Baler Marissa Ibarra named Most Outstanding Pitcher in the
TCAL
The San Benito High softball team is on the brink of winning a
Central Coast Section Division I softball championship, and much of
the reason for that has been the stellar play of freshman pitcher
Marissa Ibarra.
Baler Marissa Ibarra named Most Outstanding Pitcher in the TCAL
The San Benito High softball team is on the brink of winning a Central Coast Section Division I softball championship, and much of the reason for that has been the stellar play of freshman pitcher Marissa Ibarra.
Ibarra was named the league’s Most Outstanding Pitcher, marking the first time ever that a San Benito High hurler won the coveted award. In addition to Ibarra three other Baler players made the league’s prestigious, All-League First Team list.
While the league-champion Balers had the most representation of any local high school based on their record, Live Oak High School and Gilroy had two players make the list. None of Sobrato High’s (a team with no seniors) players made the All-League First Team squad.
The decision to name Ibarra for the top-pitching award was a no-brainer, according to her coach.
“The vote wasn’t even close or contested,” said Baler Coach Scott Smith. “(Sarah) Villar (Gilroy High) was considered but it was a unanimous vote. Marissa does so many things well.”
But most importantly she wins ball games.
Heading into today’s 11 a.m. CCS title game against No. 12 Watsonville High at San Jose’s PAL Stadium, the No. 1 pitcher on the No. 3 seeded Baler team is riding one of the most impressive win streaks in CCS history.
With the win over No. 2 seed Carlmont in the CCS semifinals on Tuesday night, Ibarra picked up her 21st win in a row and her seventh by shutout.
Ibarra’s ERA this year is an amazing 0.60 and her record is 28-2 overall and 10-2 in league.
“She has excellent command of her pitches and a very good changeup,” said Smith. “She can hit her spots up and in, down and in and she has a very good rise. We rely on her defensively too. She is the complete package.”
Despite her dominant pitching and fielding prowess, Ibarra never had a chance to hit this season. It was just too great of a risk to take, according to Smith.
“If we let her hit and she got hurt, we were done,” said Smith. “I also know how some teams think. If they pitched her inside and she broke a finger or something, we’d be done.”
The other Baler players to receive First Team honors were Kristen Archuleta, Ari Romero and Elena Fata.
Archuleta, the team’s second baseman, drew the attention of the coaches in the league for her hitting skills. Batting in the team’s No. 3 spot the whole season, Archuleta was one of the toughest outs in the league, according to Smith.
“She was tough to strikeout, hit for power and was a very good base runner,” he said. “She also turned the double play as good as anyone in league.”
Archuleta, a three-time All League player, ended the regular season with a batting average in league of .385 that was triggered by a 13-game hitting streak to end the season.
“She really tore it up in the second half of the season,” Smith said.
While Archuleta made the list for her explosive and timely hitting, Romero, a team captain, has the defensive skills of a Golden Glove winner.
Despite playing the demanding first-base position, Romero ended the regular season with a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage.
“She didn’t make a single error the whole year,” Smith said. “She literally made five game-saving plays for us that I can think of and she also had five game-winning hits too. Without her, we wouldn’t have had the season that we had. I can remember two outs in the bottom of the seventh situations where we were up by a run and the tying and winning runs were on base. I’d shift the defense over and she would literally be out on an island alone out there, and then she’d come up with some uncanny catch to win the game.”
Another rock solid player on defense this year for the Balers was Elena Fata. In 69 fielding attempts this year at shortstop Fata misfired only one time.
As the team’s leadoff hitter, Fata had an impressive .333 batting average and often jump-started the offense.
“She’s a great base runner,” Smith said. “She has pretty good speed and is real smart.”
Although the Balers eliminated them in the CCS quarterfinals, Gilroy High made the playoffs this year for the first time in three years. And much of that success can be attributed to the solid outings on the hill by senior pitcher Sarah Villar, who was runner-up to Ibarra in the voting for the MOP award.
A three-year varsity starter, Villar had good speed and was able to mix her pitches well to keep opposing batters guessing.
“She’s not necessarily a strikeout pitcher but was able to get a lot of groundouts and pop fly outs for us,” said Gilroy coach Catherine Hallada. “It was nice to have someone out there like her, who could come in at the beginning or end of the game and get the job done. She was very versatile.”
The only other Gilroy player to make the First Team list was sophomore second baseman Lauren Chris.
Batting in the leadoff spot, Chris was considered a “left-handed slapper” or contact hitter by her coach, who sparked the team’s offense.
“She was a singles-only hitter but she hit in the high .300s,” said Hallada. “We could trust her to get on base.”
Compared to their 2005 campaign that included a CCS Division I section title, 2006 was a mediocre year for the Acorns of Live Oak. But that doesn’t mean that the Acorns didn’t have a better season then most teams. In fact, Live Oak finished with an overall record of 18-9-2 and advanced to the CCS Division II quarterfinals before losing to perennial powerhouse Archbishop Mitty last Saturday.
Much of the reason behind Live Oak’s success came as a result of the solid play from the two seniors that earned spots on the All-League First Team List this year.
The first to make the list was Acorn catcher April Herrera, who had a strong arm on defense as well as good skills with the bat.
“She had a strong arm to second and few stolen bases against her all year,” said Live Oak coach Barry McDonnell. “She really played heads up ball.”
At the plate, Herrera showed her offensive skills as well wound up batting more than .400 in league.
Next year she plans to go to Mission College in San Jose, where she plans to play softball and study fire science.
The other major player in the Acorns success this season was Alyssa Adamo, who started the season at shortstop but moved to centerfield in order to make the team more effective defensively.
As soon as the switch was made, Live Oak went on a six-game win streak.
“When Juliette (Bowers) pitched last year she would get 10 to 12 strikeouts a game. Trisha (Goularte) got about two or three a game this year and was hit a lot more often, which meant that more balls left the infield. Alyssa covered so much ground out there for us and was able to throw out a lot of players at the plate. She had an outstanding arm – one of the best of anyone I ever coached.”
