Calvary Chapel Somehow Finds Way to Maintain Its Direction

At the front desk at Calvary Chapel High, an inquiry for softball Coach Donna King gets the attention of the school receptionist. With a phone nestled to her ear, the receptionist indicates that she is, in fact, King, the coach of the Southern Section finalist Eagles.

An odd sight? It doesn’t raise an eyebrow in Calvary Chapel’s hectic season.

Rallying behind the coach/receptionist and an assistant coach who managed to juggle playing a full season at Concordia University with running softball practice at all hours of the day, Calvary Chapel has managed to get to within one victory of a third consecutive section championship.

The unseeded Eagles take on third-seeded Pomona Catholic at 10 this morning at Mayfair Park in the Division V championship game. Back in mid-March, a return trip to the title game was far from the first order of business.

Weighed down by complacency and absent players because of Calvary Chapel’s run to the girls’ basketball state finals, the Eagles started at a crawl, and had only one victory in their first five games. Then, things got worse.

Coach Rose Imbriano, who built Calvary Chapel in three years from a mediocre softball program to one that won back-to-back section championships, unexpectedly quit as coach, and also resigned her posts as athletic director and as the school’s senior English teacher.

“The reason that she told us was that . . . she felt she couldn’t be a good example to us because she wasn’t putting God first,” senior first baseman Amanda Hallaway said. “She wanted to get her priorities straight.”

Attempts to reach Imbriano were unsuccessful.

After her resignation, the school’s administrators had to scramble for a replacement. They asked King, whose only varsity coaching experience consisted of being Imbriano’s assistant for the season’s first five games. King agreed, though somewhat reluctantly.

“I was worried because I wasn’t a coach,” King said. “But there was a need, and I love them.”

King made sure to call Crystal Rosenthal, one of the team’s other assistant coaches who helped out when she wasn’t practicing or playing third base and catcher for Concordia’s softball team, before officially taking the job. King needed Rosenthal, a junior at Concordia with more softball experience, to be a tag-team coach.

“If you would do it, then I’ll help you,” Rosenthal said she told King over the phone.

The next couple of weeks featured practices at all times of the day, to fit around Rosenthal’s schedule. The team would meet at 6 in the morning one day, then at 5 at night the next.

The players still hadn’t worked through the loss of their coach and the lack of cohesion stemming from the absence of five basketball players, two of whom decided not to return to the softball team.

In the Eagles’ second game after Imbriano’s resignation, they were defeated, 4-1, by Orange Lutheran, the Olympic League rival that Calvary Chapel had defeated in last year’s section final. Even Steve Miklos, the opposing coach, noted at the time that Calvary Chapel’s focus was elsewhere. Calvary Chapel, 2-5 at the time, seemed spiraling toward a gloomy end.

“You could tell in practice that they were distracted a little,” Rosenthal said. “Like they didn’t know what to do.

“They loved Rose. It was harder for them than it would be for the average team to lose their coach. She was so popular and so loved by her players, that softball took a back seat for a while.”

The senior leaders--third baseman Kori Przygocki, left fielder Anna Jones and Hallaway--took on a stronger role on the team in an attempt to turn around the season. In essence, they became part of the young coaching staff as well.

“We knew what the rules were, and we kept the same rules as if Rose was there,” Przygocki said. “The same little drills, even the ones that we didn’t like and we could have easily not done, we did them.”

The veteran players were not afraid to help the inexperienced King with strategy during games Rosenthal couldn’t attend before Concordia’s season ended in mid-April.

“We had to help her,” said Hallaway of King, whom the players describe as being a team mom more than a coach. “If we needed a bunt, one of the three of us would be standing by her and telling her ‘bunt, bunt.’ ”

The team could have folded, but the three leaders wouldn’t let it happen. The Eagles, a longshot entering the playoffs, have won 15 of their last 18 games, including a 1-0 victory over North Hills L.A. Baptist in the semifinals.

“There was a time when I wasn’t sure if we were going to make it,” Hallaway said. “But our team has somehow been able to make the plays.”

Rosenthal agreed.

“I have a lot of respect for the three of them,” she said. “Especially in the beginning, even with the two of us, it wasn’t enough. But you can throw anything at them and they do it.”