By Ed Piper
You know who is the bomb on La Jolla's softball team?
Emily Alvarez, the Vikings' four-year starter at first base, finished her senior season with a .407 batting average hitting in the clean-up spot for Coach Andrea Denham's team, with seven doubles and 26 RBI's.
It was, by far, her best season as a Viking. The gregarious first-sacker helped pick up some of the slack left when slugger Linda Brown graduated a year ago.
Alvarez is a riot in person, in a positive way. She has always greeted visitors with open, engaging hello's. She is a little bit the opposite in that way of her big sister Stephanie, who played with her on the La Jolla varsity. Stephanie moved from third base to behind the plate when then-coach Anthony Sarain's team had a need, with Emily right down the first base line.
Emily would take a visitor's camera and record videos, in the dugout, during the game. Then she would watch them right there, and ask the visitor to send the video to her. Always the media-aware person, she is.
Coming from a softball family, Alvarez really stepped it up this year. An experienced club/travel player, she handled her infield position with confidence from the beginning of her ninth-grade season. What she elevated this year was her high average at the plate. She had 33 hits as the Vikings went 5-3 in a tough Eastern League to place fourth. She only topped her hit total as a sophomore, with 35, when she had many more plate appearances, hitting behind Brown in the fifth slot.
For her career, Alvarez compiled a .308 batting average, which is plenty to be proud of. Her .407 mark this season put her third on her team, her RBI total second, her hit total fourth.
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