Softball season kind to Mater Dei Catholic, Hilltop in early going

SEVEN METRO CONFERENCE TEAMS POSSESS WINNING RECORDS HEADING INTO SCHEDULE PAUSE

Alexa Zumstein ranks among Hilltop's top returners this spring. Photo by Phillip Brents

The Hilltop High School softball team went three rounds deep into last year’s San Diego Section Division III playoffs while compiling a 14-13-1 overall record.

The Lady Lancers are back for hopefully more success after starting the 2020 spring season with a 5-2 non-league record.

“We look to compete in arguably the toughest league in San Diego (Mesa League),” Hilltop coach Juan Reyes said. “We’re a sophomore heavy team that plans on making a run at league and also Division II of CIF.”

Reyes isn’t kidding when he says this year’s team is underclassmen heavy.

Top returners include sophomores Lily Hermosillo, Sofia Vega and Alexyia Reyes, juniors Alexa Zumstein and Elizabeth Olguin and senior Vanessa De La Luz.

Hermosillo, a catcher, earned second team all-league honors last season while Vega, a shortstop, currently leads the team with three home runs and 11 RBI.

Reyes is 3-2 as a starter in the pitching circle with a 3.55 earned-run average and 19 strikeouts in 21 innings.

De La Luz is a four-year starter and currently hitting .476 with two doubles and five RBI.

Zumstein, De la Luz and Olguin are serving as team captains this year.

The elder Reyes called Olguin the team’s “table setter and emotional leader of the team.”

The Hilltop coach said sophomore transfer Natalie Alvarez should provide a lift both defensively and offensively.

The Lady Lancers haven’t found hitting to be a problem in the opening three weeks of the season with a .353 team hitting average, 17 doubles, three triples and four home runs.

Junior Mikayla Galeran (seven RBI) and Vega (four doubles) are both leading the team with .500 hitting averages. Junior Alexis Rios is hitting .429, followed by Hermosillo (.389, three doubles, eight RBI), freshman Isabella Estrada (.364, three RBI) and Zumstein (.333, three RBI).

Junior Hanely Cellis is 2-0 in the pitching circle with a 0.98 ERA and 12 strikeouts in 14 innings.

Hilltop opened the season with a 12-4 loss at Christian on Feb. 26, then swept a double header from visiting Sweetwater by scores of 9-0 and 14-0 on Feb. 29.

The Lady Lancers opened the Cougar Classic tournament by going 3-0 in pool play with wins over San Pasqual (10-1 on March 3), Torrey Pines (6-3 on March 4) and Mission Vista (15-0 on March 5).

Hilltop’s tournament run ended with a 6-0 quarterfinal-round loss to top-ranked Mater Dei Catholic.

“We made the Platinum Division in back-to-back years,” the elder Reyes said.

Mater Dei Catholic, the section’s defending Open Division champion, won all six of its games at the Cougar Classic, defeating Mt. Carmel (8-0 on March 2), Mission Bay (12-1 on March 5) and Del Norte (7-0 on March 6) in pool play.

After defeating Hilltop, the Lady Crusaders topped fifth-ranked Granite Hills, 7-1, in the semifinals on March 7 and defeated Division II top-ranked University City, 6-2, in the championship game.

Perfect start
Excellent hitting and pitching have been the hallmarks of the Mater Dei Catholic program. This year doesn’t appear to be different despite the loss to the team’s superstar pitching-catcher combo (Lexi Sosa and Alyssa Garcia) to UCLA upon graduation last year.

Junior Kiyra Moody tops Mater Dei Catholic with a .545 hitting average with two doubles, one home run and four RBI. She’s followed on the scoresheet by junior Gigi Gonzalez with a .500 hitting average, four doubles, one home run and five RBI.

Senior Destinee Noury is hitting .429 with two doubles, two home runs and nine RBI while junior Bela Guerrero is hitting .412 with four doubles.

Freshman Ayanna Shaw is hitting .400 with four RBI while junior Gisselle Garcia is hitting .333 with seven RBI.

Junior Brianna Escalante is hitting .333 with two triples and three RBI while senior Zaia Castruita is hitting .267 with five RBI.

Garcia is 6-0 in the pitching circle with a 0.66 earned-run average and 54 strikeouts in 31 innings.

 

Perfect game
Sosa, the 2019 San Diego Section Player of the Year, became the first UCLA pitcher since 2010 to toss a perfect game when the Lady Bruins defeated Boston University, 10-0, on March 7. Sosa (4-0) retired all 15 batters she faced, striking out six. It was the first no-hitter of Sosa’s collegiate career.

UCLA (25-1) was ranked first in the nation when the NCAA cancelled the remainder of its spring season.

Sosa carries a 1.50 ERA in nine appearances with 29 strikeouts in 28 innings.

Garcia is hitting .354 in her freshman season with five doubles and nine RBI.

Bonita Vista alumna Aaliyah Jordan, a redshirt junior, is also rostered on the Lady Bruins. Sheled the team with a .435 hitting average in 26 games with 13 doubles, two home runs 27 RBI , a .552 on-base percentage and a .710 slugging percentage.

Jordan earned NFCA All-West Region Second Team and All-Pac-12 First Team honors in 2019 while leading UCLA with 20 doubles, ranking second with 13 home runs, 61 runs batted in, a .711 slugging percentage and a .467 on base percentage, tied for second with 28 walks and tied for third with a .383 batting average, adding 42 runs scored. She finished tied for 10th nationally in doubles.

Sierra Tufts returns for her senior season at Eastlake High School. Photo by Phillip Brents

Metro Conference Leaderboard

Mesa League

(Non-League records)
Mater Dei Catholic 6-0
Bonita Vista 4-1-1
Hilltop 5-2
Otay Ranch 4-2
Eastlake 4-2,
Olympian 2-4

South Bay League
(Non-League records)
Mar Vista 5-1
San Ysidro 5-2
Sweetwater 2-6
Montgomery 1-4
Castle Park 0-4
Southwest 0-4
Chula Vista 0-5

 

Top hitters
(Minimum 15 at-bats)

  • Gemma Covarruvias (San Ysidro) .625, six RBI
  • Paulette Torres (San Ysidro) .625, two RBI
  • Naiya Celiceo (San Ysidro) .615, two home runs, 14 RBI
  • Naliah Garcia (Otay Ranch) .615, three home runs, eight RBI
  • Arisa Tovar (Olympian) .615, three doubles, four RBI
  • Bella Hurtado (Olympian) .571, five RBI
  • Stephanie Alvarez (Olympian) .562, two doubles
  • Aimee Alvarado (Olympian) .556,
  • Kiyra Moody (Mater Dei Catholic) .545, two doubles, four RBI
  • Cassandra Covarrubias (San Ysidro) .545, four RBI
  • Sofia Vega (Hilltop) .500, four doubles, three home runs, 11 RBI
  • Saige Alfaro (Eastlake) .500, two doubles, six RBI
  • Sarahi Ulloa (San Ysidro) .500, seven RBI
  • Sahara Anglin (San Ysidro) .500, six RBI
  • Gigi Gonzalez (Mater Dei Catholic) .500, four doubles, five RBI
  • Vanessa De la Luz (Hilltop) .476, two doubles, five RBI
  • Katie Steinmetz (Olympian) .462
  • Rylee Alfaro (Eastlake) .438, two RBI
  • Destinee Noury (Mater Dei Catholic) .429, two doubles, two home runs, nine RBI
  • Hannah Slike (Eastlake) .421, two RBI
  • Bela Guerrero (Mater Dei Catholic) .412, four doubles
  • Ayanna Shaw (Mater Dei Catholic) .400, four RBI
  • Lily Hermosillo (Hilltop) .389, three doubles, eight RBI
  • Sarah Loper (Otay Ranch) .385, five RBI
  • Maya Loper (Otay Ranch) .375, two home runs, four RBI
  • Emely Vazquez (San Ysidro) .364, four RBI
  • Gisselle Garcia (Mater Dei Catholic) .333, seven RBI
  • Alexa Zumstein (Hilltop) .333, two doubles, three RBI
  • Brianna Escalante (Mater Dei Catholic) .333, three RBI
  • Alesia Casillas (Eastlake) .333, two RBI
  • Alexyia Reyes (Hilltop) .286, three RBI
  • Jaeden Inguito (Otay Ranch) .286, three RBI
  • Devin Bailey (Otay Ranch) .286
  • Elizabeth Olguin (Hilltop) .267, two doubles
  • Zaia Castruita (Mater Dei Catholic) .267, five RBI

 

Top pitchers
(Minimum 10 innings)

  • Gisselle Garcia (Mater Dei Catholic) 0.66 ERA, 54 strikeouts, 6-0 record
  • Hanely Cellis (Hilltop) 0.98 ERA, 12 strikeouts, 2-0 record
  • Sierra Tufts (Eastlake) 1.52 ERA, 23 strikeouts, 3-1 record
  • Naiya Celiceo (San Ysidro) 2.10 ERA, 14 strikeouts, 2-0 record
  • Maya Loper (Otay Ranch) 2.22 ERA, 41 strikeouts, 3-2 record
  • Alexyia Reyes (Hilltop) 2.35 ERA, 19 strikeouts, 3-2 record

 

San Diego Section Rankings
(Through March 13)

Division I
1. Mater Dei Catholic (6-0), 2. Granite Hills (6-2), 3. Rancho Buena Vista (7-1), 4. Rancho Bernardo (6-1), 5. Bonita Vista (4-1-1), 6. Patrick Henry (5-2), 7. Poway (5-1), 8. Eastlake (4-2), 9. Santana (5-3-1), 10. Brawley (5-2).

Division II
1. University City (5-1), 2. Mission Bay (4-2), 3. Mar Vista (5-1), 4. Del Norte (5-3), 5. Otay Ranch (4-2), 6. El Capitan (7-1), 7. Central Union (5-1), 8. Helix (5-1), 9. Escondido (3-4), 10. La Costa Canyon. Others: 11. Hilltop (5-2), 19. Olympian (2-4)

Division III
1. San Diego (4-0), 2. Bishop’s (2-1), 3. Canyon Crest Academy (4-1), 4. Serra (6-1), 5. La Jolla Country Day (2-1), 6. Valhalla (2-3-1), 7. Calexico (2-3), 8. Coronado (2-2), 9. West Hills (1-3-1), 10. Christian (1-4). Others: 14. Sweetwater (2-6), 15. Chula Vista (0-5), 16. Southwest (0-4)

Division IV
1. Holtville (7-1), 2. San Dieguito Academy (4-1), 3. La Jolla (6-2), 4. Santa Fe Christian (3-0), 5. Morse (4-2), 6. Sage Creek (3-0), 7. Calipatria (2-2), 8. Francis Parker (2-4), 9. Mount Miguel (2-2), 10. Tri-City Christian (1-2). Others: 12. Montgomery (1-4), 13. Liberty Charter (1-2), 15. Monte Vista (1-3)

Division V
1. Lincoln (5-3), 2. Orange Glen (4-1), 3. San Ysidro (5-2), 4. Kearny (2-3), 5. Ocean View Christian Academy (2-1), 6. Crawford (1-2), 7. High Tech North County (1-3), 8. Hoover (2-6), 9. El Cajon Valley (1-2), 10. Guajome Park Academy (0-3). Others: 11. Castle Park (0-4)