By the time the weekend concluded, only the Islander Baseball Team was still competing in CIF post-season play. Part of that equation is that baseball traditionally begins their playoffs last among the spring sports teams, and part is that the format is double-elimination, after the first round of play-in games is completed.  

But the more significant element is that Coronado (12-19) picked post-season play to embark on a three-game winning streak, their longest of the season.

The question has been asked, ‘How did Coronado make the playoffs with a losing record?’ The answer lies in the Islanders strength of schedule, which probably along with Mater Dei’s list of opponents, are the toughest in Division IV. Considering the Islanders play in two very competitive tournaments at the outset of the season and then graduate into the Western League for their conference schedule, their overall competition level is brutal.  

In the Division IV playoff bracket of 16 teams, the Islanders were seeded No. 7, which means that they didn’t exactly back into the post season. Earning the No. 7 seed allowed Coronado to host their play-in game against the No. 9 seeded Horizon Panthers.

A unique game in many respects, the Islanders struggled at the plate, at one point scoring four runs on a total of two hits. Another interesting statistic is that Coronado stole 13 bases in the game, without getting caught, including a highly improbable steal of home by senior first baseman Hunter Ralph, but more on that later.

Another example that it was clearly Coronado’s week is that the Islander’s first run was scored by Austin Denson. The sophomore reached base on an error by the shortstop, stole second, stole third and then scored on a wild pitch. In the third inning, pinch hitter Collin Clark reached on an error by the Panther third baseman, stole second and scored on an RBI single from Ryan Kenney.

In the meantime, the Panthers didn’t look like the 1927 Yankees either, as Coronado’s Steve Preciado was hurling a no-hitter through four innings. Horizon countered in the fifth as they scored four runs on four hits to take a 4-2 lead. Denson came in to pitch and earned the final out of the inning and then proceeded to close out the game and earn the victory.

In the bottom of the fifth, Coronado scrapped their way to two runs to tie the game. Denson led off the inning with a walk, stole second, stole third and scored on a passed ball. Ralph struck out, but reached first on a passed ball, the same one that scored Denson. Ralph stole second, reached third on a passed ball, and stole home. The play looked like a suicide squeeze effort, but Ralph charging hard from the beginning of the pitcher’s windup, slid across the plate before the catcher could apply the tag.

Horizon scored a run in the top of the seventh on a double and a single on back-to-back plate appearances and things looked grim heading into the bottom of the frame for Coronado. Then Denson singled to lead off the inning, Tyler Brownell hit an opposite field double to score Denson and Kyle Teachout followed with a long, game-winning single that drove in Brownell.

Meanwhile, Santa Fe Christian, the No. 2 seed and the top team in Coronado’s half of the bracket, lost their play-in game to Calvary Christian. This meant that No. 15 seeded Calvary Christian was next in line for the Islanders, also at home. Coronado sent Calvary Christian to the loser’s bracket with a 5-0 win, behind a four-hit, complete game shutout effort from Toby Talampas.

Preciado playing right field in this game was the only Islander with two hits and he scored one run. Others scoring runs were Teachout, Patrick Toomey and Leo Legidakes.

Coronado’s third game of the week came Friday at No. 3 seed Mater Dei Catholic’s home field. This one was routine early as sophomore staff ace Jake Meloche pitched six shutout innings before the Crusaders rallied. Coronado held a 7-0 lead at this point, with the final three runs coming on a three-run homer from Ryan Shepard. However Mater Dei sent seven hitters to the plate before an out was recorded in the seventh. The now-ubiquitous Preciado came on to try to extinguish the rally.

“Preciado got a fly out, a pop out and struck out the last guy to preserve the victory,” said Head Coach Sam Ceci. “They didn’t go down easily. Preciado getting the final three outs while facing the potential winning run was huge.” The Islanders emerged with a 7-5 victory. Mater Dei was then forced to come from behind and defeat La Jolla Country Day in a nine-inning loser’s bracket game Saturday.

The Islanders now have two opportunities to reach the CIF Division IV Finals, but that won’t be easy, according to Ceci. “Mater Dei is capable of beating us or anyone else. They don’t give up. The stars aligned for us last week and we played pretty inspired baseball. We played real well at Mater Dei.”

If they can defeat Mater Dei either Tuesday or Thursday (first pitch at 3:30 pm Tuesday and Thursday if needed), they will advance to SDSU’s Tony Gwynn Stadium for Saturday’s championship game at 10 am.

Islander Girls Lacrosse Falls One Goal Short of CIF Title

Being the second best team girls’ lacrosse team in San Diego County isn’t a bad thing, but the Islanders Girls Lax squad came close to winning the CIF title Thursday night at Rancho Bernardo High School. Coronado lost their third CIF Final game in six years (2005 and 2008 being the other two) by the score of 9-8.

Earlier in the week, in their semi-final game against Scripps Ranch, the Islanders triumphed over the Falcons for the third time this season, this time by the score of 12-6. Considering that their first two wins were both by a single goal, this represented a fine effort from Coronado. Leading the scoring onslaught for the Islanders was Kaitlyn Couture with four goals, Alex Reidy scored three times and Lauren Maack contributed two goals.

Barreling out of the top portion of the CIF playoff bracket was Torrey Pines, which had defeated the Islanders 13-3 earlier in the season. At that time, several of the Coronado players were making the transition from soccer, and a couple from basketball, with Couture recovering from an injured foot.

But that was then and this was the CIF Finals. However, according to CHS Head Coach Jessica Battle, there may have been some carryover from the first Falcons vs. Islanders game. “In the first 10 minutes of the game, we were just intimidated. With the exception of Kaitlyn, nobody challenged the cage and went to the goal. It was just too little, too late. At that point Torrey Pines had the lead and we just had to battle back.”

At that point of the proceedings, the Falcons lead 3-1, with the lone Islander goal coming from Couture. Less than two minutes later, Couture scored again and five minutes after that, Niki Kruger scored to even things at 3-3.

Then Torrey Pines scored twice, before Coco O’Brien could score on a Michaela Guerrera assist. With under two minutes remaining in the half, Torrey Pines scored twice more to take a 7-4 lead into the intermission.

Two and one-half minutes into the second half, Lauren Maack scored for the Islanders, which was followed a few minutes later by a Falcon goal to make the score 8-5. Then Coronado had a five-minute run where they completely dominated the game. Guerrera scored off of a rebound of a missed shot; Anna Turpit scored on an assist from Couture; and Reidy scored an unassisted goal to even the score 8-8 with 4:06 left.

A lot of frantic back and forth action ensued before Falcon Katie Trees scored her fourth goal of the game with 1:50 remaining to make the score 9-8 and clinch the title for Torrey Pines.

“My team played well,” Battle said. “We were just a little unlucky. We hit the pipes three times, with Michaela, Kaitlyn and Alex all hitting the goal once. Trees from Torrey Pines is a tough player.”

Despite yielding nine goals, Islander net minder Meganne Weissenfels had a great game according to Battle. “Reidy was back there on defense and played really well and carried the ball forward on offense. Katie, Meganne, Alex and Michaela all played great. I think all the girls played exceptionally well. I thought we had a great season and played incredibly well in the playoffs. I was proud of the team.”

Currently there is a proposal in front of the CIF San Diego Section Board of Managers, which will split the Boys and Girls Lacrosse Playoffs into two divisions starting next season, with the best eight teams in each of the two newly-created divisions qualifying for the playoffs. Football is the only sport in the CIF where smaller teams can ‘play up’ a division if they so choose. The Islander girls’ lax squad would be the prohibitive favorite to capture the Division II crown next season.

CHS Track and Field Team Completes Season in CIF Meet

CHS Head Track and Field Coach George Green supplies our readers with a summary of the final event of the prep track season. “Last Saturday, at the CIF Finals held at Mt. Carmel High School, Islander Pole Vaulter Will Bartsch served notice that he'll be in the hunt for one of the three state meet slots next year while clearing 14 feet and setting a new school record in the process. The previous record was by set by John Bakker in 1994 at 13 feet, nine inches who, in turn, broke a 30-year old record (at the time) by Carl Giesser who vaulted 13-8 in 1964.

When you factor out the handful of seniors in front of Bartsch in the section standings you're left with only four vaulters who cleared 14 feet this year and only two were from Division II. The included senior Jeremy McGraph from La Jolla whose 15' clearance earned him a trip to the state meet and fellow Central League vaulter Brett Huff from Christian, who's also a junior. Will had a couple of very close misses at 14-6, but he had to switch to a 14-foot pole that was a little too soft to give him the pop he needed at the top. 

There are photos of all three athletes on Islandtrack.com in the school records section, including links to some rather historic shots of Giesser jumping in Coronado's old sawdust pit and a streaming video of Bartch's record vault. 

Another Islander to watch next year is junior Aryan Shay who's been setting personal records every week since switching to the 800-meter run about a month ago. His time of 1:58.63 netted him the fifth place Division II medal and the 10th best time in the county out of all runners in a very talented field of half-milers.

The girls racked-up their share of medals as well with five girls scoring enough points to place sixth in the Division II team standings and 15th out of all schools in the county. Maddy Danielson just missed the podium with a seventh place finish in the 100-meter hurdles, but came back in the 300-meter hurdles to place second in a near-photo finish.  Her times of 16.91 for the 100 and 47.22 for the 300 were both personal records.

Adie Davies churned out a time 11:58.88 for the second place spot in the 3,200-meter run. To round out the scoring, Sallie Privett took fourth in the 800, Sadie Gimber took fifth in the 400, and Briana Giorgione took sixth in the pole vault.

Islander Boys Lacrosse Falls in CIF Semi-Finals to Torrey Pines

At the same date and time that the CHS Girls Lax team was in the CIF Finals last Thursday evening against Torrey Pines at Rancho Bernardo, the CHS Boys Lacrosse Team was playing in the CIF Semi-Finals at Torrey Pines. Coronado, the defending CIF champion lost 11-8 to the Falcons.

Earlier in the week, the Islanders pitched a 12-0 shutout against La Jolla Country Day to advance to the semis. The Islander defense was on top of their game as No. 3 Coronado topped No. 6 seed LJCD.

Coronado opened the game with LJCD with Connor Wade in goal, and the Islanders held a 1-0 lead at the end of the first quarter on the strength of a goal by Eddie Vita on an assist from Kodie Englehart. In the second quarter, the paced quickened somewhat as Sergio Flores scored an unassisted goal. His tally was followed 10 minutes later by an acrobatic diving, sweeping shot and goal from Englehart. Coronado led 3-0 at the half.

The Islanders really got down to business in the third quarter as Peter Zeller took over in net for Wade. Vita scored two goals, followed by one from Kyle Runyon and one from Alex Bookout. Then Vita scored his third goal of the quarter with 13 seconds left to allow Coronado to grab an 8-0 lead.

Jacob Lujan opened the fourth quarter with a goal, followed by one from Vita, his fifth goal of the evening. Chris Banks scored the final two goals of the game to make the final 12-0.

Runyon led the scoring attack for Coronado in their Semi-Finals loss to Torrey Pines with three goals. Englehart provided a goal and two assists as Coronado (14-7) fell to the Falcons 11-8.

Islander Boys Swim Team Earns Academic Recognition

The CHS Boys Swim Team has been recognized by the CIF San Diego Section as having the best grade point average in the section for all boys swim teams, with a 3.76 average. In fact, of all the spring sports teams honored, the Islanders had the highest team GPA, just touching out the Girls Lacrosse Team from the Bishop’s School, which posted a 3.72 GPA.

Congratulations also to CHS swimmer Rex Butler for earning recognition in the “San Diego Union-Tribune” last week as one of their six ‘Athletes of the Week.’ Butler won the Division II 50 and 100 yard freestyle events, and swam on the victorious 200 free and 400 free relay teams. The Islander team effort in the 200 free relay set a new San Diego Section mark in the event.