Nado Natterings
A weekly column by David Axelson

13 May 2009 Issue #19

Sauntering quietly, yet aggressively through the mine field that is the Western League Baseball schedule, the CHS Baseball Team has accumulated a five-game winning streak, pushing their overall record to 15-9. In the process the Islanders have broken into the Top Three of the “San Diego Union-Tribune’s” Division IV poll behind Horizon and Christian.

Monday Coronado opened with the second game of their two-game set with Madison and the Islanders emerged with a 6-1 victory. Coronado had one of their better offensive outings of the season, banging out a total of 12 hits, with individual multi-hit games turned in by Mason Mills with three singles and by Hunter Ralph who added two hits. RBIs came courtesy of Ryan Shepherd, Kyle Couture, Justin Parsons and Bryan Crabb.

“They jumped out to a 1-0 lead,” recounted CHS Head Coach Sam Ceci. “And we came back. We got more than our normal number of hits, which helped. Our hits were spread around pretty well and we had some timely hitting.”

Parsons started the game on the mound and ran into some trouble in the third inning. Couture, who normally is a starting pitcher, was summoned from the bullpen and responded with 4.2 innings of shutout ball, yielding one hit and striking out eight Warhawk hitters.

Due to the uneven number of teams in the Western League (seven), the Islanders were faced with a mid-week hole in their schedule, which was ably filled by Eastern League member Scripps Ranch. Coronado hit the road, played a team similar in nature to their own club, and came away with a 4-3 victory.

“The Scripps Ranch game was a good one and they are a good team,” Ceci said. “They have strong pitching and weak hitting. They were like playing us. We got four hits and that was all they got.”

To win the game, Ceci had to employ all of his three-man senior starting pitching staff, including Crabb, Parsons, Couture, as well as reliever/shortstop Mills. Crabb went five innings before running into trouble in the sixth. Couture relieved Crabb, while Parsons relieved Couture and Mills came into get the final out and earn the save. Crabb was credited with the victory.

Ceci summarized the contest. “It was a tough, tight ball game. Parsons had a timely hit for an RBI. Mills had two hits and hit another ball into the wind that was caught on the warning track. Mason was the offensive star, with two RBIs and two stolen bases and he got the big save. It was a good outing for him and a good outing for us.”

The regular season is rapidly drawing to a close, with a home game Tuesday against Mission Bay followed by a road game Thursday against the Buccaneers. Next week the Islanders travel to Cathedral Catholic Tuesday and then host the Dons Thursday.

Cathedral, the No. 1 ranked team in San Diego County, is currently 20-4 and undefeated in the Western League. The Islanders in second place in the league with a 6-2 mark have at least a mathematical chance to catch the Dons, who feature seven players with signed Division I college scholarships in-hand for the fall.

Islander Softball Team Plays Three

The Coronado Softball Squad played three times last week, winning once, but the game they won is likely to be more important than the two that went into the loss column.

The first outing of the week was an 8-3 loss to Clairemont, a somewhat deceiving score as the game was tied 2-2 after four frames. Islander Head Coach Tony Isabella pinpointed the problem. “We had four costly errors that led to them opening up the game. To give the girls credit, they tried to rally back in the top of the seventh inning. Brianna Feist pitched a good game and Nicole Aguilar hit a towering shot in the second inning for a home run.”

Thursday the Islanders hosted Cathedral Catholic, and lost to the Dons 5-3. Aguilar continued to be hot at the plate, going 3-4 with two doubles and two RBIs. Isabella also noted good hitting from Bailey Haines, who contributed an RBI single. Good defensive efforts were turned in by Aguilar and Rachael Bible, with the latter playing left field, center field and second base during the game. “Rachael made good plays at every position,” Isabella said.

But the big tilt last week was a nine-inning affair (prep softball and baseball games normally last seven innings) Saturday at home against Division IV opponent Holtville. “It was an exciting game and a very hard-fought game,” Isabella said.

With University City closing in on capturing the Western League crown, positioning for the Division IV CIF Playoffs is now an important element for Coronado. Defeating Holtville may save the Islanders a lengthy road trip come playoff time and improve their seeding position by winning a head-to-head contest with a divisional opponent.

Isabella provides the relevant game details. “The key to the game was Kayla Englehart. She was the winning pitcher and pitched very well. Holtville only had seven soft fly balls that were all hit to center fielder Shannon Julius and barely got past the infield. That was a sign of how well she was pitching.”

Julius was also the Islander hitting star, going 2-4, including the game-winning RBI hit in the bottom of the ninth. Isabella credited the fine defensive play of catcher Olivia Nebo; sister and second baseman Lizzie Nebo; third baseman Aguilar, who had four putouts at third; and Bible in left field.

The winning run was generated when Lizzie Nebo earned a walk; pinch runner Chantal Perez stole second base standing up; a single from Sandra Cepin advanced Perez to third, with Cepin taking second on the throw; and a line drive over the center fielder’s head by Julius for the victory.

The Islanders have two Western League games remaining. Tuesday they play at University City and the following week the regular season concludes with a Thursday road game at Mission Bay. The Islanders are currently 9-8 and 4-5 in league competition.

Swimming Season Tapers Down

CHS Head Swim Coach Dave Throop provides a report on his club’s recent activities. “We concluded our regular dual meet schedule with a home meet against Scripps Ranch.  As is our custom, we swam people in races we hoped would allow them to continue in competition for next week in the City Conference Championships, and possibly on to the CIF Championships. 

Right now our training is going well and gives us the required preparation necessary just before we begin to rest and focus upon a singular performance or race. In looking at what our conference has to offer, I believe we'll compete with both La Jolla and Cathedral for the overall team championships, and I believe we will be competitive in the CIF divisional championships the following week. 

This is the fun time of the season. All the gruel and work has been consumed, now is the time we see our rewards and perseverance pay off.  It’s been a good season. The group has worked hard and I believe they are excited to get into the next two weeks.”

Recent good efforts from CHS Girls Swim Team members include: Kelly Ronimus and Ashley Young swimming well in 200 free, with Ronimus leading all swimmers with a time of 1:56.94 and Ashley pacing her in a 1:57.83. Both times are close to last year’s championship times.

In the 200 Individual medley, Hanna Green swam a season best 2:24.25 and has made steady week-to-week improvement. Morgan Karney swam a nice 2:38.99 while Megan Meloche swam a personal best time of 2:44.30. In the 50 free, Maddie Murphy swam a solid 25.79 while Hayley Eyer finished in 30.8 and Colleen Moore swam a good time of 32.53.

In the 100 butterfly, Young won the event in 1:02.20 while Kaylee Ginnane swam a nice 1:09.14, which is nearly a one-second drop from her seasonal best.  Cathy White had a nice 1:10.69 to round out the event for Coronado. Ronimus won the 100 free with a 54.68, while Green swam another seasonal best 59.31 and Shelby Couture swam 1:02.57. In the 500 free, Laura Luttrell swam a seasonal best 5:53.94 with Karney also clocking a personal  best 6:13.57. In the 100 back,

Lauren Carroll swam a personal best 1:09.53

On the boys’ side, in the 200 free, Adam   Ratcliffe swam a personal best 1:52.16, while Tommy Schofer swam a nice 1:53.18. In the 200 individual medley, pushed by Rex Butler’s 2:08.04, Michael Aguilar swam a 2:08.27 while Garrett Eyer swam a 2:22.75. Good times abounded in the 50 free as Ryan Hughes swam a 24.32, Brayden Hummeldorf finished in 24.45, and Brendan Farrell swam a 26.22 and all competed well in the fastest race on the docket

The 100 fly found Francisco Heredia swimming a 1:00.41, while being paced by Josh Williams' 59:81 and fellow Freshman Christian Dudley swam a nice 1:11.71.

In the 100 free, Andrew Ireland swam a 48.26, while Brennan Casey swam a personal best 51.90 and Anthony Salvatore also added a personal best in 53.96.   The 500 free found Schofer swimming a 5:10.50 in an easy pace, while Eyer swam a 5:48.50. In the 100 back, Lex Aponte swam a personal best 1:03.1 while Paul Pedrotty swam a good race in a time of 1:04.80 and Williams swam a 1:09.81. Finally, in the 100 breast, Francisco Heredia swam a 1:02.80 while Jackson Hummeldorf swam a seasonal best 1:06.73 and Garrett Sabesky swam a nice 1:07.30.

Track Spikes

CHS Track and Field Head Coach George Green checks in with a brief report. “The dual meet track season ended rather anticlimactically last Thursday with boys and girls losses to Clairemont over their quarter-mile dirt track.

The Clairemont boys finished the season undefeated to claim the Central League championship. Lincoln did likewise for the girls. This week we have our league individual prelims on Tuesday at Hoover, which qualifies for the City Conference finals on Friday. From the latter competition, the top two finishers out of each event move on to the CIF finals at Cathedral Catholic, May 23rd.

CHS Boys Tennis Wins Western League Match Against U.C.

The Islander Boys Tennis Team completed their Western League regular season with an 11-7 victory over University City. Coronado’s No. 1 singles player Sean Lee won two sets, while Robbie Cattell and No. 2 and Chase Mashburn at No. 3 won one set each.

On the doubles side, the No. 1 pair of Daniel Grazian and Patrick Holman won all three of their sets, with Brenton Mashburn and Michael Whalen at No. 2 snaring two sets each. The No. 3 pairing of Andrew Stump and Luke Hoffman won two sets as well.

The Islanders have this week off from competition, as they prepare for the Western League tournament, which will be played in Coronado. Each member school sends five doubles teams and five singles players to the event. May 18^th from noon to 5pm, play will be conducted at the CHS courts, the Library courts and at the Glorietta Tennis Center. A similar schedule will continue on Tuesday.

Grazian and Holman enter the Western League competition with the No. 6 seed. “I think they have a chance to do very well,” said Head Coach Jim Mashburn. “With a little bit of luck they could even win the tournament.”

Islander Girls Lacrosse Goes 2-0

In what was a relatively stress-free week, the CHS Girls Lacrosse Team beat Francis Parker last Monday 13-7 and followed up that victory with an 18-7 domination of Serra on Friday.

“We actually mixed it up a little bit,” said Head Coach Jessica Battle of her normal lineup. “The girls had fun and played really well.”

The big lineup ‘change’ involved placing All-American and Cal Berkeley-bound midfielder Melissa Humphrey in goal and putting starting net minder Taylor Udell in the field for the second half of the game. The rational was pretty simple according to Battle. “Melissa had always wanted to play goalie.”

Clearly the result was not in question as Cory De Marco, Alex Reidy, Jillian Reidy, Coco O’Brien, Michaela Guerrera and C.J. Fisher all scored goals in the game. The team’s motivation was to get Udell a goal, an assignment that would have to wait until Friday.

Humphrey donned the goalie gear again against Serra, but didn’t slow up the Conquistador’s attack much, as their first five shots on goal found the back of the net. “In the second half, she had four or five saves,” said Battle. “After the game Melissa said, ‘I’ve done it once and I think I’m okay. I’ll stay at midfield.” The good news was that Udell scored twice, thus setting up ‘Back when I was in high school’ story lines to be related to future generations.

On the more serious side, play last week between North County teams Torrey Pines and Rancho Bernardo found the Broncos winning, which should help Coronado in the critical CIF playoff seedings. “I’m hoping that will bump us up to No. 2,” said Battle of the coming playoffs, which start the Saturday of Memorial Weekend. “Torrey losing to Rancho Bernardo is good for us. I would like to play (defending champion) La Costa in the finals. Regardless, the semi-final game will be just as hard as the finals.”

Battle sees the county-wide Top 5 rankings as No. 1 La Costa Canyon, Coronado at No. 2; No. 3 Torrey Pines; No. 4 Rancho Bernardo and No. 5 Poway. “That would be my guess,” Battle said.

This week the Islanders host Patrick Henry Tuesday night at 7 pm. They play at La Jolla Friday evening at 7 pm.

Lacrosse Casino Night

One of the wilder and therefore more entertaining fundraisers in and around Coronado each year is the annual Lacrosse Casino Night, with will be held Saturday, May 16 from 6 to 11 pm. John and Carrie O’Brien are hosting this year’s event at their home at 1140 Coronado Avenue. Admission is $75 per couple, payable at the door.

All of the proceeds benefit the Girls and Boys Lacrosse Teams at CHS, which is a good fit for the O’Briens as their son Sean O’Brien takes the vast majority of the face-offs on the Boys squad and daughter Coco O’Brien is a high-scoring forward on the Girls Team.

The event includes food, raffles, and definitely fun. If you have questions regarding this entertaining event, please contact Mary Humphrey at 435-8142.