Sammy strong for Sailors
Sonya del Toro rarely misses a softball game of her only child. Newport Harbor High junior Sammy del Toro has been a big part of the program for three years now.
But a physical change could be seen last year when Sonya and her husband, Kevin, went to cheer on Sammy.
Sonya was losing her hair. She was undergoing chemotherapy after she was diagnosed with breast cancer in January, 2015.
In the Sunset League, Newport Harbor softball usually has games on Tuesdays and Thursdays. For four months, Wednesdays would be the days that Sonya would go to Hoag Hospital with a family member for her chemotherapy treatment.
The Sailors had a tough season last year, finishing 2-23 and 0-10 in league. In terms of togetherness, though, the team earned winning marks. Sammy has been playing softball with Harbor teammates like Diana Surber, Kendall Machado, Skialer Carter, Haley Martinez and Ashley McInerney for years. They were coached on a Newport-Mesa Softball team by Kevin del Toro and Kendall’s dad, Chad Machado.
“They’re like family,” Sammy del Toro said. “We’ve known each other for so long. We hang out with each other at Christmas, every holiday pretty much. Everyone would always be texting my mom when she had her chemo, ‘How are you doing? How are you feeling?’ There was a lot of support throughout it, so that was good.”
The issue is a personal one for Newport Harbor Coach Mike Hunter, who said he lost his mother to cancer when he was 15 years old. He is proud of the way the Sailors responded to their own type of family emergency.
When Sonya walked in the annual Race For the Cure around Fashion Island last September, some of the Sailors walked with her. And after Sonya underwent radiation in the fall, she was told in November that her cancer was in remission.
“Our whole family went to Nashville and celebrated over Thanksgiving,” Sonya del Toro said. “That was fun. I always wanted to go to Nashville.”
Sonya feels good and has been able to go to Sammy’s games this year as well. The change this season is that the Sailors are winning, and Sammy, the Daily Pilot Athlete of the Week, is right in the middle of it. She is keeping hitters off-balance with her arsenal of pitches that includes the curveball, drop ball, screwball, rise ball and changeup
The Sailors are 6-2, and del Toro has all six wins in the circle. She had a 1.14 earned-run average after Tuesday’s comeback 7-3 win at Estancia, with 32 strikeouts in 43 innings. She has also done well on offense, with a .318 batting average and seven runs batted in, a total that’s second only to McInerney’s 12 RBIs.
“She’s always been one of those standout kids in the community through rec-ball, going into travel, and here she is in high school leading the way again,” Hunter said. “I feel blessed to have a kid that good … pitching’s king. When you’ve got a kid like that in the circle, it’s pretty special.”
As a freshman and sophomore, del Toro shared pitching duties with Martinez. But Martinez, a co-captain along with Machado, graciously moved to center field this year to fill the shoes of graduate Shea Horvath.
“I played first base a lot, and she played outfield if I was pitching,” Sammy del Toro said. “I’d say we’re pretty equal in pitching, but we need an outfielder so she fits better there. I think I get a little bit more pitching time because I’m on travel-ball, but she’s still really good. It just all works out.”
That’s not the only change for the Sailors. McInerney moved from third to first base, and first-time catcher Lesly De La Rosa is behind the dish. Newport also has a standout freshman, Leah Freeman, who bats leadoff. But it all seems to be working for Newport Harbor, which has already has it’s best win total since the 2012 season, when two-time Newport-Mesa Player of the Year Hattie Marshall pitched for the Sailors.
“I don’t know what’s going on, but it’s working,” Sammy del Toro said. “I think it’s just because we’ve gotten so much closer. I mean, we were close with the previous teams, but something’s different. We did mature, and I think Leah helps us ... Everyone’s doing whatever they can. We all work together and do what we’re told, and it’s all working out.”
Del Toro, who plays travel-ball on the OC Athletics with Sailors teammates Surber and Machado, is excited for the rest of the season. The Sailors play CdM in the Battle of the Bay game on March 31 and want to avenge last year’s extra-inning loss.
League play has proved challenging to say the least, with Newport Harbor amassing a 1-79 record since 2008. Last year, the Sailors lost every league game via mercy rule.
This season, though, they want to end their current 28-game losing streak in league. Whatever happens, they will compete as a family. And if they need inspiration, they know that Sonya will likely be in the stands.
“I’m really proud of her,” Sammy del Toro said. “I mean, I know she’s strong, but I didn’t know she could be this strong. She wanted to show cancer that she could beat it. She always worries and stresses out and gets scared of things, but this didn’t stop her at all.”
Early in the season, seemingly nothing can stop the Sailors, and one of their biggest fans is all smiles.
“I love it,” Sonya del Toro said. “I think it’s great. [Sammy’s] done so much.
“It feels good to win,” she added, knowing that to be true.
Twitter: @mjszabo*
Sammy del Toro
Born: July 13, 1999
Hometown: Newport Beach
Height: 5-foot-7
Sport: Softball
Year: Junior
Coach: Mike Hunter
Favorite food: Tacos
Favorite movie: “Footloose”
Favorite athletic moment: Helping her all-star team finish fourth at ASA Western Nationals in Oregon in 2014.
Week in review: Del Toro, a pitcher, led the Sailors to complete-game wins over Calvary Chapel on March 8 (9-0) and Western on March 10 (6-4). At the plate, she was two for three with a double and three RBIs against Calvary Chapel, and one for four with an RBI against Western.
