Nado Natterings
A weekly column by David Axelson

6 May 2009 Issue #18

Several of the spring sports at Coronado High School are on the second lap through their league schedule, and perhaps the biggest improvement during the course of the season has been exhibited by the CHS Softball Team. Last week the Islanders added two victories in Western League play to their record, earning the club an overall 8-6 mark and 4-4 in conference.

The first game of the week was a 3-1 victory over La Jolla, which wasn’t totally unexpected as the Islanders defeated La Jolla in their first meeting on the road 14-13. “Kayla Englehart was the winning pitcher,” said Head Coach Tony Isabella. “She also was 2-3 with a triple at the plate. Kayla has been consistent all season.”

The game was tied 1-1 after four innings, when Coronado strung together some timely hitting to generate two more runs to clinch the victory. An Englehart single was followed by a triple from Sandra Cepin. Nicole Aguilar then singled to drive in Cepin. According to Isabella, the team’s offensive concept is fairly simple, “We’re putting the bat on the ball and making things happen.”

Three weeks ago when Coronado played Point Loma, the Islanders lost 14-4 and were ’10-Run Ruled,’ meaning the game is over after the fifth inning in prep softball, if a team is leading by 10 or more runs. Things looked a little grim in the fourth inning as the Islanders trailed 6-3, but the Islanders responded with eight runs in the bottom of the sixth and held on for an 11-10 victory.

Isabella picks up the narrative. “We were down, but we knew we were still in the ball game. Our big hit was a bases-loaded triple by Cepin, against their No. 1 pitcher. She crushed the ball to right centerfield.” Other big bats belonged in the Rachel Bible who was 2-3, including a homer and four RBIs. Englehart continued her fine hitting with a 3-4 effort, with two doubles.

“Excellent pitching by Brianna Feist kept us in the game,” Isabella added. She pitched shutout innings in the fifth and sixth. Defensively in both wins last week, Olivia Nebo had great games as our catcher, calling the game, picking balls out of the dirt and keeping the other teams from stealing bases.”

Although the Islanders pounded out 12 hits against Point Loma, Isabella said that ‘small ball’ had a role in the victory as well. “We had great bunts by Lizzie Nebo and Chantal Perez that helped move runners around. And we got some good defensive play from Lauren Zeleniak and Anik Ribera. Playing fundamentally sound softball has been the key to our three-game winning streak.”

This coming week Coronado plays three times. They being the week with a road trip to Clairemont Tuesday, and they host Cathedral Catholic Thursday. Both games have a 3 pm first pitch. Saturday, fellow CIF Division IV school Holtville will play at Coronado, a game that will start at 11 am.

Islander Baseball Posts 2-0 Week

Much like the CHS Softball Team, the Islander Baseball Team has put together a nice three-game Western League winning streak at an important time of the season. Last week Coronado clawed their way to a 4-1 victory over University City and then knocked off Madison 4-3 in the first game of their two-game set.

The Islander vs. Centurion game was closer than the score might indicate, according to CHS Head Coach Sam Ceci. “It was a tough ballgame. They were up 1-0 until the sixth inning, when they imploded. We got three or four unearned runs. Kyle Couture was outstanding and gave up only one earned run in a complete game.”Couture, a senior right-hander, struck out nine hitters and yielded only three hits to push his record to 5-0 and lower his ERA to a sparkling 1.63.

At this juncture, dazzling offensive statistics in the victory are usually delineated by Your Natterer. But in this victory, the Islanders could only account for three hits, three walks and only one extra base hit, a double from Justin Parsons. In fact, Parsons was credited with the team’s lone RBI. But a win is a win, so we are off to Thursday’s game.

Defending their home turf against the Madison Warhawks, the Islanders won 4-3, this time behind a complete game effort pitching turned in by Bryan Crabb. The senior right-hander walked six, struck out nine, gave up three hits and three earned runs. Crabb, now 4-4 has a 1.92 ERA this year. “Bryan threw over 100 pitches, but he didn’t appear to be laboring,” Ceci said. “We left him in there to finish the game and he got out of it.”

The Islander ‘offensive attack’ was a little less anemic against Madison as Coronado parlayed five hits, two walks and four stolen bases into four runs.

Ryan Shepherd had the big offensive day, going 2-3 including a double, a triple, a stolen base and an RBI. Mason Mills, Bryan Karamoto and Blake Malkemus accounted for the rest of Coronado’s hits.

If pitching and defense are what you look for in a baseball team, then the Islanders are for you. Coronado features a .943 team fielding average and a team earned run average of 2.36, both of which are great numbers for a high school club. However, the team batting average of .264 doesn’t allow anyone to confuse the 2009 Islanders with the 1927 New York Yankees. Or as Ceci put it, “Our pitching staff must be tired, because they are carrying us in every game. The pitching has been fabulous.”

Overall Coronado is 13-9, with a 5-2 record in the Western League.

Although there is plenty of action left this season, including a game at Madison Monday and a non-league tilt against Scripps Ranch Wednesday, a quick Division IV playoff preview might be in order at this point. Ceci handicaps Horizon as the likely No. 1 seed as the regular season winds down. “They are a very good club. We beat them 2-0 in the quarter-finals last year and they have everybody back.” Christian comes in at No. 2, followed by Mater Dei at No. 3 and Coronado at No. 4. Other top seeds may include Madison and Santa Fe Christian.

“Mater Dei (formerly Marian Catholic) could be the big spoiler,” Ceci said of the South Bay school. “They have a record comparable to ours and they have played as tough a schedule as we have.”A total of 16 teams make the playoffs, with the first round of games being single elimination. The eight remaining teams go into a double elimination format and play down to the divisional title. The Islanders are the defending CIF Division IV champions.

Ken Caesar Accepts Boys Basketball Coaching Post at Mater Dei

Ken Caesar, who guided the CHS Boys Basketball Team for the past two seasons, has resigned to accept a similar position with Mater Dei High School. Caesar’s teams qualified for the CIF Division IV Playoffs both years at Coronado, compiling records of 13-10 in 2007-08 and 19-11 and a second place finish in the Central League in 2008-09.  The two seasons combined yielded an overall mark of 32-21 (.604).

“I wish Ken well,” said CHS Athletic Director Robin Nixon. “He did a good job with our program for two seasons. He now has a full-time teaching job at Mater Dei, which allows Ken to coach and teach at the same school. That’s a better fit for him and was what he wanted to do.”

Caesar’s hiring completes a series of changes at Mater Dei, started when Matt White, who was the head football coach and athletic director at the school, resigned from both positions. Former boys’ basketball coach Chris Moeller steps into the AD role and Caesar will now take over as head boys basketball coach.

Nixon noted that discussions regarding a permanent replacement for Caesar were planned for the immediate future.

CHS Track and Field Teams Split Meet versus Christian

CHS Head Track and Field Coach George Green provides the details of his team’s exploits from

last week. “The Girls’ Track Team took the top place in nine events in our dual meet with Christian, to win by the score of 70-56. Maddie Danielson and Cassie Callahan finished 1-2 in the 300-meter hurdles, both of them finishing a step in front of Christian’s Makenna Yarbor, in a close race that saw all three girls break 50 seconds.

Sadie Gimber and Stefanie Pietkiewicz repeated the Coronado 1-2 finish in the 400-meter run, as did Sallie Privett and Annie Lovering in the 1,600 meters. Privett’s time was a speedy 5:12 while running solo.

Danielle Gillberg, Danielle Swanson and Madison Rutherford went uncontested in the 100-meter hurdles to earn nine points. Briana Giorgione chalked up a pair of wins in the pole vault and high jump. Callahan also won the long jump and placed second in the triple jump. Pietkiewicz placed second in the 200 meters. Bethany Bucklew picked up a pair of thirds in the shot put and discus throw, as did Bridgid Twomey in the long jump and triple jump. Lauren Bower placed second in the 100; Katie Centeno and Natalie Pettee placed first and third respectively in the 800; and Adie Davies won the 3,200 meters (two miles) with the time of 11:56, while running with the boys in a combined event.

The CHS Boys Track Team was in a bit deeper, losing by the score of 80-48, but there were some notable performances. Charles Westbrook tied for first in the 100-meter dash in 11.5 seconds. Andrew Smith and Michael Gasparro both looked good while going 1-2 in the 200 meters, with Smith running a fine time of 23.2. Sophomore Aaron Shay knocked 13 seconds off of his previous best 1,600-meter time with a new personal record of 5:50.1. Will Bartsch won the pole vault with a mark of 12 feet.

Two days later at the Frosh/Soph meet at El Capitan, the Islanders qualified seven underclassmen to compete in the evening invitational events. The best finishes of the day were by Gimber who placed third in the sophomore 400-meter dash in 59.91 (her first time under the one minute mark) and Bartsch who placed third in the sophomore pole vault at 11-6 (but he was way over the bar).  During an attempt at 12 feet, Will lost his step, but he’s due for a breakthrough in the near future. 

Centeno and Davies, both fighting colds, placed seventh and 10^th in the Frosh 800 meters, in at around 2:30. Also a bit under the weather, Lovering held on to place seventh with a time of 5:26 in the sophomore 1,600 after a fast 74 second first lap.

Danielson picked-up the fourth place medal in the sophomore 300 hurdles, but teammate Callahan went down in a crash with a hurdle. Still, she limped in for sixth place with a time of 54.9 and later set a personal best mark in the sophomore triple jump with a mark of 31 feet.”

Girls Lacrosse Bests Scripps Ranch

Seemingly whenever CHS Girls Lacrosse Head Coach Jessica Battle discusses working on her club’s fast break offense in practice, shortly thereafter Islander speed demons Coco O’Brien and Michaela Guerrera score goals in bunches. This theory was proven again last week as O’Brien scored five goals and Guerrera added three more in the Islanders 16-6 domination of Scripps Ranch.

“Scripps is a good team this year,” said Battle of Coronado’s City Conference opponent. “We got away from the transition offense a little bit, but when we do it well, we can’t be stopped.”

Other Islander goal scorers included C.J. Fisher, Alex Reidy and Melissa Humphrey with two goals each, to go with single goals from both Anna Turpitt and Sandy Shepherd. Taylor Udell was credited with 10 saves in goal.

In games immediately prior to their game with Coronado, Scripps Ranch had lost in overtime to Cathedral Catholic and lost by a single goal to Rancho Bernardo. There doesn’t seem to be much rhyme or reason behind the game scores throughout the county this season, Battle said. “It’s been an interesting season and scores have been all over the place. If we could play like that all the time, it would be great.”

In the CIF San Diego Section, on both the boys and girls lacrosse sides, all schools are grouped together in one division. Battle provided an overview of the 2009 playoffs. “I have a suspicion that we will be seeded third behind Torrey Pines and La Costa Canyon, despite the fact that we beat Torrey Pines. I would love to be seeded second, although anyone playing in the semi-finals is going to be tough. The playoffs start Saturday, May 23^rd on Memorial Day Weekend.”

This week Coronado hosts Francis Parker Monday at 5:30 pm. Friday the team travels to Serra for a 3 pm game.

Islander Boys Golf Squad Bests Mission Bay

Sometimes it takes longer to reach team goals that you would predict. CHS Head Boys Golf Coach Randy Coutts said his team had a goal of shooting 200 or better in a match this season, and in their 19^th and final regular season contest, they did just that.

“That should put us in the mix in the small schools division,” Coutts said of the coming CIF Playoffs. “There are two or three schools who have broken 200 and we are right in there with the second cluster. We’re peaking at the right time.”

Connor Pompa earned medalist honors for the match, shooting a 37 at Coronado Municipal. The course, which was aerating their greens, allowed the competitors play the back nine holes, which was a first for the Islanders this season.

With just one match last week, the team spent most of their time playing practice rounds. Juan-Pedro Qunitero, who shot a 42 against Mission Bay, provided some of the highlights during the workouts, including reaching the green on 530-yard hole with just two blasts from his three wood. In an understatement, Coutts said “The kids are amazed at his length off the tee.”

Coutts expects the team’s top three scorers to emerge from the City Conference Match Play event at Balboa, to be held Tuesday and Wednesday, with at least three qualifiers for CIF play in Pompa, Alex Valle and Robert Phelps. Coutts believes that recently improved play from Brian Turley and Taylor Mitchell might get them into the playoffs as well. Quintero, who started play in mid-season, hasn’t played enough matches to qualify for the CIF event.

Islander Sean Lee Paces Boys Tennis Team

One of the consistent bright spots for CHS Boys Tennis Head Coach Jim Mashburn this season has been the play of freshman No. 1 singles player Sean Lee. The youngster kept his play at a high level last week, winning two singles matches in Coronado’s 15-3 loss to Cathedral Catholic and then added two more set victories in the Islanders 12-6 loss to St. Augustine.

In the Cathedral match, Patrick Holman added a set win at No. 2 singles to round out the Islander scoring. Against St. Augustine, Holman joined Daniel Grazian to play No. 1 doubles and the combo won all three of their doubles sets. Brenton Mashburn and Michael Whalen played well at No. 2 doubles, winning one set at 7-5, before losing their other two sets at 6-3 and 6-3. “They only won one set, but they played very well,” said Coach Mashburn.

This week the Islanders conclude their regular season Tuesday with a road match at University City. The following week, Coronado will host the Western League tournament at the high school courts, the library courts and at the Glorietta Tennis Center.