All-Area Girls’ Basketball Player of the Year: Burroughs High’s Del Castillo makes decision that leads to history

From the time she was just 5 years old, Davina Del Castillo excelled on the diamonds throughout Burbank. Along with competing in softball, she also participated in Little League baseball against the boys.

With a passion for softball, Castillo was a member of the Burbank Major All-Stars team that advanced to the 2010 Little League Softball World Series in Portland, Ore.

When she arrived at Burroughs High as a freshman, Del Castillo split her time between softball and girls’ basketball. Even in her first season, she earned all-league recognition. As an outfielder on the Indians’ softball team, she batted .378 with 31 hits, 22 runs batted in, three home runs and 16 runs scored.

However, following her freshman campaign, Del Castillo made a tough decision. She decided to leave softball behind and concentrate on basketball.

“It was definitely a hard decision for me to decide between the two sports,” said Del Castillo, a senior. “I had been playing softball for such a long time and I played it a lot more than basketball. But at the end of my freshman year, I kind of made that decision.

“It was just more fun playing basketball for me. I really liked the team and we had some young players that were going to be together for a few years. But I do miss softball sometimes and I sometimes wish I could play just one more game. But if I had to do it all again, I would still choose basketball.”

Burroughs basketball Coach Vicky Oganyan has had several players during her tenure who have excelled in both softball and basketball. A good example is current senor Delaney Nicol, who is an all-league player in both sports. Oganyan said she doesn’t discourage her players from multi-tasking when it comes to sports and Del Castillo’s made the decision on her own.

“Her freshman year she played softball and we were fine with that,” said Oganyan, whose assistant coach Bill Dunaway is also an assistant for the Indians softball team. “She was a very good softball player. …We supported her in whatever she wanted to do. But I think after that freshman season she just fell in love with basketball. She just loved the sport so much and she wanted to play club basketball and just do basketball all the time.

“I even think she had to convince her dad that she just wanted to do just basketball.”

Davina’s father, Bruce Del Castillo, was the manager for that Major All-Stars team during its World Series run.

“My dad was upset at first,” Del Castillo said. “But he kind of got over it because he knew it was what I waned to do.”

Del Castillo made the most of her decision, excelling on the basketball court to become one of the most successful players in Burroughs program history. This past season, she was a driving force on an Indians team that captured its third straight Pacific League championship, put together an impressive winning streak and made an unprecedented journey to the CIF Southern Section Division I-A semifinals.

For her efforts, Del Castillo was named the Pacific League Player of the Year and garnered All-CIF Southern Section Division I-A first-team honors.

The senior can add another award to her mantle, as she was a unanimous selection as the 2014-15 All-Area Girls’ Basketball Player of the Year, as voted on by the writers and editors of the Burbank Leader, Glendale News-Press and La Cañada Valley Sun.

In three of her four seasons with the Burroughs basketball program, Del Castillo helped the team win Pacific League titles. Although she was a vital contributor the previous three seasons, earning all-league accolades every year, Del Castillo stepped up her game her senior campaign to lead the Indians.

The 5-foot-10 forward led Burroughs in every major category. Del Castillo was first in scoring with 11.6 points a game as well as rebounding with 8.1. In addition, she also led her squad in assists (2.6), steals (3.5) and blocks (1.3).

With a productive senior season, Del Castillo cemented herself as one of the top players in program history. Her 1,028 career rebounds is a program record, she is second on the career assists list with 328, just behind Tulyah Gaines (339), and she also broke the career steals record with 371.

“She is just a really good all-around player,” Nicol said. “She really does it all on the court, where some people only do one or two things well. She can score, she plays great defense, she knows how to anticipate passes really well; she just knows the game. She really doesn’t have one weak spot in her game.

“What makes her a good rebounder is that she’s just so athletic and she has that desire. She might not be as tall as some of the players she goes up against, but she has that desire that other players might not have. She just goes after everything and she’s been like that for the last four years.”

What makes Del Castillo’s accomplishments even more impressive this season is that she was able to excel despite being injured since January. She fractured her right wrist and decided to play through the pain and discomfort. Even with her wrist heavily wrapped, Del Castillo didn’t miss a beat. Recently, after the conclusion of the season, her wrist was put in a cast and she will wear it for six to eight weeks.

“Davina is the toughest kid I have ever seen or coached,” Oganyan said. “Not many people could do what she did on the court, or even play, with what she had.”

Castillo said she was motivated to help her team win a league title and advance deep in the playoffs during her final high school season.

“I just wanted to go out and work hard and do my job,” said Del Castillo, who will play in college at San Diego Christian. “We had a group of seniors who have been together for a few years and we had great chemistry. Since this was the last year for a lot of us, we wanted to do the best that we could. It was our last chance and we knew it.”

The team made the most of that chance, slicing through the Pacific League and securing the crown with a 14-0 record. Next it was on to the playoffs, where Burroughs (30-3) defeated Santa Fe, Westminster and Peninsula to earn a spot in the program’s first semifinal contest. Unfortunately, the Indians couldn’t earn a spot in the final, losing in the final four to West Torrance, 54-31. West Torrance went on to win the division championship.

The loss ended a 26-game win streak for the Indians.

“It really upset me that we lost,” Del Castillo said. “I still see the tapes of the game or think about it and it still upsets me.

“But even with that, it was great what we were able to accomplish this season as a team, and it’s good to look back on what we did. It was a good run for us.”

And it turned out to be a fine run for Del Castillo, who chose to give up softball to concentrate on basketball. It’s a decision she can live with and a decision that definitely paid off.