LJ g VB: More photos 4/22

Photos by Ed Piper

LJ track @ Dick Wilkins Meet - Del Norte HS - 9th-10th-graders 4/26

Photos by Ed Piper

Freshman Kayla Hanoch

LJ b VB 2, El Camino 0 - pool play, Valhalla Tourney @ Monte Vista 4/25

Photos by Ed Piper

The Vikings won 25-23, 25-21 over El Camino in the first round of pool play (4 rounds).

Zepher Smith hits at an angle.

Freshman Moxy Appelbaum (2) skies

to hit over the block.

New addition Hudson Matheny

(3), a freshman setter, gets

some advice from Berkeley

Miesfield.

"Big Red", senior Jake Morrison

(8, far left), hits against the

El Camino block successfully.

Middle Jake Morrison (8) and Myles

Plaskonos stifle hitter Ethaniel Smith

of the Cougars, who can sky.

LJ track v. Canyon Hills - Senior Day - 4/24

Photos by Ed Piper

LJ softball: Photos 4/23

Photos by Ed Piper

Line-up card for April 23

Hailey Leon (28) and other Vikings

do sprints from the left field foul line.

Maddie McConnell (17, far left), starting in right

field, turns the corner after a sprint with teammates.

Vikings players head up to the dugout

after pregame sprints.

Starting pitcher Natalie "Nat"

Alvarez adjusts her gloves

before batting practice

prior to the game.

LJ softball v. Lincoln - 4/23

Viking first baseman Jacey Taylor (11) hits

off a tee in pregame warmups Wed., April 23,

at home against Lincoln. Taylor is busting

the ball at a .581 clip, with five home runs

and 33 RBI's.

(Photos by Ed Piper

By Ed Piper

Jacey Taylor is hitting the softball at a .581 clip with five home runs, leading the Vikings with 33 RBI.

"I'm just trying to wait for my pitch," said the lefthanded first baseman/power-hitter before La Jolla's home tilt against Lincoln Wed., April 23. "Hitting fourth, I try to hit behind the runner."

So Jacey is not averse to hitting to all fields, instead of pulling the ball to right field. One of her home runs was a high fly into the palm fronds in the left-centerfield dirt patch past the home run barrier.

As a junior, Taylor has matured and gained the confidence to pound the ball where she wants it.

The first baseman doesn't lead the Vikings in home runs, though. "Nat(alie Alvarez) has six," back-to-fulltime head coach Anthony Sarain said. Alvarez, the younger sister of former Viking standouts Stephanie and Emily, also has driven in 21 runs, second on the team.

Freshman shortstop Ella

Pearl takes part in pregame

exercises on the La Jolla

field April 23.

He also noted that there are five players besides JC who are hitting .400 or higher, and another four hitting .300. The .400 hitters include senior third baseman Roxie Metcalf (.489), senior centerfielder Savannah Putnam (.476), junior second baseman Maddie Ehlert (.429), and sophomore Emily Hernandez (.400).

Metcalf, the four-year veteran captain of La Jolla's squad, also has14 RBI's to rank third on the team.

Hitting over .300 are sophomore catcher Aviv Laska (.362), sophomore Alvarez (.362), sophomore Jianna Diaz (.333), and freshman shortstop Ella Pearl (.321).

La Jolla hasn't had an offensive mix like that in recent history. The welfare of the team, though, depends "on when the pitching shows up," said Sarain. Through pregame warmups, he reminded multiple position players of when their number would come up in the pitching circle, depending on how the game went.

The Vikings have new uniforms, so the jersey number they each individually picked go along with the "new numbers" the team is putting up on the offensive side.

Savannah Putnam, hitting

.476 in centerfield, throws

in warmups before the game.

LJ g beach VB 3, UC 2 - Senior Day 4/22

Photos by Ed Piper

Pearl Plaskonos hits

in the fours' match.

Sofia Costello (right), fours

Emma Garrett (8),

threes

Katie Murray, ones

Brooke Mannheimer, ones

Nanette Fu, threes

LJ g beach VB 2, Point Loma 3 - 4/10

Photos by Ed Piper

The shot of the day: Nanette Fu (7)

sprawls horizontally to get this ball

in the threes' match.

Katie Murray heads

to the sand to save

a shot in the ones'

match.

Team Bennett reinforces kinship

cooperation in the fives' encounter,

which Reagan (5) and Drew (3)

won in three sets, 2-1.

Nanette Fu (7) lunges under the net

as she goes to the sand.

Lo-n-g Brooke Mannheimer (15)

protects the net.

Emma Garrett (8) hustles to snag

a shot (out of view) in the threes' contest.

Emma Garrett (8)

Drew on the attempted save.