8, before losing on the third day of play. According to Head Coach Dean Cummings, the competition was held at Torrey Pines.

By virtue of their undefeated Central League season and resulting championship, the Coronado team consisting of Hakes, Stewart Harris, Bobby Senter, Bryan Reed, Nick Finley and James Carney advance to CIF team play. Mike Emerson will join his Islander teammates for the tourney.

To make matters more confusing, the team tournament, which will be played at Warner Springs, also serves as the individual tournament. A total of 117 players will compete in each of the two divisions., starting Thursday.

Head Boys Tennis Coach Robbin Adair checks in with a report. "We played real well last week, but had two losses. Cathedral Catholic beat us 15-3 Monday and University City beat us 13-5 Tuesday.

The highlights were good. For the first time in several years, we were able to beat a couple of Cathedral Catholic’s doubles teams. They had been unbeatable for some time, but both Chris Mitchell/Matt Oakley and Daniel Grazian/Frankie Harrison won a set as did Patrick Holman in singles.

That trend continued against University City. Their first doubles team is made up of a youngster who has played No. 1 doubles for them for 4 years, with different partners. We beat him for the first time with both of our doubles teams taking their set against him.

We are seeded No. 6 in the ICF tournament which starts Tuesday and we travel to San Marcos to play them at 3 pm."

Although one of the scores was rather lop-sided, the CHS Softball Team continued to compete hard in the Western League last week, according to Head Coach Ed Shanholtz. "The girls never quit and fought until the end. We swung the bats really well and had 10 hits." The Islanders fell, 20-5, but seniors Jessica Davis-Ricci and Farrell Pompa were both 2-4 and contributed RBIs as well.

In the week’s other game, the Islanders lost to Mission Bay 7-6, despite two home runs from junior Sara Noceto. The first was a solo shot, the second a three-run dinger in the third frame. Mission Bay then intentionally walked Noceto in her final two plate appearances.

"We made a costly mistake at the end," said Shanholtz of his squad. "We battled all the way. Alexis Wright pitched very well and pitched the whole game. She had good command of her pitches and kept the Mission Bay hitters off stride. Brandi Bible was 2-3 with two doubles. I thought we played a well-rounded game, except for our mistakes. Give Mission Bay credit too, they played very well.

This week Coronado plays at San Ysidro Monday; they host University City Tuesday; and Friday they are home with Point Loma. All of the game starting times are 3:30 pm. The first two games are make-up dates for previously postponed games.

Like their baseball counterparts, the CHS Softball Team will compete in Division IV this year and Shanholtz thinks his club should earn a post season slot in the second half of the standings. "I think playing in the Western League should help our seeding, but you know how those meetings go. We lost to Francis Parker 3-1 and 6-2 and 5-2 to Christian. We had chances in all three games and they are among the Top 3 in the "Union-Tribune" poll each week. We’ve got a shot to get in, if we finish strong in the last four games."

Space considerations normally preclude sports coverage in "Nado Natterings" below the high school varsity level, but there are some good things coming out of the Coronado Middle School track team of late that deserve mention. George Green runs the gamut this week with his track coverage of both the high school and middle school.

"Like Coronado, the Hoover girls’ track team is small this year, but with a few good athletes. We knew it would be close, so we loaded up in the events where they are weak and put only enough girls in their strongest events – the sprints – to keep them from getting all of the points.

Megan Mushovic, Danielle Eckert, Neisha Scales and Brigid Twomey teamed up in the 4 x 100 for our first five points. Brigid later placed third in three other events, the high jump, the 1600-meter run, and the 3200-meter run for three more points in the Islanders eventual 57-50 victory.

Hoover’s top sprinter, Vanessa Houston, is one of the county’s best in both the 100 and 200-meter sprints. In the 100 Neisha set a personal record time of 13.2 seconds to earn second place, and then came back to place third in the 200 behind Houston and Coronado’s Sarah Player. Sarah also won the high jump, the 100-meter hurdles and the 300-meter hurdles.

Chelsea Newson placed second in the high jump behind Sarah. Eckert and Mushovic finished 1-2 in the long jump and triple jump, with Danielle winning the long jump and Megan the triple. Mushovic also won the discus throw and Eckert was second in the 100-meter hurdles.

Saturday Player won both the high jump and the 200 at the Claremont All-Girls Invitational in Claremont. Her 200-meter dash time of 26.54 was a personal best.

The Boys were outgunned by Hoover in the sprints and jumps and they lost 84-37. Levi Lozano won the shot put with a toss of 40-feet, 3-inches and placed second in the discus with a throw of 118 feet, 3 inches. Kasey Zapatka won both the 800-meter and 1600-meter runs and placed second in the high jump.

David Grimes won the 3200 and was third in the 800. Drew Stacy placed second in the 400 and third in the 200. Kenny Twomey placed second in the triple jump and third in the 100-meter hurdles. Ben Enowitz and Andrew Falkiewicz, both recovering from illness, placed second and third respectively in the 3200-meter run. Alton Smith placed third in the 200-meter hurdles.

Reinforcements for the high school team are coming from the CMS track teams. The girls’ middle school track squad has been winning every meet in our 10-school conference this year, sometimes by as much as 100 points. At the Middle School County Championships Saturday, they rocked.

Seventh grader Alison Culora came away with two 7^th grade county records by winning the 100-meters in 13 seconds flat and the 200 in 27.2. She also anchored the 4 x 100 relay team (which included Madalyn Danielson, Michaela Guerrera, Rischina Marcillas, and Alana Pokorny) to a 20-meter victory in 56.6. Danielson placed third in the 200 in 29.7; Guerrera placed third in the 100 in 13.9 and ran 29.9 for the 200; Marcillas ran 13.9 in the 100, 29.9 in the 200 and placed second in the long jump.

Other great 7^th grade performances were turned in by Cassie Callahan, who placed third overall in the 400 with a time of 68.5; she was second in the high jump, and fourth in the long jump. Maria Stacy was third overall in the 400 in 69.6 seconds and Anna Coumes ran the 800 in 3:03.2.

Sixth grader Nicole Davies placed first in the 400 with a time of 72 seconds and was part of the 6^th grade relay team that placed fourth. The other members of the team were Lauren Bower, Gabriele Pietkiewicz, and Mariah Grant. Bower also placed second in the 100 with a time of 14.41 and was first in the 200 in 30.4. Caroline Courtney ran the 300 in 33.7.

Eighth grader Sallie Privett won both the 1600-meter and 800-meter runs with times of 5:31 and 2:29 respectively. Sallie holds most of the county middle school records for the distance runs. Adrianna Davies placed third in her 400-meter head and ran the 800 meters in 2:52.4. The 8^th grade girls’ 4 x 100 meter relay team (consisting of Allison Hart, Stefanie Pietkiewicz, Madison Rutherford, and Lizzy Stone) were the overall winners in 57.6. Hart finished fourth in the high jump and sixth in the long jump; Pietkiewicz turned the 200 in 31.8; Rutherford was third in both the 100 and 200; and Stone won her heat in the 100.

For the 6^th grade boys, Nate Hoffmann placed first in the 400 in 68.1; Coleton Pentland placed fourth in both the 100 and 200; Caleb Davis placed fifth in the 400 in 69.9; and Conner Terry placed fourth in the 200 in 29.9.

For the 8^th grade boys, the 4 x 100 relay team of Micah Fischer, Scott Lindquist, Matt Villalobos and Andrew Smith placed fifth in 53.9. Fischer was seventh in the 200 and fifth in the 400; Lindquist was fifth in the 100; Villalobos was fifth in the 200; and Tim Sebring ran the 1,600 meters in 7:30.0 and long jumped 10 feet, 3.5 inches."

I would like to extend condolences to the family of Brian Bent (CHS ’95) for their recent loss. Brian died from complications of sleep apnea. Bent, a superb three-sport athlete at CHS, was teaching English in Taipei, Taiwan at the time of his death.

Bent, 29, earned numerous All-American honors in water polo and was the CIF Division II Player of the Year and a member of the 1996 NCAA championship team while competing for UCLA. Bent was also a former columnist for the Coronado Eagle & Journal Newspaper.

Approximately 500 friends, former classmates and community members attended his memorial service at Spreckels Park Saturday.