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Nado Natterings |
A weekly column by David Axelson |
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15 April 2009 Issue #15
As
a child, Islander pitcher Bryan Crabb must not
have played well with others. Last Wednesday when Crabb
and his
Clearly
he didn’t want the other boys to play with his ball as only nine opposing
batters actually put the ball in play. Crabb struck
out all but one
(Natterings Trivia Question – What is the baseball term for
four strikeouts by a hitter in a single game? Answer at the end of the column.)
“It
was vintage
The
Islander scoring can be easily accounted for, in a minimum amount of verbiage.
In the fifth inning with one out, John Mikesell
singled. Pinch hitter Jack Nicholson followed with an RBI double.
Sometimes it’s just that simple.
It
should be noted that Mikesell looked more like a
linebacker (a football position at which he starred for the Islanders) than a
gazelle rounding the bases, but his run was all the Islanders needed Wednesday.
It was a good effort by the senior designated hitter.
Last
week the Islanders played a total of four games in the Premier Division of the
Lions Tournament, going 2-2 for the week. Wednesday’s game against
Thursday’s
game was against El Camino Real, a club that “Took us lightly,” according to Ceci. “They were a pretty solid team. We could have won
that game as well. We battled our way back and played tough. We went into extra
innings and if we had been the home team, we might have won the game. Mills did
a nice job in relief. We showed some character and grit, plus we got some big
hits for a change.” Mills and Parsons had three hits each, accounting for
two-thirds of the nine-hit Islander attack.
The
big news from the game was an outstanding pitching effort from senior Kyle
Couture, who yielded only two earned runs over six innings, striking out 12
El Camino Real batters in the process. Couture threw 115 pitches in the game,
77 (67 percent) for strikes. Unfortunately the Islanders fell 5-4 to El Camino
Real in eight innings.
Thursday
brought the fourth game of the week, this one on the road at Cathedral Catholic
against
Apart
from the number of players Ceci employed, the story
line of the game was a winning pitching effort from freshman Jake Meloche.
The left hander threw four innings, scattering three hits and allowing one
earned run. Austin Hunter (two innings) and Steve Preciado
(one inning) combined to complete the game. For their part,
“Our
JV team has been playing very well,” said Ceci. “And
we brought many of the players to the tournament with us. Several of the kids
stepped in and did just fine, getting some key hits. Meloche started and did
just fine. He threw strikes.”
After
four games in four consecutive days last week, the Islanders’ overall record
currently is 8-7 and Western League play begins next week. It could be said
The
good news is that the Islanders have a true pitching staff this season, a
concept rare at the Division IV level. Seniors hurlers Crabb
(2-3, 2.26 ERA), Couture (3-0, 2.13 ERA) and Parsons (2-1, 1.44 ERA) give Ceci a legitimate rotation, thoroughly tested to date in a
tough 15-game schedule. All three have good stuff reflected in the fact that
Couture has struck out 39 opposing batters in 26.1 innings; Crabb
38 batters in 21.2 innings; and Parsons has struck out 32 hitters in 24.1
innings. A strikeout per inning is considered to be the sign of good command
and good stuff, with all three hurlers in the neighborhood of 1.5 strikeouts
per inning. “Every one of those three pitchers has played well,” Ceci noted.
The
semi-bad news is that the Islanders return to face a red hot Point Loma High
team, which recently won the City Conference Tournament and currently sports a
nifty 12-2 record, a stat not lost on Ceci. “Right
now they have to be one of the favorites in the Western League. I thought they
would be comparable to last year’s team, but they have been hitting the ball
well and they have a young pitching staff that is really coming through for
them. We battled in the Lions Tournament and we are hoping that we have turned
the corner. We had a couple of days off after playing for four straight days.
If we could get someone swinging the bat consistently for us,
that would really help.”
Tuesday
the Islanders play at Point Loma and Thursday they host the Pointers. Both
games will start at 3 pm.
Islander Softball Tops The
Bishop’s School
While
most of the Islander varsity athletes were off last week, the CHS Softball
Team played The Bishop’s School Monday at Green Field. The result was a 2-1
“That
was a heck of a surprise,” said Islander Head Coach Tony Isabella
remarked after the victory. “We played them tough. It was 0-0 for a long time
and the next thing you knew it was 1-1 and then we won it.”
In
a conversation the previous week, Isabella indicated that he would probably use
the Bishop’s game as a contest to keep the team sharp over the break, employing
a lot of players and several pitchers. That concept changed mid-game as
“Brianna
pitched the game of her life. Not necessarily with strikeouts, but just with
the way she played. She took control of the team and got the winning hit. The
whole team was behind her. I told Brianna I was going to make a pitching change
and 30 seconds later she told me ‘I really want the ball.’ Those are the kid of
players you want.”
Feist would only have four strikeouts in the game against the
Knights, a comparatively low total, especially in a low-scoring prep softball
game. “She just kept them off the bases,” explained Isabella. “She kept forcing
them to put the ball in play. She not only led the team as a pitcher and as a
hitter, but her leadership as a team captain kept us rolling.”
Player
illness caused Isabella to make a lineup shuffle as normal starting leftfielder
Jessica Adair moved to third base, with left field then occupied by Rachel
Bible. “Jessica did a great job filling in at third base,” Isabella said.
“She had five assists. She hadn’t played third base all season, but she had a
bunch of third to first throws for outs.”
In
the fifth inning, with the score 1-1 and with one out, Lauren Zeleniak hit a double. She was advanced to third base
on an infield out from Shannon Julius. Feist
then hit the ball to right field for the game-winning RBI.
This
week the Islanders return to Western League play. They host Cathedral Tuesday
and travel to
Track and Field News Update
CHS
Track Coach George Green provides a Track and Field update, this time
for two CMS athletes. “There was no track action at the high school level over
the spring break, but two
Abigail Callahan and
Sierra Smith have been dominating the high jump at our middle school meets
and they dominated at this meet as well, with Callahan winning with a leap of 4
feet, 11 inches, just missing 5 feet on the way down. Smith took the second
spot with a personal record of 4 feet, 10 inches. Callahan also placed second
in the triple jump, having learned the event two days prior with a pretty good
mark of 29 feet, 4 inches. She also placed fourth overall in the long jump.”
Boys Lacrosse Hits the Road to Compete in
When
last we checked in with the CHS Boys Lacrosse Team, they were 5-0 and
ranked as the No. 1 team in the state of
Justifiably
feeling good about their early season results, the Islanders headed off for a
spring break jaunt to
The
first game was played against Islander Head Coach Alex Cade’s alma
mater,
Opponent
No. 2 was
Just
to make it more of a challenge, the Islanders played their third game two hours
later against
Junior
attackman Eddie Vita had a hat trick (this is
apparently a lacrosse term as well), which was nicely complimented by a goal
and two assists from senior Bobby Braun. Single goals were scored by Johnny
Poe, Kyle Runyon and Kodie Englehart.
Cade
summarized the trip by saying, “We did fine. The kids did well and we grew as a
team. It’s hard to know how much you’re going to improve until you play tough
competition. The kids answered the call at the end.”
Two
of the important elements of the 2009 Boys Lacrosse Team are the depth of the
squad and the number of players from each class that have earned playing time.
Or as Cade noted, “The drop off between the classes is getting less and less
each year, which is great.”
As
an example, Cade has a multi-player rotation for the attack position, including
juniors Englehart and Vita and sophomores Runyon and Alex
Bookout. Add senior Braun into the mix and the
result is a potent attack.
The
all-important midfield, which assists in the transition from defense to
offense, consists of seniors Jackson Cusick, Ian
McRae, Sean O’Brien, Andrew Funk and senior long stick middie
Poe. Senior defensemen include Jonathan Little, Daniel Nevitt
and John Waickwicz, who is currently
injured. Junior Peter Zeller starts in goal for the Islanders and
sophomore Curtis Nixon is a defensive starter as well.
Returning
to
Natterings Trivia Answer
Three
strikeouts by a hitter in a single game is a ‘Golden Sombrero.’