To talk about the future. With the senior athletes coming
Friday, here’s a look at those who will be making news in the
upcoming years
Hollister
You know right after the BCS National Championship game, where experts and analysts are already sick of breaking down another Ohio State loss, and there’s nothing more to predict and prognosticate so everyone comes out with their Top 25 rankings for next season, mere minutes after the current season ended?
Well, it’s kind of like that.
The spring season is barely a memory at San Benito and Anzar High, but before we work our way into the summer months, before we digest the Olympics ad nauseum, let’s give an appropriate look to the future.
The senior Athletes of the Year will be announced in Friday’s edition of the Free Lance, but I want to spend this time talking about the athletes, among the many, who will be making headlines next season at the prep level in a Peter Gammons-like “Notes” column.
Please, contain your excitement.
Without further ado.
Freshman:
The San Benito softball team knows all too well that defending the Central Coast Section title is not be an easy task. Although they’ll be losing seven seniors to graduation this year, manager Scott Smith has already been implementing a youth movement into his squad, as five freshmen dressed this season.
But freshman Jessica Vest perhaps played like a senior – or, at the very least, anything but a freshman. She stepped into the catchers role with relative ease, and delivered many a-clutch hit for the Lady ‘Balers.
She had a pair of home runs, and delivered an impressive week back in late April-early May, when she connected for the game-winning hit against Notre Dame, then followed that with the game-tying double against Gilroy.
Vest was also named the freshman female athlete of the year by SBHS.
While Vest was one of four freshman on the softball team, Darin Gillies was the lone freshman on the baseball team. In fact, he was one of two underclassmen on the varsity roster, the other being sophomore Trevor Fabing, who’ll you’ll be hearing plenty from come football season.
Gillies, the first freshman on the varsity team for manager Michael Luna, threw a no-hitter against Alisal in only his second start, and finished the season with the second best ERA in the TCAL – 1.09 over 19 innings of work.
“I knew he was gonna be good, but he exceeded my expectations,” Luna said. “Just his maturity and his competitiveness, and he acted like he belonged there, too.
“I think he’ll get better every year.”
The ‘Baler golf team, as youthful as they are (no one will graduate from this year’s team), was led by a pair of frosh in Nathan Winn and Will Cross.
The two delivered the team’s best scores for much of the season, and each qualified for the Central Coast Section Championships.
Chalk one up for Hollister’s youth programs, because the impressive freshman list continues.
There’s Anzar’s Alyssa Rodriguez, who led pretty much every statistical category for the Hawks basketball team, and was even the Monterey Bay area’s third leading scorer, dropping 22.7 points per game. She was the Mission Trail Athletic League’s MVP as well.
There’s San Benito girls soccer player Sara Yamasaki, who was named the TCAL’s co-freshman of the year after scoring six goals and adding a pair of assists for the Lady ‘Balers.
There’s a slew of freshman on the cross country team as well, including Eduardo Guzman, Jose Castillo, Luis Ruiz, Dayna Casillas, Linnea Shorey and Jessica Cook for San Benito, and Anzar’s Aaron Hsia-Coron.
And there’s Jake Hunter, a three-sport athlete – football, basketball, baseball – who was named the freshman male athlete of the year by SBHS.
Sophomores:
You could perhaps call Sophie Coelho and Junior Davila the sophomore athletes of the year.
Coelho was all over the place, namely on the girls soccer team, though, where she was named the co-offensive most valuable player of the year in the TCAL. She scored a team-high 17 goals, fourth best in the Monterey Bay area, and had a team-high nine assists.
She was the freshman of the year last season, and was also named SBHS’s sophomore female athlete of the year.
Davila went to the state wrestling championships for the second year in a row this past season at 112 pounds. He finished second overall in the Central Coast Section Championships at 112 pounds last season, third at 114 pounds the year before.
He’s a one-sport athlete, but by next season, when he’s a junior, he’ll already be a state veteran.
Other sophs include Nick Acosta, who’ll be the lead returning rusher to the football team next season (75 att., 295 yards, 3 TD), teammate Michael Murphy, who was second on the team in tackles (62), and center Victoria Aguilera of the girls basketball team.
Kyle Vallejo, a three-sport athlete by way of football, basketball and baseball, was named the male sophomore of the year by SBHS, while Nicole Mello was an All-MTAL selection for the Anzar girls basketball team.
Juniors:
They’re the kings of the high school next year and leaders on the field.
The softball team’s Marisa Ibarra has been written about plenty of times, but her stats are actually difficult to swallow at first glance. In three years, she’s 78-8 with 515 innings pitched, and she’s struck out 468 batters. What’s funny is that some don’t even consider Ibarra, this season’s most outstanding pitcher in the TCAL, a strikeout pitcher.
San Benito shut out 20 opponents this season. Said Manager Smith, “You don’t do that without a solid pitcher.”
Ibarra will anchor the team next year along with teammate JC Clayton, a first team All-TCAL selection this season. Clayton led San Benito in hits (44). She was also an All-TCAL selection in soccer, where she scored six goals and six assists for the Lady ‘Balers.
The junior class is also dominated by names like Ryan Shorey, who made the state track meet in the 400 meters; Justine Hunter, who had an incredible 1,112 assists for the girls volleyball team (second on the team was 48 assists); Kelsey Russell, who is simply an athlete by definition and seems to excel in everything, but namely girls water polo, basketball and track; Courtney Allen, who does both track and cross country, but prefers the latter and even qualified for state in it; Vanessa Farias, who was the TCAL’s MVP in girls basketball and helped lead the Lady ‘Balers to one of the greatest turnaround seasons in school history; boys spiker Adrian Rodriguez, whose 559 assists was tops in the TCAL; and Evan McFadden, whose name you’ll need to watch out for on the football field and the track.
Last but not least, catcher Kyle Zozaya and first baseman/pitcher Steve Cabral will lead the Haybalers baseball team next year.
Zozaya, though, was a first team selection last year and the co-MVP this year.
“Kyle, by far, will be the No. 1 guy based on what he’s done the last few years,” Luna said. “He’s been with the varsity the last two years. He’ll be like a second coach out on the field. He knows what I want and he should be able to articulate that to the players as well.”
