By Ed Piper
"It was called, 'Get the ball to Malaika and she'll score,'", said Nancy Moyer, Viking great Malaika Underwoood's high school basketball coach, while she helped manage Scripps Ranch's girls volleyball tournament Sat.. Sept. 28.
Moyer, now a staff member at Scripps Ranch, had the privilege of coaching the only girl to ever play baseball in the CIF San Diego Section--though in basketball, and not even Underwood's best sport, which was volleyball.
That volleyball coaching honor went to Nancy Pearson, who is now an assistant principal in Northern California.
Bob Allen was Malaika's baseball coach during her outstanding prep career at La Jolla High.
The three-sport star went on to play volleyball at the University of North Carolina. In her senior year at La Jolla in 1999, Underwood was selected the Female Athlete of the Year for San Diego for her exploits in baseball, basketball, and volleyball.
"She was captain her sophomore year," remembers Moyer, who was moving a-mile-a-minute in her duties during bracket play in the two-day, multiple-site tourney, which included Coach Kelly Drobeck's Viking squad.
"(Malaika) was captain her sophomore, junior, and senior years" on the girls basketball team. She played a LeBron-ish forward position, relied on for scoring and rebounding.
Malaika, visiting the San Diego area from her home base in Jacksonville, Florida, with her older daughter Birdie, last Spring, was inducted into the Viking Baseball Hall of Fame. Moyer was there, along with Allen, for a group photo of the three--missing Pearson.
The second baseman was named All-CIF in basketball, as well as Player of the Year in volleyball. She stands about 5'9".
Asked if she coached the superstar in any other sport besides basketball, Moyer answered wistfully, "No. I was softball coach." But Malaika chose baseball. She would have been a star if she had played softball.
Also, Underwood did not play varsity basketball her freshman year.
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