Softball: Southern Section all-star teams look good
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LA84 announced its all-star team for the top two divisions of the Southern Section, and it’s not a bad looking squad.
Jessica Spigner was selected player of the year for Division I, and outfielders Jamia Reid of La Palma Kennedy and Andrea Harrison of Garden Grove Pacifica were co-players of the year in Division II.
Spigner is an obvious choice, which you can read about here. As for Reid and Harrison, I think they are excellent choices too, even though both their teams were beaten in the semifinals. Leadoff batter Reid batted .432 and scored 28 runs and had 14 RBIs. Harrison, named the OC player of the year by the Register, batted .397 with 35 runs and 44 RBIs. She was named the Register’s player of the year.
This was a down year for pitching in the Southland, and no marquee pitcher took her team to the championship. It’s a pitcher’s game, but this year it was the position players who stood out.
Spigner, herself, was not a pitcher in the same way that we think of Kamerin May, Teagan Gerhart or Destiny Rodino. When I asked her after pitching Valencia to a 3-0 victory over Simi Valley in the Division I title game if she was a pitcher or a third baseman, she answered, ‘I’m a third baseman.’ She just happened to pitch.
Can’t argue much with the selection of Valencia Coach Donna Lee or Glendora Coach Reese Mitchell as the outstanding coaches of the year in those two divisions, either. Lee had the talent, but few would have said that Valencia was going to be Division I champion at the beginning of the season. She did an outstanding job of preparing the team for the stretch run. Same with Mitchell at Glendora, which came out of the blue to finish runner-up to El Modena in Division II. Trabuco Hills Coach Erin Webber would also have been a good choice in Division I for a team that showed a lot of improvement over the course of the season in D1. Webber was named the Register’s coach of the year on Tuesday.
As of Tuesday, all seven teams were not gathered together on one website, nor have I received the five lower divisions. But I’ll try to provide the teams for you, just the same:
Download la84_softball_divison_i.doc
Download la84_softball_division_ii.doc
-- Martin Henderson