Pearson Not Accustomed to Sitting on Bench

Melanie Pearson can go hard to the basket, but can she go deep?

That’s the question Woodbridge hopes to answer as it breaks in a burgeoning softball player--and leader of the state champion basketball team.

Pearson sat on the bench Saturday for the Warriors’ semifinal softball game against Mater Dei and its third-place victory over Huntington Beach in the Fountain Valley tournament.

Riding the pine is something Pearson isn’t accustomed to.

“She’s got some catching up to do, but she should help us toward the end of the year,” Woodbridge softball Coach Alan Dugard said. “She’s got good skills, is very athletic and very coordinated--she has good instincts. The only thing now is that she needs to get the rust off--there’s a pretty thick layer of rust. But we’re looking for some power and she certainly fits in that mold.”

Pearson, a 6-1 forward who will play basketball next year at UCLA, had played softball until she began high school. Then she began concentrating on basketball.

“She came to us at the beginning of the year [in late October] and came out for tryouts, along with Krissy Duperron [another basketball player],” Dugard said. “Both showed basic skills and I encouraged them to continue. Krissy was going to play, too, until she hurt her knee.

“As time wore on, Melanie kept telling me she wanted to play. We told her to take it slow. We’re looking at her for a lot of leadership. She’s a winner, and our team is fairly young.”

But can Pearson play?

“She wouldn’t be a starter defensively, but maybe as a designated hitter,” Dugard said. “When she started throwing the ball, you could tell she knew what she was doing.”

*

Woodbridge was blitzed by Mater Dei in the semifinals, 9-0, as the Monarchs banged out 14 hits in six innings.

“If they hit the ball like they did against us,” Dugard said, “they’ll beat any team in the county.”

Mater Dei got only an infield single in the championship game against Foothill’s Marie Gieron in a 1-0 loss in eight innings.

Woodbridge’s three losses this year, twice to Foothill and once to Mater Dei, were by a combined score of 20-0.

*

Among those who made the all-tournament team were Georgia Wisen (Sonora), Toni Mora (Marina), Kristie Hiatt (Canyon), Natasha Sisco and Toria Auelua (Pacifica), Keary Camunas (Fountain Valley), Lindsey Cohan and Christy Robitaille (Woodbridge), Jessica Walker and Nicole Kreipl (Huntington Beach), Monica Lucatero and Marissa Young (Mater Dei) and Lindsay Fossatti, Marisa Holmes and MVP Marie Gieron (Foothill).

*

The Santa Margarita boys’ volleyball team traveled to Santa Cruz last week with the hope strengthening volleyball ties between Northern and Southern California.

Eddie Rapp, Santa Margarita coach, hopes that developing a relationship between the Northern and Southern California volleyball communities could eventually lead to the establishment of a state tournament.

“I know they enjoyed having an Orange County team going up there, and hopefully it opens the doors for [the relationship] to go back and forth,” Rapp said.

The Eagles were hardly diplomatic on the court. They swept Santa Cruz Harbor on Thursday and Santa Cruz Soquel on Friday.

*

The Pacific Coast League golf race, which figured to be a battle between Estancia and University, was essentially decided last week after only two matches.

Estancia and University, which shared the title last year and returned their entire teams, played last Monday and Tuesday, with Estancia winning twice, 200-203 at Rancho San Joaquin and 197-208 at Mesa Verde.

The teams were originally scheduled to play at Rancho San Joaquin, University’s home course, April 4, but it was moved up because both teams are playing that day in the Tribute to Youth tournament near Palm Springs.

*

Sunny Hills and Santa Margarita, two favorites to win the Southern Section team golf title, will complete their 18-hole match Wednesday at Coto de Caza. Santa Margarita led by three strokes through nine holes at Los Coyotes last Wednesday with a three-over 183.

It was a tough week for Sunny Hills. The Lancers played another top team, Servite, Thursday and fell behind, 182-186, at Hacienda Golf Club, but Sunny Hills played without senior standout Terry Noe. The match will be completed next month.

Sunny Hills, which won the section title in 1994, plays a freelance schedule, so it doesn’t have to finish among the top three in a league to qualify for the postseason. Coach Tim Devaney said dual match results aren’t terribly important.

“Like I told the kids, it would have been nice for us,” Devaney said. “But it’s not critical, as long as they are in their rhythm three or four weeks from now.”

*

Pacifica’s victory in girls’ track last Thursday over Garden Grove, 95-32, was huge. It marked Garden Grove’s first league defeat in seven years. Pacifica was picked by several league coaches as this year’s league favorite. Garden Grove has won the last seven league titles.

Staff writers Martin Beck and Wendy Witherspoon contributed to this story.