Hoover High athlete dies in car accident

Darleene Barrientos

Hoover High School on Tuesday mourned the loss of another student,

the second in less than a week, after one of the school’s junior

varsity softball players was killed in a car crash.

Amanda Geiser-Magallanes, 16, was killed early Sunday after the

pickup truck she was in swerved off Interstate 10 near Picacho, a

town 50 miles east of Tucson, Ariz.

The truck crossed into opposing traffic and flipped, throwing

Amanda into oncoming traffic. She was hit by another car and was

pronounced dead at the scene from a massive head injury, said Steve

Volden, spokesman for the Arizona Department of Public Safety.

Amanda was the only passenger in the truck not wearing a seat

belt. Three other passengers, including her boyfriend, Christopher

Oregon, 19, were belted in and survived the crash with cuts and

bruises.

Amanda’s twin sister, Samantha, was not in the truck.

Amanda, who played third base, was a tough, aggressive kid who

loved the game, softball coach Julie Hoppe said.

“Whatever she didn’t have naturally, she worked really hard for,”

Hoppe said. “She loved her teammates. She loved people. She was

somebody who was nice to everybody. She had some difficult family

situations, but it didn’t deter her. She carried herself with a lot

of dignity.”

Outside the diamond, Amanda was admired for her love of life, her

friends said.

“She was the nicest person to talk to, very free-spirited,” friend

and teammate Sara Campos, 15, said. “She was a very loving person to

talk to. She would always talk about her boyfriend and how much she

loved him.”

The school was already grappling with the loss of one Hoover High

student Monday. Carlos Pinon, 16, was fatally shot Thursday in what

police called a gang-related shooting.

Softball teammate Jackie Spencer, 16, was grieving with friends

for Pinon when she heard the news about Amanda.

“I didn’t want to believe it,” she said. “She was like a little

sister to me. All my teammates all started crying, and we were

hysterical; we were shocked. We loved her so much.

“Last night, I kept looking at a picture of her and her boyfriend,

thinking she wouldn’t be able to go to prom and do the things she

wanted to experience. She used to show off the rings her boyfriend

gave her and used to promise they were going to get married.”

The team is collecting money to donate to Amanda’s family. For

more information, call Hoover High School at (818) 242-6801.

* DARLEENE BARRIENTOS covers education. She may be reached at

(818) 637-3215 or by e-mail at darleene.barrientos@latimes.com.