By Ed Piper
Despite their season-opening loss, 22-14, to visiting San Ysidro Tues., Feb. 25, La Jolla's softball team looks like it's going to start well in the young 2025 season.
Besides returner JC Taylor smacking a first-inning drive off the short wall in centerfield to drive in two runs, fellow sophomore Natalie Alvarez showed more command and a little maturation from last year as the game opened.
Ever since Emmy Cardenas graduated two years ago, Coach Anthony Sarain's team has kept an eye out for the "secret sauce" that includes a hurler who can repeatedly deliver in the strike zone to keep the inning going.
After two walks to open the top of the first--admittedly a small sample size, as this reporter only observed and took photos during this short stretch--Alvarez righted herself and got through the inning, giving up only three runs. That doesn't sound like much, but in the recent pass the Vikings suffered through game-after-game with pitchers who couldn't put her pitches over the plate.
Plus La Jolla's lineup is looking much more stocked: JC is a left-handed power-hitter with lots of softball experience; captain and shortstop Roxie Metcalf comes out for her senior season with three years under her belt; Savannah Putnam patrols centerfield, which gives the corner outfielders playing next to her a lot of confidence; and freshman Ella Pearl seems to be a fit at third base.
Junior Maddie Ehlert started behind the plate in Tuesday's opener. She can play there and at second base, switching with sophomore Aviv Laska, who was at the game running the scoreboard but unable to play.
The heartening thing that bodes well for the Vikings is that they scored that many runs--14--even in a losing effort. They could never score that many runs in a losing cause last year. Sarain, who was away at another event, should be looking forward to this campaign.
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