Calls to ‘Break up the Yankees’ have resounded through the sporting world at various times. Form 1936-43 the Bronx Bombers won the World Series six times in eight years. Again from 1947-58 the Yankees won eight titles in 12 years. Due to their huge payroll and seemingly disproportionate talent level in relation to their peers, serious fans of the game wanted the Yankees talent dispersed throughout baseball.

Similar cries may be forthcoming for the Coronado High School Girls Softball Team, as they now top the Central League standings with an overall record of 12-3 and are 10-1 in league play. Last week the Islanders earned a 4-0 win over Madison to start their week and followed that effort with a 15-3 win over Kearny. The Islanders hold a one game lead over Madison and Our Lady of Peace with three Central League games remaining.

Like the Yankees of yore, the Islanders have a deep farm system, as the JV squad has lost only one game all season, and like their varsity counterparts, are in first place in the Central League. “That’s a credit to all of the girls in the entire program,” said Head Coach Tony Isabella.

As in baseball, pitching is a large part of the equation for a winning team. Against Madison, Bree Feist hurled a four-hitter, striking out seven War Hawk hitters. “Bree kept their hitters off balance,” Isabella said. “That was the key to the game. She didn’t allow any of their base runners past second base.”

The hitting stars were many, including Feist’s battery mate Olivia Nebo who was 2-3 at the plate. Anik Ribera was 3-3 with two RBIs and Rachel Bible was 1-3 with two RBIs and contributed five putouts defensively at second base.

As you could tell from the Kearny score, Thursday’s road game was easier, especially since Coronado scored eight runs in the first inning. The Islanders added four runs in the seventh and sprinkled a few around in the middle innings to earn the one-sided victory.

Against the Komets, Kayla Englehart was the winning pitcher and she had considerable offensive support from Feist, who was 4-5 with a triple and three singles. Nebo added a double and a triple in five plate appearances. Alanna Pompa was 2-3 with two RBIs, while Bible and Ribera were both 2-2.

If you are paying attention, you will note that Ribera was a perfect 5-5 at the plate for the week. Ribera, a junior, will return next year and according to Isabella, “She has been hitting the ball consistently well all year.”

Another solid contribution came from sophomore Jody Adair in the Kearny game. Adair played right field, left field and shortstop in the contest, which Isabella considered to be a plus. “That shows her versatility and how valuable she is to the team.”

Coronado’s Central League schedule continues this week as they host Crawford Tuesday and then travel Thursday to Lincoln. The following Tuesday, May 18 will be Senior Day when the Islanders host San Diego High School. The last two times the teams tangled, Coronado had to stage a comeback to win narrowly by the score of 10-9.

Girls Lacrosse Runs Record to 14-2 with Win over Serra

As much as (third person alert) Your Natterer would like to assemble a scintillating report for the CHS Girls Lacrosse Team, this probably isn’t the week, as the Islanders had only one game and dominated Serra 15-3. Basically Coronado went on the road and they pulled off a Julius Caesar, “I came, I saw, I conquered.”

Three Islanders had three goals each and they included Coco O’Brien, Lauren Maack and Kaitlyn Couture. Other goal scorers included Anna Turpit, Cory De Marco and Caroline Carlson.

Currently 14-2 and ranked No. 6 in the state by Westsidelax.com, the Islanders trail only No. 4 Torrey Pines among teams in the San Diego Section and are just ahead of No. 9 La Costa Canyon. So from the ‘Department of Sports Writing Foreshadowing’ you have probably figured out that LCC is on this week’s schedule.

From a comparatively light schedule last week, the Islanders are faced with three tough contests this week. Tuesday Coronado hosts Santa Fe Christian at 4:45 pm. Thursday the aforementioned Mavericks come to town for a 7 pm game. Friday Coronado travels to La Jolla for a 6 pm start. Don’t dismiss SFC, a team relatively new on the girls’ lax scene, which lost to Torrey Pines by only one goal earlier this year. “We’re not taking them lightly at all,” said Islander Head Coach Jessica Battle.  

CHS Boys Volleyball Earns CIF Division IV Playoff Berth

Last week the Islander Boys Volleyball Team lost a match in three close games to eventual Central League champion Hoover by the scores of 25-23, 25-21, and 25-22. Or as Head Coach Steve Merrill said of the close scores, “We’d go out ahead and then hit five into the net and a couple out of bounds.”

The previous week Coronado defeated Madison and then Crawford in a five-set match. Merrill discussed some of the contributors to his team’s recent good play. “Will Cumming was hitting well on the outside and blocked several balls. Libero Nick De Marco played well, and David Rodriguez hit some balls well. Kevin Clay was large in the middle as a middle blocker.”

Coronado completed the regular season with a mark of 15-8 and a third place finish behind Hoover and Clairemont in the Central League. All of that was sufficient for Coronado to earn a home game in the Division IV CIF Playoffs Tuesday night, when they host Escondido Adventist

for a 7 pm game. The Islanders are seeded seventh in Division IV.

“There’s a lot of parity in the division this year,” said Merrill. “We have a pretty solid squad.”

Islander Track and Field Squad Faces Madison

Islander Head Track Coach George Green discusses his team’s meet last week and the virtues of knowing the size of your track facility. “In their last dual track meet of the season against Madison, we split with the girls winning by the score of 94-36 and the boys losing by the score of 101-20.

The lopsided scores on both sides were expected because the Madison boys' team swept the league this year and for some reason they just don't seem to get their girls out for track.  Most of the times were a bit off because Madison has an old quarter-mile dirt track with as much grass in the lanes as dirt. When I asked their coach if their track was a quarter mile (1,609.3 meters) or 1600-meter track he said he was pretty sure it was 1,600.

Once back home, however, a quick check with the Google Earth measuring tool confirmed my suspicion about the length so I'm guessing that all the races were a little longer then usually run (e.g. 110, 220, 330, 440 yards instead of 100, 200, 300, 400 meters, etc.). 

Many of our athletes had never run on one of these older tracks and I feel it was a great honor that we were the last team to compete on this historic facility because next season the War Hawks will have a brand-new all-weather 400-meter track complete with the add-on fake grass field option (their track coach also happens to be the football coach and athletic director).  Everyone who ran probably set personal records, because I don't think anyone has run English distances before. Even so there were some pretty good times even had they been at the equivalent metric distances. Samantha Kirk won the 110 in 13.9 with Lauren Bower clocking 14.3 in third. Sadie Gimber took the 440 (quarter mile) in 62.6, with Elise Umansky second in 66 flat.

Maddy Danielson won the 110 hurdles in 17.6 over old wooden hurdles that I still have splinters in my hand from moving around. She came back in the 330 hurdles with a fine time of 49.6. Even distance runner Meg Sweeney got into the act running in that event by placing second in 57.9. 

In the girls' field events Briana Giorgione won the pole vault with an effort of 9 feet, 6 inches. Alexandra Evans, vaulting for the first time in a meet, placed second at 8 feet. Giorgione also place second in the high jump which was won by Brittany Hallawell. Evans also won the shot put, placed second in the discus throw and fourth in long jump. We would have had her run something as well, but you can only do four events per meet. Cassie Callahan was nursing a sore knee after winning the long jump and placing second in the 110 hurdles, so we kept her out of the rest of her usual events, the 330 hurdles and triple jump.

For the boys, their best performance was Aryan Shay's half-mile (880 yards) time of 2:04.9. In the boys' field events Will Bartsch won the pole vault with a jump of 11 feet 6 inches, with Jack Gold second at 9-6 and Carlos Montes third. Andrew Smith took the long jump, placed second in the 220 and third in the 110.  This is league championship week with the Central League Prelims on Tuesday at Lincoln and the City Finals on Friday at Cathedral Catholic.”

CHS Swim Team Report

Dave Throop, CHS Boys and Girls Swim Team head coach checks in with a report from his squads. “With the conclusion of the regular, dual-meet season, the Boys have posted some outstanding times thus far.  

In Friday's dual meet the trend continued with Brennan Casey swimming a 1:52.30 in the 200 freestyle, where he was paced by teammate Lex Aponte in 1:54.37.  Josh Williams swam an aggressive first half of the 200 individual medley and held on for a 2:16.01.  John Hill swam a good 1:03.8 in the 100 fly, close to his season best time.  In the 100 breast, Garrett Sabesky swam a very good 1:03.69, a season best as well.  

We are looking forward to hosting the City Conference Championship meet at the BBMAC, along with having a chance to compete and swim fast.  I believe we should be able to challenge for a conference title, with Scripps and La Jolla being the two schools standing in our way.  Our goal is to race fast, and strive for best times knowing that if we remain focused on that end, the rest will take care of itself.  

On the Girls side, we've had the chance to swim La Jolla in the early part of the dual meet season and concluded with Cathedral and Bishop’s at the end of the year.  We've moved a lot of girls around with the hope of finding the best lineup for Conference Championships and have had some good races during the process.  

In the dual meet with Bishop's Kelly Ronimus swam a season and personal best 2:18.24 in the 200 IM, while Hannah Green swam a 2:26.36 in the same event.  Maddie Murphy swam a 25.88 in the 50 free and Ashley Young swam a 1:01.18 in the 100 fly.  Considering that Kelly and Ashley were swimming off events and don't train for those races, the results were very good.  Cathy White swam a personal best 1:07.8 in the 100 backstroke.

As with the boys’ side, the girls are looking forward to the City Conference Championship, which is a focus of our season. We build toward the last couple weeks of the season to swim our best.  The training has been done and to quote the renowned late Lakers’ announcer Chick Hearn ‘the Jell-O’s in the fridge jiggling.  We are prepared to swim fast and now just need to focus on our individual races. Team placement will take care of itself.”  

CHS Boys Baseball Splits Pair with Mission Bay

Perhaps the best individual performance of last week was turned in by sophomore southpaw Jake Meloche Friday afternoon when the Islanders shutout Mission Bay 1-0. Meloche scattered four hits, walked one and struck out seven Buccaneer batters on his way to the complete game shutout.

“That’s what it takes for us to win,” said Islander Head Coach Sam Ceci. “Someone to take control of the game. Jake did very well. He had very good command of his pitches. His curveball was better than usual and he threw it at will. He worked ahead in the count and that makes a significant difference. They had guys at third base maybe twice in the game. In both cases he got a groundball or struck out a guy. With his command as good as it was, we didn’t feel that threatened.”

Offensively the Islanders pushed across the lone run they needed on a single from Garrett Smerdon, followed by a single from Tyler Brownell. Smerdon was running on the hit-and-run and hustled to third with one out. Ceci then decided to run a squeeze play, but instead the Bucs pitcher tried to pick Brownell off of first base. “I yelled at Garrett to go,” recounted Ceci. “Their first baseman threw home and Garrett made a fabulous slide to the outside of the plate and reached back to touch the plate. The throw beat him to the plate and the umpire could easily have called him out. We caught a break for a change. A couple of things worked for us, not that we didn’t deserve some of them.”If you’re scoring along with us, credit Smerdon with a steal of home.

The 1-0 win by Coronado helped avenge a 10-2 road loss to Mission Bay earlier in the week. Ryan Shepard and Andrew Toomey both had two hits, which together accounted for 80 per cent of the Islanders’ hit total. Shepard and Toomey also shared the team’s two RBIs. Starting pitcher Austin Denson gave up one earned run in four innings pitched, but was tagged with the loss.

This week the Islanders play a home-and-home series with Western League leading Cathedral Catholic. Wednesday the Islanders are at home and Friday they take to the road. Both games start at 3 pm.

With the season winding down, Ceci handicapped the Division IV Playoffs. “The division is much more competitive than it has ever been. There are seven or eight teams capable of winning it, when in past years only the top four teams could win. We probably won’t have any home games and we could be the team that goes to the Imperial Valley. But, if we’re playing well, anything can happen.”

CHS Boys Golf Team Earns Playoff Slot

Prep sports playoffs apparently aren’t an exact science. Take the CHS Boys Golf Team’s playoff odyssey as an example. When CHS Head Coach Randy Coutts and I spoke by phone Sunday evening, it sounded like the Islanders weren’t going to qualify for the CIF Division III Team Golf Playoffs. A team from one of the Desert Leagues claimed a league title, thus giving them an automatic playoff slot, despite never having posted any match scores this season.

Apparently the CIF considered that to be a tad suspicious and the Islanders made the playoffs against Santa Fe Christian. The two teams will play a first round match Wednesday at Morgan Run.

Last week the entire seven-man Coronado squad teed it up in the City Conference Tournament. Two players Brian Turley and Jordan Oval emerged from two days of stroke play and made it into the match play portion of the event. By achieving that distinction, Turley a sophomore and Oval a freshman, both earned All-Harbor League First Team honors. Alex Valle was named to the Harbor League Second Team. Jake Schwartz lost out in a four-way playoff to make it to the match play tournament.

Turley and Oval qualified to play on the South Course at Torrey Pines, which Coutts said was “in as good shape as I’ve ever seen it.” Jordan was one of only two freshmen in the match play event. Turley, who shot a 37 on the front nine, lost 2 and 1. “Brian had never played the back nine holes of Torrey South before,” said Coutts. “He lost on the 17th hole to a kid ranked fifth in the conference. Everybody played well and had a good time.”

The CIF Individual play tourney (confused yet?) is next week and Coutts hopes that Turley, Oval, Schwartz and Valle all qualify for the event. By stroke average, Oval is on the bubble for qualifying. The final decision on who makes next week’s event will come Thursday.

CHS Boys Tennis Qualifies for CIF Playoffs

If the CIF Golf Playoff format didn’t confuse you, then just wait for the CIF Tennis Playoffs. Last week the Islanders lost to perennial tennis power La Jolla 13-5, despite some very good efforts from singles stalwarts Greg Lyon and Sean Lee. Lyon won two sets by the scores of 6-0 and 6-3, while Lee won his two sets by the scores of 6-2 and 6-1. The Islander doubles team of Brad Matheus/Grey Halpin won a 6-3 set to account for the five total sets won by Coronado.

Lee a sophomore and Lyon a freshman have contrasting playing styles. Lee, is a banger and seems to feed on pace from the opposing player. Lee will come to net and plays serve and volley tennis. Lyon punishes the ball only when there is an obvious opening, and is normally content to slice and dice the opposition from the base line.

Earlier in the week, Coronado lost to Cathedral Catholic 12-6. Since Cathedral and La Jolla are the two best teams in the very tough Western League, there is certainly no head hanging required for those results.

So, it’s on to the playoffs and according to Head Coach Leslie Koshland, the Islanders are off to the desert Tuesday, where they will play Central High School of El Centro. CIF policy requires that league champions host first round playoff events, so despite a good record and being competitive in the tough Western League, the Islanders are forced to hit the road. If Coronado defeats Central High, the Islanders return to San Diego and face La Jolla, the No. 1 seed in Division III. That would be the third meeting between the two schools this year.

The CIF Team event is followed by the Western League individual playoffs, and then the CIF individuals. The Islanders are likely to see a lot more of the Vikings at those events also.