Nado Natterings
A weekly column by David Axelson

Nado Natterings
by David Axelson, Chief Executive Officer
The Islander Sports Foundation

30 May 2007 Issue #21

Four games played within a span of five days make for a hectic schedule at any competitive level, particularly for prep sports athletes. However, the Coronado High School Baseball Team emerged from last week’s action with three victories, earning them the right to continue play in the 2007 CIF Division IV Playoffs.

The No. 1 seeded Islanders’ first contest was a play-in game against the No. 16 seed Borrego Springs. This first game is designed to pare down the 16-team bracket to a more manageable 8-team field for the double elimination tournament. Coronado pounded out 18 hits and accepted 10 walks on their way to a 26-0 route of the Rams.

Offensively, Bryan Crabb and Blake Malkemus scored four runs each; Kyle Couture and Josh Fink lashed three hits each; while Couture and Fink each had five RBIs. Before you think Coronado was trying to run up the score on Borrego Springs, a total of 17 Islanders went to the plate in the game, and most Coronado starters saw limited action.

Defensively, newcomer Justin Parsons and Couture combined to throw a perfect game, not allowing any Borrego base runners in the contest, which was mercifully shortened to five innings. It marked the fourth no-hitter thrown by Coronado pitchers in the last five years and the first perfect game in that time.

The level of play picked up considerably Wednesday, as Coronado hosted No. 8 seed Imperial. The Tigers thoughtfully saved their ace, senior right hander Russell Havens, for the Islanders. “He was one of the better pitchers we faced all year,” said CHS Head Coach Sam Ceci. “The kid was a warrior. He threw 130 pitches in nine innings and battled every step of the way. We were lucky to win that one. We won it on a double steal that they couldn’t defend. We tied the game earlier on a sacrifice bunt and a suicide squeeze. He had us up against the wall all day.”

The Islanders won 4-3 due in part to strong pitching performances from Tucker Johnson, Bryan Crabb and the eventual winning pitcher Josh Fink. The trio combined to allow only one earned run in nine frames. Two errors from the Coronado defense provided some athletic foreshadowing that would hit close to home two days later.

Thursday, back at Islander Field at Bayside Park, Coronado hosted No. 4 seed Santa Fe Christian, in a re-match of the 2006 CIF Division IV finals. The game was unusual because the Islanders seemed to be in complete control of the contest, until they allowed seven runs in the sixth inning, when the Eagles sent 11 hitters to the plate. The most glaring game statistic was the total of six Islander errors, which allowed three unearned runs to cross the plate.

The final score was 11-7 in favor of SFC although Coronado had enough offensive production to win most playoff games. For the Islanders Kyle O’Brien Pokorny had two hits, a walk and scored twice; Tim Leary had a single and a double in four trips to the plate to go with four RBIs; Parsons was 3-3 with a walk; while Dan Cepin and Alex Rowan each had two hits.

Rowan, a junior catcher, did a great job of ‘framing’ his staff’s pitches, a technique receivers employ that makes pitches just off the plate appear to be strikes. After a slow start this season with the bat, Rowan is now making consistent contact and was 6-12 (.500) at the plate last week against playoff competition. “Rowan has come to life for us,” Ceci commented. “He did just fine for us defensively and is swinging the bat well.”

The loss to Santa Fe Christian placed Coronado into the losers’ bracket, where the Islanders must win all of their remaining playoff games to defend their title. The first step in that direction happened Saturday morning when Coronado (22-10) hosted La Jolla Country Day (17-4) in an elimination game.

Coronado put together a nice rally in their half of the first inning, as Jake McMahon, Leary and Parsons all scored in the inning. Parsons had an RBI single and Keith Englehart drove in two Islanders with a solid single to right field.

The Torreys fought back and scored four runs in the third inning, sending 10 hitters to the plate. Senior left-hander pitcher Benson Lorden came into put out the fire, leaving three LJCD runners on base to end the inning. Lorden earned credit as the winning pitcher in the game. Tucker Johnson closed out the Torreys in the final 2.2 innings to earn the save.

The big blow of the game came in the Islander fourth inning with two men on and Tim Leary at the plate. Leary, who is big enough to go bear hunting with a switch, hit an inner-half fastball high over the 390-foot sign on the left-center field wall, which landed on the roof of a house across the street. As the old baseball line goes, it had enough distance to get out of any park, including Yellowstone. Ceci and Asst. Coach Jerry Brown together estimated the distance of the blow at 440 feet.

Leary’s moon shot gave the Islanders a 7-4 lead and they would later tack on an insurance run in the eighth inning. Cepin doubled in Englehart, to make the final score 8-4 in favor of Coronado.

Meanwhile in the upper bracket of the Division IV Baseball playoff bracket, No. 2 seed Francis Parker has sustained one loss in the first week of play and now faces Marian Catholic in ‘must win’ games Tuesday and possibly Thursday.

Coronado’s assignment, like Parker’s, is simple - win or go home. Tuesday at 3:30 pm the Islanders host Santa Fe Christian again and if they are victorious, they will face the Eagles again Thursday at the same time and location. Ceci knows the SFC Eagles will be ready. “They are a solid team. They seem to put fastballs in play. We have to beat them twice to get to the finals.”

CHS Softball Falls to Imperial 3-2

Perhaps just to confuse sports columnists, the Division IV CIF Playoffs in the sport of softball also start with 16 teams, but their bracket is a single elimination format. That would go a long way toward explaining why the softball divisions all had their championship games last Saturday and the baseball playoffs amble on for another week.

When last we met, Coronado had defeated Holtville 11-2 in the opening playoff round, to earn the right to travel to Imperial for a quarter-final game. Islander Head Coach Marti Bonelli picks up the narrative from here. “It was a very hard-fought contest and a lot of fun for both our girls and our fans. The temperature at game time was in the low 90’s and went up a few degrees as the game progressed. The girls were unfazed by the heat and battled the entire game.

There is a softball rule which allows for defensive replacements and that permitted our chief utility player Brandy Bible to five an inning of rest and shade to three different players during the course of the game. But most of the kids went the whole way without coming out of the game. Pitcher Briana Feist and catcher Rosie Harris deserve special mention for their grit and determination because they went the entire distance, which is no easy task in the heat.

Coronado struck quickly by getting a run in the first inning. Harris and Alexis Wright earned walks and after a passed ball which advanced both runners, Sandra Cepin drove a 2-2 pitch to right for a sacrifice fly to score Harris from third.

Imperial responded in their half of the second, when the Tigers’ right fielder launched a 2-1 fastball from Feist to deep centerfield. The ball cleared the fence for a solo home run.

Aside from tying the game, it also caused concern for us because Wright, who plays centerfield, bounced hard off the fence in an effort to catch the drive. Wright hit the pole on the dead run and the pole won. She took the brunt of the blow on her left knee and her face hit the wire fence. Alexis stayed in the game and the next hitter struck a towering fly to her in center, which she calmly gloved. Even the Imperial fans applauded her resolve.

Imperial scored their final two runs in the third inning on a pair of soft singles and a bad hop at second base. The Imperial runners never stopped running and both managed to score with the ball never leaving the infield. That allowed the Tigers to claim a 3-1 lead.

However, Coronado was not done. In the Islanders fifth inning, Bible had an excellent plate appearance and fouled off several pitches to eventually earn a walk. Feist followed with a clean shot to left center to put runners at first and second with nobody out. A wild pitch advanced the runners to second and third. Rosie Harris hit a one-hop shot to the Imperial third baseman, which allowed the speedy Bible to score. Line shot outs by Christy Mebust and Wright ended the inning.

As a team, this was truly a great effort. We overcame a lot of obstacles and were within a couple of inches of blowing the game wide open on offense and an inch away from a very clean game on defense. But that is fast pitch softball. The girls learned a tremendous amount this season, not only about physical plays, but also about the importance of teamwork, effort and enthusiasm. Both Coach Rachel Lozano and I are so proud of how far this team has come in such a short period of time. It was a great game and we had fun while competing our hardest. That’s everything we wanted from these players. They delivered and it was just one of those days where the score was not in our favor. We can’t wait for next season, so we can reverse the score.”

Sarah Player Advances to State Track Meet in Two Events

Senior CHS track phenom Sarah Player had a great outing Saturday at the CIF Track and Field Meet held at Mt. Carmel High School. The versatile Player, competing in all ‘A’ level heats, meaning she had finished among the top nine athletes in the county in the preliminaries in three different events, qualified for the state meet June 1-2 at Sacramento City College in two of her disciplines.

She finished fifth in the 100-meter dash in a time of 12.35 seconds, which was the only event where she didn’t advance to the state finals. Player then finished second in the 300-meter hurdles in a time of 45.81. She also finished in a tie for fourth in the high jump with an effort of 5 feet, four inches. That is the state qualifying height in the high jump.

Girls Lacrosse Title Pursuit Ends in CIF Semi-Finals

Only 16 teams from the entire county qualified for the CIF Girls Lacrosse Playoffs. Tuesday evening, the Islanders hosted Rancho Bernardo in both ends of a Boys/Girls quarter-final doubleheader and the Girls emerged with a 15-7 victory.

In the semi-final round Coronado traveled to La Costa Canyon and fell to the Mavericks by the score of 13-8. La Costa would become the eventual CIF champions, defeating Poway 9-7 in the finals.

“I thought we played a great game,” said Islander Head Coach Jessica Battle of her team’s effort against the Mavericks. “It was one of those deals where we were torn. We wanted to win, but if we had won, we were going into the finals with half a team. We didn’t want Poway to win the final game. It was the best it could have worked out realistically, if we weren’t going to win it all this year.”

The Coronado scoring breakdown included Greer Goebels with four goals. Melissa Humphrey and Hannah Sebenaler scored two goals each. Goalie Alyssa Littin was credited with 17 saves.

“We had six shots hit the post,” Battle added. “So the score could have been a lot closer. All in all, every player played great. We went out like we wanted to. Hopefully next year we can deal with the CIF so this (a conflict with the Women’s Division National Tournament) doesn’t happen. Kelsey Branch had a great game and Greer Goebels had a great game. Not one player lagged, we were just a little bit unlucky.”

Boys Lacrosse Loses Heartbreaker to La Costa Canyon

In what can only be described as a ‘heartbreaking loss,’ La Costa Canyon overcame a two-goal Coronado lead in the final minutes of play in their CIF semi-final game to end the Islanders hopes for a CIF title in 2007.

The game was well-played by both teams and featured three ties and two lead changes. At no point in the contest did either team lead by more than two goals. La Costa Canyon held the lead 2-1 at the end of the first quarter, as the Mavericks sandwiched goals around a nice scoring effort from Coronado’s Geoff Worley. Islander Jake Benzian was solid in goal with five saves in the first quarter, to help keep Coronado in the game.

In the second quarter, Coronado picked up the pace considerably, winning virtually all of the battles for loose balls and playing well defensively. Cory Couture tied the game on a goal set up by a steal, a 50-yard sprint and a great assist from Worley. Minutes later, Couture fed Bobby Braun for a goal that gave Coronado the 3-2 lead they would take into halftime.

The third quarter featured a lot of back and forth action, but only one goal. Senior midfielder Erik Karlsson scored a man advantage goal for Coronado to push the score to 4-2.

La Costa Canyon opened the scoring 15 seconds into the fourth quarter and Coronado nursed a 4-3 lead for four and one-half minutes. Karlsson scored with 6:19 remaining in the game, but the Mavericks answered 42 seconds later to make the score 5-4. A huge sigh of relief emanated from the large and vocal Islander home crowd when Karlsson earned his hat trick at the 3:35 mark. Seemingly the No. 2 seed Coronado had wrapped up the victory over No. 3 seeded LCC.

Over the next 2:20 of game action, the Mavericks seemingly won every face off, earned every groundball and scored at will on the here-to-fore stingy Islander defense. With 45 seconds remaining in the game, La Costa scored the game winner, won the ensuing face off and ran out the clock to earn their berth in the finals. Perhaps the only iota of poetic justice is that the Mavericks lost to Torrey Pines in the CIF Finals by the score of 8-6.

The Islanders 29-man playoff roster contained 11 seniors, nine juniors, five sophomores and four freshmen. Worley and Karlsson, who were the team’s leading scorers and starting goalie Benzian, will be hard to replace, but there is a lot of talent in the program for future seasons.

Coronado to be Site of County-wide Lacrosse Activity Saturday, June 2

Coronado High School’s Niedermeyer Field will be the site of seven lacrosse games Saturday, June 2 that will attract elite players from across San Diego County. Starting at 9 am, the Girls High School All-Star game will be played.

At 10:30 am, the action shifts to the middle school age level, as the Division III All-Star Boys game will be played (at the middle school level, girls lacrosse is played in the fall), followed by the Division I championship game. At 1:30 pm, the Division I ‘A’ All-Stars will take the field, followed by the Division I Consolation Finals at 3 pm. At 4:30 pm, the Division I ‘B’ All Stars will play.

At 6 pm, its back to the high school level, as the Boys High School All Stars will conclude the program. Expect to see Coronado players sprinkled throughout the games all day.

Boys Tennis Update and Post Season Awards

Islander Krishna Samperio qualified for CIF play in Boys Tennis as one of the at-large entries. Monday in Round I he defeated Gary George, the Desert League champion 6-4, 7-6 (1) and then in Round II he was defeated by the No. 5 seed D.J. Johnson of Torrey Pines 6-2, and 6-3.

Head Coach Robbin Adair picks up the story regarding the team’s post season awards. “Our banquet was last Tuesday and Chris Mitchell was chosen as our team captain. Frankie Harrison and Max Mero were our Co-Most Improved Players and our MVP was Krishna Samperio. Krishna was also chosen as a First Team member of the All-Western League Team. He ended with year with a record of 40-5.

The San Diego Union-Tribune Scholar-Athletes, (junior and senior varsity letter winners with a GPA of 3.0 or higher) were juniors Collin Bowman, Harrison, Mero, Jordan Vance, and Evan Wheeler. Our senior recipient was Mitchell. Jordan Vance led the way with a GPA of 4.61.”

Save the Date – July 4 15K and 5K Race Coming

Reserve Independence Day morning for the 32^nd Annual July 4^th 15K Run and 5K Run/Walk. The races start at Tidelands Park at 7 am. Event proceeds benefit the Islander Sports Foundation as well as Coronado High School and Coronado Middle School sports.

Fees to enter the race are $25 with the price increasing to $30 after Friday, June 22^nd. Day of event registration is $35. Entry fees include a colorful commemorative t-shirt for all participants. Both races feature a flat and fast course. To register for the event, go to www.kathyloperevents.com or call 619-298-7400 for additional information.