High Tech High Chula Vista’s sports teams have made some noise at the San Diego Section level in past years, the school’s softball team among them.
The Bruins placed runner-up two years ago in the Division V championship game.
It took a 20-hit attack and extra innings but HTH Chula Vista emerged with a 9-8 win in eight innings last Saturday at UC San Diego to win this year’s Division IV championship.
The CIF title is the first in school history for the softball program.
“It is so satisfying to have our girls win this title,” HTH-CV athletic director Alan Botterman said. “They were so close two years ago, but to come back now and beat a school like Canyon Crest Academy is so rewarding.
“It’s also very gratifying to win and compete athletically without giving up on our core values. Our teams are held to higher standards than most. They only can practice once a week if they have two games, and have only three meetings with the coaching staff per week.
“They (also) have to have a 2.5 grade-point average. We have no cuts. We also don’t have our own facilities. In all, this is a total tribute to the commitment from our students and their coaches.”
Head coach Isaii Guerrero concurred with Botterman’s sentiments.
“For our school wining CIF is huge since it is predominantly an academic school,” Guerrero said. “We don’t have our own field and practice one hour a week. We have one travel ball player on our team. So for our softball team to accomplish what they did this year is a dream come true for all of us.
“It is especially special for me because my two daughters are on the team — pitcher Bela Guerrero and Paulina Guerrero. My wife is the team mom and my 7-year-old son is scorekeeper.
“We had magic this year and the players would tell me they felt like a part of a big family.”
The top-seeded Bruins (19-4) earned a co-championship with High Tech High San Diego in Pioneer League play this season as Bela Guerrero earned player of the year honors.
The elder Guerrero noted that both Bela and Paulina carried the team all year on the mound and at the plate.
Bela batted .759 while her sister batted .571 for the season.
In the playoffs Bela went 14-for-16. In the championship game she went 5-for-5 with two doubles, two triples and one single and pitched eight full innings.
HTH Chula Vista entered the seventh inning with a five-run lead in last Saturday’s CIF title game but was unable to hold it despite needing only three outs to close out the contest.
Eighth-seeded Canyon Crest Academy (17-14) made an “unbelievable comeback,” according to the Bruins coach, in the top of the seventh inning to not only erase a 7-2 lead but charge ahead 8-7.
“The ball found holes in our defense over and over,” Isaii Guerrero explained. “I told the girls to slow down the game and visualize a base hit. I reminded them we had 19 hits so far.”
It didn’t take long for the Bruins to respond to the words of their coach.
Bela Guerrero tied the game in the bottom of the seventh inning with a triple and Sam Maupusa, who had never played softball before this year, went 3-for-5 and knocked in the winning run in the eighth inning.
Neveah Sandoval finished the game with three RBI for the victors while teammate Arlene Martinez drove in a pair of runs.
The win by HTH Chula Vista over Canyon Crest Academy was the second in this year’s playoff bracket. The Bruins had previously edged the Ravens, 7-6, in the opening round on May 17.
Other playoff wins for the newly crowned Division IV champions included 4-0 over fifth-seeded Sweetwater (16-9) in second-round play on May 19 and 9-6 over second-seeded San Diego (14-18) in third-round play on May 24.
Canyon Crest Academy defeated four higher-seeded teams in its journey to this year’s division final: fourth-seeded Southwest (14-11), sixth-seeded Palo Verde Valley (13-15), third-seeded Tri-City Christian (18-5) and second-seeded San Diego.
Sweetwater, the third place finisher in this year’s South Bay League standings, defeated 12th-seeded Madison, 4-2, to open the playoffs before upending fourth-seeded Southwest in double-elimination play.
After losing to HTH Chula Vista, the Red Devils ended their season with a loss to Tri-City Christian.
Bumper crop of CIF finalists show well for South County
Eastlake (Division I) and Olympian (Division II) joined HTH Chula Vista in last weekend’s division finals.
Rancho Bernardo (21-12) blanked Eastlake (18-11-1) by a score of 3-0 in the Division I championship game.
Allie Boaz hurled a complete game four-hitter, striking out five while also driving in one run, to stymie the Titans. Teammate Heather Menzer drove in two runs.
The game looked like it might go extra innings after both teams entered the top of the seventh inning locked in a scoreless tie.
But the Broncos managed to push across three runs and Boaz managed to work out of a jam in the bottom of the frame to finally snuff out Eastlake’s chances of rallying for a victory.
The Titans had defeated RB twice during regular season play.
Meanwhile, fifth-seeded Olympian (23-10) continued its assault on the division title by handing a 7-0 shutout over Brawley in last Saturday’s Division II championship game.
Olympian did not allow a run in winning its opening three games in this year’s playoff tournament — defeating 12th-seeded Our Lady of Peace, 1-0, in the opening round on May 15, then following with a 2-0 win over fourth-seeded Mt. Carmel in second-round play on May 17 and a 6-0 victory against top-seeded Clairemont in third-round play last Saturday.
The CIF championship was the second for Olympian after winning the Division III title in 2015.
As fate would have it, Sydney Sandez pitched the Eagles to victories in both CIF title games.
The University of Utah-bound senior scattered nine hits and struck out seven batters in last Saturday’s game after scattering seven hits in the division championship game as a freshman.
Sandez allowed just one run in five playoff games.
The Eagles, meanwhile, continued to score runs in bunches. Olympian scored all its runs after batting around in the fourth and fifth innings.
Aimee Alvarado knocked in two runs courtesy of a bases-loaded double in the fourth inning to get the offense rolling with four runs in the fourth inning.
The Eagles tacked on three more runs in the fifth inning.
Olympian actually was out-hit 9-8 by Brawley despite recording the decisive victory.
Breanna Simmons and Sarah Gross join Sandez as four-year starters on the Eagles.
Gross picked up one RBI and scored two runs in the CIF final while Arisa Tovar also scored two runs. Bella Hurtado also drove in one run.
Sandez faced 30 batters in recording the win.
Alvarez keyed the team with a monstrous .434 hitting average in 33 games, followed by Simmons at .364, Sandez at .359 and Gross at .353.
Sandez improved to 14-6 with a 1.13 earned-run average.
In other division finals last weekend:
Liberty Charter (19-5) blasted second-seeded Guajome Park (17-7) by a score of 15-7 in last Friday’s Division V title game.
- Top-seeded Southwest El Centro (27-6) defeated ninth-seeded El Capitan (21-11-1), 8-0, in last Saturday’s Division III championship game.
- Second-seeded San Marcos (28-2) defeated top-seeded Cathedral Catholic,4-0, in last Saturday’s Open Division final.
Eastlake was the only section team to defeat Cathedral Catholic (26-4) during regular season play.
