Softball Preview: Talented returners fuel hope
While league championships and postseason triumphs were hard to come by a season ago, individual talent was in abundance across the local softball diamond.
That hasn’t changed as the likes of Crescenta Valley’s Jessica Yzaguirre and Alyssa Hernandez, Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy’s Amanda Ramirez, Flintridge Prep’s Natalie Dale are all slated to return as the season beckons.
Of course, leading the way is Glendale’s Sammy Fabian, who enters the campaign as a preseason Maxpreps All-American.
While the fleet-footed and ultra-talented Nitro leads a talented crop, it remains to be scene just how much team success will be found as the 2017 gets underway.
Glendale posted a 17-6 record last season, tied for second in the Pacific League (its best league finish since the league went to its current eight-team format) and advanced to the CIF Southern Section Division III playoffs for the second time in three seasons, where it lost in the first round to Summit, 4-1. But much has changed, as four-year starters Jordan Lousararian and Alex Howard have moved on and so too has coach Greg Martin.
Chris Funaro has stepped in to take the Nitros reins for a team that will be highlighted by Fabian playing her senior season, as the leadoff hitter and center fielder has garnered All-Area, All-Pacific League, All-CIF and Cal-Hi Sports All-State honors on multiple occasions during a sensational tenure that grabbed grand acclaim when Fabian began her Nitros career with a 61-game hitting streak.
“It’s actually been a great, smooth transition,” Funaro said. “It’s been very good. They all know me already, so it’s not like somebody new to the program was coming in.
“It’s tough for us to fill Jordan and Alex’s spots, but hopefully we can.”
But there’s one last season with Fabian, whose junior season saw her tally a .656 (42 for 64) batting average with 17 extra-base hits, 40 runs, 22 runs batted in, 18 stolen bases and has hit safely in 64 of her 65 games as a Nitro.
Along with returning starter Tiffany Bartamian, a catcher/first baseman who will hit in the No. 3 spot with Fabian leading off, Fabian will be looked on to lead Glendale.
“We’re led by our two captains,” Funaro said. “We’re gonna go as they go.”
Another returning All-Area player is junior second baseman Esme Piedra (.441 average, 17 runs, 22 RBI), while sophomore Aurora Funaro will take over the pitching duties after a notable freshman season in relief of Lousararian. Junior right fielder Amanda Gonzalez is another returning starter that looks to be a key contributor.
“Our biggest goal is we want to place in the top four in league and make another CIF appearance,” coach Funaro said.
Chris Funaro, like many, believes defending champion Burroughs, which advanced to the D-III semifinals last season and returns All-Area Softball Player of the Year Presley Miraglia, is the favorite in the Pacific League.
That suits Crescenta Valley Coach Amanda Peek just fine.
“We’re fine with being the underdogs,” said Peek, who piloted Crescenta Valley to a 15-12 record, a tie for second in league and an appearance in the wild-card round of the playoffs last season. “I like what we have and I’m confident with what we have. Our girls are buying in.
Catcher Sydnee Wells, who had a whopping 54 runs batted in last season, has graduated, but the Falcons have a slew of returners. Though the team is very young with just two seniors, there’s a wealth of experience, which bodes well not only for 2017, but the upcoming years in Peek’s eyes.
“We’re past the rebuilding phase, we’re confident with our girls,” Peek said. “Our underclassmen have become leaders and they’re setting the groundwork for the girls coming up. We’re bringing back the mentality of leadership and team chemistry.”
Leading the way are likely to be All-Area returners Yzaguirre (.500 average, 35 runs, 14 stolen bases), a senior center fielder, and Hernandez (.519 average, 20 doubles, 25 RBI), a sophomore shortstop.
Sophomore second baseman Peyton Hause and junior pitcher Emily Mulcahey will also be part of a core group of Falcons looking to set a winning tone.
Over at Flintridge Sacred Heart, the Tologs (16-8-1) picked up a Division V wild-card win before a first-round loss to end a season in which it took third in the Sunshine League. But in 2017, the Tologs will return to the Mission League along with Louisville.
“We’re back in the Mission League, so, to be honest, [the goal is] just to compete,” Tologs Coach Kirk Nishiyama said.
While the Tologs are looking to compete, expectations are higher for returning All-Area sophomore shortstop Amanda Ramirez (.523 average, 32 RBI, 34 runs), who is back to lead a lineup that will feature junior captain Alli Lombardo, a pitcher and second baseman, senior captain Bridget Garrity, a third baseman, junior outfielder Payton Tomkins and junior pitcher Courtney Rasic.
While Nishiyama has a talented group of returners back, practicing has been a huge problem up on the hill at Flintridge Sacred Heart where the end of the rains doesn’t translate into a dry field until days have passed.
“If we go live, our outfielders are slipping all over,” Nishiyama said. “We’re doing the best we can.”
And even with a tougher schedule in league, Nishiyama has hopes that the Tologs’ best can get them back to the postseason.
“If we can be at .500 or a little better and try to sneak in the playoffs,” he said, “then that would be the ultimate goal.”
After a long absence from the playoffs, Flintridge Prep has made the postseason two straight years, with coach Julie Mejia’s squad posting a 14-6 record that included a Division VI first-round win over Boron before a second-round loss to eventual runner-up Savanna.
The Rebels tied for second in the Prep League behind champion Chadwick, a team that Mejia believes is the favorite to win league again.
Two-time All-Area standout Dale (.560 average, 30 RBI, 21 runs and 13 stolen bases), a junior, should be back at shortstop to lead the Rebels, but numbers could be a problem as only 12 or 13 players are likely to be on the team in comparison to 17 last season.
“I’m confident in our core, we do have a strong returning core,” Mejia said. “We’d like to get back to the playoffs and finish top three in league. I think that’s realistic.
“Just to have a positive season on and off the field. We do have a great crop of seniors and I’d like to send them off on a positive note.”
Sophomore first baseman Libby Penn and sophomore outfielder Melissa Grande will play vital roles, but the core group of seniors Mejia mentioned includes second baseman Maia Cohen, third baseman Maya Vasquez and pitcher Therese Oshiro, who’s been a constant for the Rebels in the circle and a key contributor at the plate.
“She’s always been very consistent,” Mejia said of Oshiro, a reigning All-Area pick. “We know we can always count on her.”
Hoover’s roster size is also problematic as Rich Henning prepares his Tornadoes for the season with just 10 players to fill out his lineup.
“We’re trying to compete as best as we can,” Henning said. “I think if we can get some solid pitching from Evelyn Unger and Leslie Franco and get some decent defense and some hits, I think we can compete.”
Seniors Franco and Unger are likely to be catalysts for any Hoover success as the team is coming off a 6-15 season and a seventh-place finish in the Pacific League.
While every Tornado will need to contribute, senior outfielder Ivonne Torres, senior catcher Kiki Gardea and junior utility Olivia Jukes should lead the way in the field and at the plate.
“My starting lineup, they seem to be solid so far. Everybody’s working really, really hard, just trying to develop their continuity.”
Over at Holy Family, longtime coach Greg Ziomek’s Gaels are coming off a 3-11-1 season in which they struggled to a fifth-place finish in the Horizon League.
Holy Family is looking to move up with junior center fielder Rebecca Meza and senior catcher Miranda Pereza likely leading the way.
“Goal for the team is to make the playoffs, even as the third place team,” said Ziomek, who also has high hopes for junior newcomers Melanie Ibarra and Jade Ochoa.
But the key to the team is likely to be returning pitcher Jocelyn Flores, a junior.
“The wild card is our pitching,” Ziomek said. “Jocelyn has a lot on her shoulders. We go as she goes, but with a year under her belt, I’m expecting improvement.”
St. Monica Academy, which advanced to the Division VII second round last season, had All-Area pitcher Yamila Evans set to return.
However, Evans was one of a few transfers out of the program and, according to athletic director Darren Bradley, only a handful of players came out for softball, while many more were interested in the start of a new lacrosse program. Thus, Crusaders girls’ lacrosse will debut and the softball program has ceased.
