Rio Mesa Forges Turnaround by Overcoming Big Adversity

To understand the magnitude of Rio Mesa High’s remarkable turnaround, take a good, long look at the Spartans.

Mary Carey has one hand.

Julia Velasquez is deaf.

With Carey and Velasquez playing prominent roles, Rio Mesa (14-9) pulled off an improbable worst-to-first finish in the Frontier League in one season and will face Crescenta Valley in a Southern Section first-round playoff game Saturday.

“These girls have really beaten the odds,” Coach Laura Reardon said.

Carey, a senior who was born without a left hand, is among the Spartans’ top defenders. The fact that her left arm ends just below the elbow remains one of Rio Mesa’s best-kept secrets.

“I coached her in swimming all last year and I never knew it,” Reardon said.

Velasquez, a sophomore wing who practices and plays games with an interpreter nearby, relies on her eyes to compensate for her lack of hearing.

“She’s one of the fastest, most instinctual of all of them,” Reardon said.

The hearing impairment rarely slows Velasquez, except when there is a possibility that she has committed a foul.

“When she fouls, she’ll look to see if the referee is blowing his whistle,” Reardon said.

Rio Mesa, which was winless in league play last year, overcame a 1-6 start.

“It took a lot of getting the girls to learn to play as a team,” Reardon said.

“We had 42 girls come out for the team. We had enough players that if they didn’t work together, I’d put them on the bench. It didn’t matter to me if we lost because they didn’t win last year.”

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When it comes to determining Southern Section playoff pairings, rankings have little bearing.

Ventura Coach Mark Schmidt found that out this season.

Ranked No. 5 in Division II for most of the season, Ventura plays in the toughest league in the division. The Cougars (18-6) finished third in the Channel League behind top-ranked Santa Barbara and No. 3 San Marcos, but they were required to travel and play a wild-card game Wednesday. Ventura beat host Royal, 10-7.

“I’m not really happy with the way it worked out,” Schmidt said.

“[But] I’d rather be in this league than any other. My players learn more losing to tough competition like Santa Barbara and San Marcos than playing weak teams and winning all the time.”

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So much for scrub play.

With his team leading Royal, 8-2, Schmidt shuttled in his second- and third-stringers in the fourth quarter Wednesday and nearly paid for it.

“We had about a three-minute lapse on defense,” Schmidt said. “I think it went from 8-2 to 9-6 in like two or three minutes.”

Schmidt quickly returned his starters to the pool and Ventura held on.

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Harvard-Westlake isn’t paying much attention to its No. 4 seeding in Division II. The Wolverines, who host Paso Robles on Saturday, were seeded No. 2 last season and were upset by Righetti in the quarterfinals.

“We’re a lot more seasoned,” Coach Rich Corso said. “We learned our lesson last year.”