By Ed Piper
"We have a very strong team this year," says Coach Andrea Denham of her La Jolla softballers.
"We have been able to start conditioning last week."
The fourth-year coach, steadying the ship when her predecessor left, walked into a gold mine when standout pitcher Emmy Cardenas chose to matriculate at LJHS as a freshman last year.
Cardenas, whose dad is her personal coach/catcher in practice, had a two-homer game in her short time in a Viking uniform as a freshman before COVID shut down the season March 12, 2020.
The entire program experienced a lift, as the team now had a regular pitcher--whereas in 2019 practically every member of the roster threw some innings just to help the La Jollans get through games.
From a season in which many games were called after five innings and the mercy rule invoked due to lopsided games, now the field off Rushville became a center of hope and promise before the coronavirus shut things down permanently in the late winter last season.
Denham faces a 22-game schedule, with opening day Sat., March 20, against Serra on the La Jolla field. Beside Cardenas, a 5'8" sophomore righthander, the Vikings also can send out junior Violet Nightingale to pitch. That gives the local team options it just didn't have two years ago.
Senior co-captain Linda Medina returns at third base. The other co-captain and veteran as well, fellow senior Jackie Farias--"Little Mom" how she takes care of her teammates--can go out at shortstop or catch.
Sophomore Gigi Smith is back at shortstop/second base. Some of the other positions are not as set defensively, but the outfield will see returners Cameron Cromwell, a junior, and Presley Cooper, a sophomore, as well as others.
Central League play, which should feature the young Vikings as a new and growing factor, begins Wed., May 5, with a game at Kearny. The league is made up of Crawford, Lincoln, Morse, and Hoover, in addition to the Vikes and Comets.
It should be quite a ride this year. 2021 should be a good show, and an exciting season as it unfolds as COVID becomes less and less a factor.
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