Sovereign ignites Lions’ streak
The following are updates on local athletes at the collegiate level.
Alyssa Sovereign (Crescenta Valley High, 2010) sophomore, Penn State softball: After skidding off the rails on a 13-game losing streak, the Nittany Lions have shown some signs of late, currently riding a four-game winning streak into today’s home game against Temple.
During the streak, which began with a win over Pittsburgh on April 3 and continued with a three-game home sweep of Big Ten Conference foe Michigan State, the Nittany Lions’ right fielder has batted .357 (five for 14) with five runs batted in, three runs scored and a walk.
Sovereign belted her fourth home run of the season to lead Penn State to an 11-5 win and a doubleheader sweep over the Spartans on Saturday. She had another RBI in the series finale on Sunday, a 7-5 win that improved the team’s record to 11-22 and 3-6 in conference.
For the season, in which she’s started all 32 games, she’s hitting .225 with 13 RBI and 17 runs.
Rosa Del Toro (Glendale Community College, 2010), senior, Long Beach State women’s track and field: Del Toro made a strong showing at the opening day of the Stanford Invitational Friday afternoon at Cobb Track & Angell Field and also moved up the ladder on the 49ers all-time records list in the process.
The former Vaquero clocked a personal-record 16 minutes 45.72 seconds to place sixth in the Section 4 of the 5,000-meter run in what stands as the third best time in program history.
Lonnie Kauppila (Crescenta Valley High), sophomore, Stanford baseball: Kauppila went two for five in the No. 5-ranked Cardinal’s 19-6 rout of Pacific-12 Conference rival Cal on the road Monday on the heels of a three-game conference series against host Washington in which the shortstop collected four hits in nine at-bats with a run and a run batted in.
Having started all but two games this season for Stanford (20-7, 4-5 in conference), Kauppila is batting .278 with 11 RBI and 15 runs scored with a .912 fielding mark.
The Cardinal resume play today with a nonconference home game against Pacific at 5 p.m. PDT.
Ava Sadeghi (Glendale native) freshman, Vassar College tennis: The No. 25-ranked Brewers are off to a 4-1 start in the Liberty League thanks to some strong play from Sadeghi, who won a pair of singles sets and a doubles set along with partner Joy Backer in an 8-1 win over Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute on Friday.
Sadeghi is 20-7 in singles on the season, with a perfect 5-0 league mark, and is 11-9 in doubles play.
Vassar (8-4) will next compete in the Seven Sisters Championships Saturday and Sunday at Mount Holyoke College.
Kameron Krise (Crescenta Valley High, 2008) junior, Cal State L.A. baseball: The former Falcon, who also played for Glendale Community College, came through big in a clutch situation to record his first save of the season in a 3-0 California Collegiate Athletic Assn. over host Cal State Monterey Bay on Friday.
The reliever entered the game with the bases loaded and none out in the bottom of the ninth, but retired the side on 10 pitches.
Krise is 0-1 on the season and has an earned-run average of 6.75.