Marina’s Periolat to Sign With Cal State Long Beach

Marina High’s Aimee Periolat announced that she will sign a letter of intent Wednesday to play basketball at Cal State Long Beach.

Periolat, a 5-foot-7 guard, averaged 11.5 points and 5.0 rebounds for fifth-ranked Marina (22-5), which reached the Southern Section Division I-A semifinals. She was an all-Sunset League selection this year.

Wednesday is the first day of the late signing period.

“I’ve been going to their camp since I was young, so I know their coaches, I know the area and the campus, but I just wasn’t sure how I would fit in socially,” Periolat said. “On my visit (in early March), I felt I fit in.”

She also had considered Cal State Dominguez Hills, Cal State Fullerton, University of San Diego and several local Division II schools.

Dana Hills’ Adara Newidouski, who made an oral commitment this year, will also sign with Cal State Long Beach on Wednesday. Newidouski, a 5-10 forward, averaged 16.1 points and 9.1 rebounds, and was a first-team member of The Times’ all-county team.

No. 10 El Toro may not have had the most productive week in the world during the Woodbridge Warrior Classic softball tournament, but the Chargers certainly gained some experience.

El Toro was without three starters and another player who’s battling for a starting spot when it played La Habra in the semifinal. The Chargers’ depth was reduced severely because of two broken fingers (Alicia Groshon, Samantha Smithson), a torn quadricep (Tricia Bulkeley) and a club soccer tournament in Texas (Traci Jensen).

“We’re not playing with the full deck that I would like to have to play a team of this caliber,” Coach Jim Daugherty said before his team’s 2-0 loss to La Habra, which eventually finished second. “We’ll just play our best and learn something from competing against a great pitcher (Danielle Ortega).”

El Toro even out-hit No. 5 La Habra, 6-2.

Three times, El Toro got runners to third, but on each occasion, Ortega responded with a strikeout.

“I’m good with people on base,” Ortega said. “I just seem to do better in pressure situations. I seem to throw a little bit harder. That’s always been the case. When I was younger, my teammates would make errors and I had to do better.”

El Toro also got used to extra-inning affairs. The next day, the Chargers lost in 10 innings to Cerritos in the third-place game. Tied, 0-0, through nine, the teams went to the international tiebreaker in the 10th, putting a runner at second to begin the inning. It was then that El Toro pitcher Misty Lauby allowed her only two hits of the game, and Cerritos won, 2-1.

On the first day of the tournament, El Toro and Foothill played one of the best games of the year. It was tied, 0-0, through nine, and the teams went to the tiebreaker. The final was 5-4 in 15 innings.

Capistrano Valley has had its share of ups and downs in softball this season. The Cougars lost their first four games and six of their first seven. But Coach Ron Willms stood by his team and said it would be good. When it opens South Coast League play Tuesday, it will be riding a five-game winning streak and coming off an upset of Loara.

“Now that we’ve beaten a good team, our confidence is coming up,” Willms said. “They just believe in themselves more and more.

“I think some of our losses speak louder than some of our wins.”

Among those losses were nine-inning, 1-0 losses to Fountain Valley and Rancho Alamitos.

Who needs scouting reports? Not Irvine’s softball team.

According to Annette Smith, the Vaqueros’ catcher, Woodbridge’s batters have trouble with the rising fastball.

And that played right into the strength of Smith’s battery mate, Rebecca Smith, whose strongest pitches are the rising fastball and the change-up.

And in Irvine’s 1-0 victory over Woodbridge last week, you know what the Smith battery did--they went upstairs, right?

Wrong. They went down and out.

“Every single girl knows me inside and out,” Rebecca Smith said. “I kept it low and away because they weren’t expecting it.”

Annette Smith explained the strategy: “We just did what other teams hadn’t done.”

Dana Hills’ junior varsity softball team understands promptness. The Dolphins were the first team to show up for the Warrior Classic on last Saturday morning--and their first game was scheduled for Monday.