While the high school sports season is just starting to finally get underway after nearly a year off the playing field due to restrictions mandated by the COVID-19 pandemic, student-athletes continue to make plans for the next level.
Hilltop High School’s list of recent college signings include those by Alexa Zumstein (softball) and Esteban Farias (track and field). Zumstein will attend Cal State East Bay while Farias will attend William Jessup University.
Zumstein has appeared in 59 career varsity games at Hilltop with a .262 hitting average, 19 RBI, nine doubles and two home runs.
Farias won titles in the 110-meter high hurdles (17.09) and 300-meter intermediate hurdles (42.08) at the 2019 South Bay League championships.
Lancer alumni, meanwhile, continue to excel at the collegiate level.
Gael Ruiz, a 2020 Hilltop graduate who now attends San Diego Christian College, scored one goal and led the Hawks with seven shots in a 3-1 victory at La Sierra on Feb. 16. Ruiz, a San Diego Section First Team selection with the Lancers, notched the game-winning goal in a 4-1 win over the St. Katherine Firebirds on Feb. 10.
Ruiz appeared in 58 varsity games at Hilltop while scoring 36 goals and tacking on 26 assists for 98 scoring points. He also was credited with 135 steals. He tallied 31 goals and 13 assists his senior season. He amassed 125 steals as a junior.
Kassandra Ramirez, another 2020 grad, made her first college start at Life Pacific University on Feb. 13 in a 1-0 loss to Hope International at San Dimas High School. It was the first match in school history for Life Pacific after 20 months of building and 10 months of training and waiting to play.
Ramirez made her next start on Feb. 17 against St. Katherine, a 2-1 victory. The Lancer alum played the opening 45 minutes in that game after logging 46:25 in the team’s history-making opener.
Yet another 2020 alumnus, Xavier Gonzalez is a freshman on the baseball squad at Concordia University.
Player of the Game
Ryan Major, a 2018 HHS grad, recorded a breakout game for the sixth-ranked Louisiana State University Shreveport Pilots on Feb. 6 when he went five-for-six at the plate with a triple, six RBI and three runs scored in a 15-11 victory over the ninth-ranked Freed-Hardeman Lions.
Major previously played at Southwestern College, hitting .305 with 12 runs scored and 19 RBI in 36 games in 2018-19 and .347 in 20 games in 2019-20. He is hitting .545 with a .727 slugging percentage in four games at LSUS this season.
“I thank God for this opportunity and my family for supporting me and pushing me along the way,” he said.
