By Ed Piper
Cathedral Catholic's Alex Wade, early on, disrupted Christian's passing lanes and began to wreak havoc for the Crusaders in the two teams' Open Division quarterfinal game Fri., Feb. 20.
An assistant coach in attendance denigrated the fact the 6-foot junior missed many of his early shots.
But Wade's tenacious interference began to wear on the visiting Christian ball-handlers, including Kobe Sanders, who gave La Jolla big headaches in their Western League match-ups. After the Crusaders built an early lead, the Dons reeled off 14 straight points to begin to make the contest a non-contest.
Wednesday, February 26, 2020
LJ wrestling: Beans and baloney
By Ed Piper
Steve Naitoh, who weighs 223 pounds, took a burrito and actually pounded it down with his hand.
Mind you, he wasn't being unruly or outrageous. Just a big kid, a ninth-grader wrestler, actually, "funning" with his teammates from the La Jolla High squad.
Naitoh, who Viking head coach Kellen Delaney agrees "has had some success this year", had a cool book with him. A visitor asked what it was.
"Handbook of Chemistry and Physics", 37th Edition," said Naitoh, showing his conversant the cover. "We got it for a dollar at a garage sale. It has really cool stuff in it."
Like what?
"Gravity, Latitude, and Longitude," he showed a section. Yeah, okay...
"981. Gravity 9.81 meters per second squared," the apparent brainiac said. What is that? "Acceleration."
"The thing I like is that you can look at a book, instead of an electronic device. It's a nice break. I like it.
"You can look up stuff," he continued, flipping to different sections of the hardcover, fairly thick, worn volume. Let's say the book had some personality.
He was the only one at the Viking team picnic, here at Holtville High in the Imperial Valley, reading about acceleration. Everyone else was kibbitzing, or putting lunch meat to sliced bread, adding tomato and other fixin's, courtesy Walter Fairley, the long-time La Jolla administrator (now retired)/wrestling coach. (Fairley hadn't been able to attend the tournament, so fellow coach Ryan Lindenblatt had transported the cooler of sandwich-makings from San Diego to Holtville.)
Lindenblatt checked in. "Has he told you his turnaround from an F to a B+ in my Advanced Physics class, period 3?" Well, no.
Steve said things didn't go so well with the previous teacher, so in Lindenblatt's class, the grade reversal was total.
Earlier, at the picnic table in the quad of the Holtville High campus, the sun out but not boiling hot (as is normal later in the year in the El Centro area), Naitoh and teammate Ben Kasendorf were going at it. Figuratively.
"He ate all beans," said Naitoh, indicating Kasendorf (pronounced KASS-en-dorf; even the team's coaches mispronounce Ben's last name).
The night before, at the home of the family that hosted Joshua Jasso, Brendan Glenister, and Benji Torres, as well as Naitoh and Kasendorf--all the upper-weight wrestlers--the athletes had been treated to make-your-own burritos.
Kasendorf didn't add meat; only beans. That wasn't to Naitoh's approval. "Yuck, the beans were coming out of the burrito."
Ben: "My family is Jewish, so we usually try to eat kosher meat. So, instead, I was eating beans."
Steve: "He couldn't close the burrito."
Ben: "He pushed (my burrito) down, then smashed it."
Visitor: "Why did you do that?"
Steve: "Because I didn't like the way the beans were coming out of the tortilla."
Taking another tack, Naitoh about Kasendorf: "He snores."
Visitor: "How bad?"
Ben: "He (Steve) sleeps like this" (putting his arm on his shoulder--makes a sound).
Ben: "He ate six burritos."
Steve: "I ate four burritos. Only one of the four had two tortillas."
Joshua: "He ate four hamburgers."
Steve: "They weren't really hamburgers."
Steve Naitoh, who weighs 223 pounds, took a burrito and actually pounded it down with his hand.
Mind you, he wasn't being unruly or outrageous. Just a big kid, a ninth-grader wrestler, actually, "funning" with his teammates from the La Jolla High squad.
Naitoh, who Viking head coach Kellen Delaney agrees "has had some success this year", had a cool book with him. A visitor asked what it was.
"Handbook of Chemistry and Physics", 37th Edition," said Naitoh, showing his conversant the cover. "We got it for a dollar at a garage sale. It has really cool stuff in it."
Like what?
"Gravity, Latitude, and Longitude," he showed a section. Yeah, okay...
"981. Gravity 9.81 meters per second squared," the apparent brainiac said. What is that? "Acceleration."
"The thing I like is that you can look at a book, instead of an electronic device. It's a nice break. I like it.
"You can look up stuff," he continued, flipping to different sections of the hardcover, fairly thick, worn volume. Let's say the book had some personality.
He was the only one at the Viking team picnic, here at Holtville High in the Imperial Valley, reading about acceleration. Everyone else was kibbitzing, or putting lunch meat to sliced bread, adding tomato and other fixin's, courtesy Walter Fairley, the long-time La Jolla administrator (now retired)/wrestling coach. (Fairley hadn't been able to attend the tournament, so fellow coach Ryan Lindenblatt had transported the cooler of sandwich-makings from San Diego to Holtville.)
Lindenblatt checked in. "Has he told you his turnaround from an F to a B+ in my Advanced Physics class, period 3?" Well, no.
Steve said things didn't go so well with the previous teacher, so in Lindenblatt's class, the grade reversal was total.
Earlier, at the picnic table in the quad of the Holtville High campus, the sun out but not boiling hot (as is normal later in the year in the El Centro area), Naitoh and teammate Ben Kasendorf were going at it. Figuratively.
"He ate all beans," said Naitoh, indicating Kasendorf (pronounced KASS-en-dorf; even the team's coaches mispronounce Ben's last name).
The night before, at the home of the family that hosted Joshua Jasso, Brendan Glenister, and Benji Torres, as well as Naitoh and Kasendorf--all the upper-weight wrestlers--the athletes had been treated to make-your-own burritos.
Kasendorf didn't add meat; only beans. That wasn't to Naitoh's approval. "Yuck, the beans were coming out of the burrito."
Ben: "My family is Jewish, so we usually try to eat kosher meat. So, instead, I was eating beans."
Steve: "He couldn't close the burrito."
Ben: "He pushed (my burrito) down, then smashed it."
Visitor: "Why did you do that?"
Steve: "Because I didn't like the way the beans were coming out of the tortilla."
Taking another tack, Naitoh about Kasendorf: "He snores."
Visitor: "How bad?"
Ben: "He (Steve) sleeps like this" (putting his arm on his shoulder--makes a sound).
Ben: "He ate six burritos."
Steve: "I ate four burritos. Only one of the four had two tortillas."
Joshua: "He ate four hamburgers."
Steve: "They weren't really hamburgers."
LJ softball: 'P'sha'
By Ed Piper
P'sha.
Fo' shame.
A ninth-grader at La Jolla High, Emmy Cardenas, gave up a hit.
And she only struck out 13 Parker batters, half of those she faced.
I'm being facetious, but the previous Tuesday, the freshman pitcher for Coach Andrea Denham's Vikings twirled a no-hitter at Coronado in her first high school competition ever.
But apparently that doesn't count. Even though the Islanders' game was in a tournament, it goes down as a practice game. So said Kevin Hurt, assistant coach for La Jolla.
This time around, in the official season opener Tues., Feb. 25, the 5'7" Cardenas, with her father warming her up and keeping official game statistics nearby, went for all the gusto: She led a ferocious Viking offensive attack that piled up 16 runs against Lancer ace Katy Austin, a senior with tons of experience. And on the other side of the ball, Emmy pounded two doubles and drove in four of La Jolla's 16 runs with a perfect 4-for-4 day at the plate.
Not bad for a debut for a ninth-grader playing against varsity competition.
Emmy doesn't turn 15 until June 7, so she's not a "holdback"--the current rage with parents keeping their kids back one, even two years, so that they're older for sports. Sounds insane to me, but lots are doing it in pursuit of the "Holy Grail" of an athletic scholarship to college; the pros even?
"I hit my hip with my glove on every pitch delivery," explained Emmy as I roamed the Parker field before Tuesday's opener, an hour before game time, snapping photos of all the Viking players.
"Some pitchers don't have a rise pitch like Emmy, they actually have a diagonal pitch that they throw upwards," said her dad. "With a rise, the ball slows down, then the seams catch the air and the ball rises."
Club ball and travel ball also come with their unique sports culture. Before team members played catch to warm up, they each laid their bat down, perpendicular to the third base foul line, and placed their glove over the knob of the bat--each hat facing toward the middle of the field.
The bats, all different colors, made for a vibrant display. I commented on this to Emmy. I had never seen it before. She: "I think it keeps things organized." She smiled and went to warm up with her teammates.
P'sha.
Fo' shame.
A ninth-grader at La Jolla High, Emmy Cardenas, gave up a hit.
And she only struck out 13 Parker batters, half of those she faced.
I'm being facetious, but the previous Tuesday, the freshman pitcher for Coach Andrea Denham's Vikings twirled a no-hitter at Coronado in her first high school competition ever.
But apparently that doesn't count. Even though the Islanders' game was in a tournament, it goes down as a practice game. So said Kevin Hurt, assistant coach for La Jolla.
This time around, in the official season opener Tues., Feb. 25, the 5'7" Cardenas, with her father warming her up and keeping official game statistics nearby, went for all the gusto: She led a ferocious Viking offensive attack that piled up 16 runs against Lancer ace Katy Austin, a senior with tons of experience. And on the other side of the ball, Emmy pounded two doubles and drove in four of La Jolla's 16 runs with a perfect 4-for-4 day at the plate.
Not bad for a debut for a ninth-grader playing against varsity competition.
Emmy doesn't turn 15 until June 7, so she's not a "holdback"--the current rage with parents keeping their kids back one, even two years, so that they're older for sports. Sounds insane to me, but lots are doing it in pursuit of the "Holy Grail" of an athletic scholarship to college; the pros even?
"I hit my hip with my glove on every pitch delivery," explained Emmy as I roamed the Parker field before Tuesday's opener, an hour before game time, snapping photos of all the Viking players.
"Some pitchers don't have a rise pitch like Emmy, they actually have a diagonal pitch that they throw upwards," said her dad. "With a rise, the ball slows down, then the seams catch the air and the ball rises."
Club ball and travel ball also come with their unique sports culture. Before team members played catch to warm up, they each laid their bat down, perpendicular to the third base foul line, and placed their glove over the knob of the bat--each hat facing toward the middle of the field.
The bats, all different colors, made for a vibrant display. I commented on this to Emmy. I had never seen it before. She: "I think it keeps things organized." She smiled and went to warm up with her teammates.
Tuesday, February 25, 2020
LJ softball: The 'Emmy Era'?
 |
| Freshman Emmy Cardenas warms up before the Vikings' game at Parker. The newcomer pitched a no-hitter in her first high school game Feb. 18. (Photos by Ed Piper) |
In her first game stepping in the pitching circle in high school, ninth-grader Emmy Cardenas no-hit the Coronado Islanders softball team--on their home field.
That was a week ago, Tues., Feb. 18. Cardenas and her La Jolla High teammates won the season opener.
(That was already one more win than all of last year for the Vikings; their record was 0-22 in 2019.)
The 14-year-old has at least five pitches: a fastball, change-up, curve, screwball, and rise.
In the top of the first at Parker Tues., Feb. 25, Cardenas and her teammates drilled senior travel-ball veteran Katy Austin for four runs, Emmy clubbing a shot that sailed over the Lancers' centerfielder and bounced to the fence to drive in two runs. La Jolla, which had no attack at all last year, added two more baserunners before Austin, in her fourth year pitching for the Parker varsity, and the defense behind her could stem the bleeding and end the rally.
 |
| Freshman rightfielder Presley Cooper initially rounds third to head home during the Vikings' rally in the top of the first, but subsequently she is held up by head coach Andrea Denham. |
Viking first baseman Jackie Arias followed Cardenas' long fly with one of her own over the rightfielder's head.
Cardenas, filling up the third slot in fourth-year head coach Andrea Denham's batting lineup in a big way, hadn't even stepped to the pitching circle yet, and her squad held a four-run lead. La Jolla ended up winning, 16-1, with 16 hits. Cardenas went 4-for-4, including two doubles, with four RBI's.
Can we dub it the "Emmy Era" after only three games of the young season? With Emmy and her father, an assistant coach in his second year with La Jolla, have also come a bunch of newcomers, including freshmen who are experienced club softball players.
Added to the brand-new mix is a junior who moved to San Diego from Beaumont, "near Palm Springs", Kelsey DeFalco, a shortstop.
"Ambition," Farias, one of three team captains with Linda Medina and Arianna Monell, said when asked for a theme for this year's team. "We have the ability, and with what happened last year, we have the energy to work hard and be successful this year."
 |
| Captain Jackie Farias makes it to third in the opening frame, after her drive over the rightfielder's head |
"I knew at our first practice that we had a good team," said new assistant coach Kevin Hurt, who came over from coaching special teams on the Viking football team.
Emmy's father noted his daughter "throws the ball at college speed". Austin, Tuesday's opponent, wasn't shabby, either, throwing her fastball an estimated 53 miles per hour or so, in Mr. Cardenas' view. But it wasn't baffling the top half of the La Jolla line-up, which shellacked the 5'8" hurler in the opening frame.
Freshman Gigi Smith batted second and played second base against the Lancers. Fellow Class of 2023 member Presley Cooper was in the fifth slot in the lineup and played right field.
In contrast to no regular pitcher on last year's squad, this year's group has a veritable plethora of throwers: Cardenas is backed up by Violet Nightingale, a sophomore, as well as Lauren "Lu" Thickstun, a junior.
DeFalco was asked if her new teammates had told her about the team's Division 4 CIF title three years ago, in the culmination of what could be called the "Josie Sinkeldam-Linda Brown-Kyra Ferenczy Era". No, she said, no one had talked about this.
But the desert transfer is no stranger to winning softball. She said that when her class graduates at Beaumont, "They're going to lose" a lot of talented players who are juniors right now. Kind of like the dropoff La Jolla experienced last year through graduations and departures.
Monday, February 24, 2020
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)