Softball Preview: Trio of teams have new coaches in place this season
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There are familiar faces in place this season in head coaching positions for all three of the city’s high school softball programs.
Veteran coach Doug Nicol returns to head Burroughs. Nicol is a former softball and girls’ basketball coach for the Indians.
“It’s nice to be back,” Nicol said. “I guess the third time’s the charm.”
Taking over at Burbank is Melissa Sanchez, a 2009 graduate and former Bulldogs player who also competed for Glendale Community College.
Providence has a new coach in Manny Travieso, a longtime local travel and Burbank Little League coach.
With their share of talent this season, the three squads hope for success and improvement in league, and hopefully in the playoffs.
Here is a closer look at the teams.
BURROUGHS
Nicol stepped down as Burroughs softball coach in 2016. In six seasons, his teams captured four Pacific League championships and made history by advancing to the CIF Southern Section semifinals, a first for the program.
During that span, Nicol’s teams went 128-38-1 and 74-10 in the Pacific League play, winning titles in 2010, 2011, 2015 and 2016.
The Indians are coming off a season in which they went 12-11, 10-4 in the Pacific League under former coach Wes Tanigawa. Burroughs placed third in league behind champion Crescenta Valley and Arcadia.
In the first round of the Division III playoffs, Burroughs lost to Highland, 10-1.
“It’s kind of like just putting the puzzle pieces together,” said Nicol, who only took over the program in late February. “Some players might get moved around a little and maybe some will play different positions than they did in the past.
“But we have some talent and I’ve been impressed with what I’ve see so far. It’s just a matter of putting the right pieces in place to give us the best opportunity to win. But I’m not going to lie, with me coming in late, we are far behind where we should be at this point of the season.”
Nicol said that although the Indians don’t have a dominating No. 1 pitcher, the team should have some depth in the circle. Leading the way will be senior Isabella Kam, who has signed with Dartmouth, senior Sidnie Dabbadie, sophomores Kelsey Acosta and Olivia Kam and freshman Stevie Dabbadie.
Some of the pitchers will play other positions as well.
Other key players include senior third baseman Memorie Munoz, a four-year starter, senior outfielder/second base Sabrina Englebrecht, junior shortstop Alyssa Valenzuela, junior catcher Daniella Hebri, sophomore first baseman Kaynan Chrysiko and sophomore utility Kiley Christopher and Gigi Garcia.
“What I’ve been happiest with those four seniors is that they have taken the transition well and anything that I ask, anything that the other coaches ask, they do,” Nicol said. “Their leadership is kind of leading us now.”
In the battle for the league title, Nicol said he expects Crescenta Valley to be the team to beat. The Falcons also won the CIF Division III title in 2019.
“CV by far,” he said. “They are the defending champs and they won the league and CIF last year, so they deserve the respect. We are aspiring to get back to where CV is right now. But it’s a process and it takes a lot of time and effort to get to the higher level.”
BURBANK
The Bulldogs are coming off a season in which they went 11-12 and 8-6 in the Pacific League to finish fourth under former longtime coach Mike Deleney.
Burbank fell in a wild-card game in the Division IV playoffs to Pomona Catholic, 10-2.
“I’m just super-excited to be back at Burbank where I went to school,” said Sanchez, who also played at East L.A. College and Cal State East Bay. “It’s been great so far and the school has been very supportive with me and what I’m trying to do.
“The players have been really awesome since I came in. I respect the players so I think in turn that they respect me, so that’s a really nice thing. I don’t have to yell at them to get things done. They just want to work hard and they want to be successful.”
The Bulldogs did lose a large number of players to graduation and will have an influx of freshmen.
“We are in a big-time rebuilding year,” Sanchez said. “Ten seniors graduated last year and seven of them were starters, so that’s a lot of talent lost. So I think I have four or five freshmen on varsity and all of them start. We have a young squad but a lot of them are travel-ball players and they compete.
“The good thing is that I will have a lot of those players returning next year and I have them for a few years.”
Expected to carry most of the pitching load for the Bulldogs is senior returner Savannah Benson.
Also expected to contribute are junior third baseman Lily Stell, freshmen shortstop Samantha Buckley, sophomore second baseman Elizabeth Zamora, freshmen first baseman Sasha Quintanar, freshman catcher Shelby Cribbs, junior outfielder Erika Montoya, senior outfielder Precious Romero, freshman outfielder Alexis Bragg, junior utility Vanessa Navarro and sophomore utility Hannah Zacariaz, a transfer from Burroughs.
Returning to the team after not competing her junior season is senior outfielder Katie Treadway.
“In our league, I think CV, Arcadia and Burroughs are the top teams right now,” Sanchez said. “But CV is going to be the best with the talent they always have.
“Although we are young, I expect us to make the playoffs. I have high expectations for this team.”
PROVIDENCE
The Pioneers have their third coach in as many years, as Travieso has taken over for Frankie Garcia, who guided the program for just one season.
Providence (2-15 in 2019) struggled in its first season in the Prep League, finishing last with an 0-12 record.
“The big thing with me taking over this job is that the school has been so supportive and they are behind be 100%,” said Travieso, who has also coached youth teams representing the United States on the international level. “They are like ‘Whatever you need, let us know.’ And it’s really nice to have that kind of support.
“The girls have been very receptive, but we do have a small number of girls out for the team. We have a number of girls who have never played softball before. But they are out there learning and trying their best to improve.”
Travieso is hoping to build the program and make the Pioneers competitive in the years to come.
“We want to create a winning culture here,” he said. “My goal is to get this program back to winning and maybe in a few years get to a point where we can send some players to college.
“We just need to change the mentality and go into games expecting to win, not to lose. We just want to be competitive and at the same time have run.”
Providence’s most talented returner is senior pitcher Amanda Bin, who will be the team’s No. 1 starter.
Travieso also expects good things from senior shortstop Rebecca Cox and junior catcher Gabriella Martinez.
“We only have 11 players, so they are all going to have to step up,” Travieso said. “In league, if we can get some wins that would be great. But we just want to win innings. We need to learn from our losses and that will make us better. As long as they work hard, that’s all I can ask for.”
