The San Diego Section held its second girls softball all-star game June 11 at San Diego State University. It followed on the heels of a highly successful – if not long overdue – inaugural event last year at UC San Diego.
Modeled after the boys’ baseball all-star game hosted by the Padres at Petco Park, the girls softball game featured a pregame eight-person home run derby and a nine-inning game matching East versus West all-star teams.
Mater Dei Catholic coach Mike Centrullo coached the East team while Cathedral Catholic’s Joe Hallare coached the West team.
Interest continues to build for the event.
A total of 48 players were chosen to participate between the two teams, including five from East County schools who were appropriately named to the East team. They included Sofia Mujica (Granite Hills), Alanna Christiaens (El Capitan), Kamea Seunarine (Steele Canyon), Faith Balestreri (West Hills) and Aubrey Thorne (El Capitan).
Batter up
Granite Hills, El Capitan, Steele Canyon and West Hills high schools all contributed players to the East team.
Mujica led the Grossmont Hills League champion Lady Eagles with a 0.444 hitting average in 26 games to go with 27 runs scored, 18 RBI, four doubles and 13 home runs.
Christiaens ranked fourth on El Capitan with a 0.358 hitting average that included 17 runs scored, 23 RBI, 10 doubles and six home runs.
Thorne was right behind on the Lady Vaqueros with a 0.319 batting average, 18 runs scored, 20 RBI, seven doubles, three triples and three home runs.
Seunarine ranked third on Steele Canyon with a 0.346 hitting average to go with 27 runs scored, 11 RBI, seven doubles, one triple and two home runs.
Balestreri hit 0.410 in 28 games with 14 runs scored and 17 RBI for Grossmont Valley
League champion West Hills.
Other East team all-stars included Nataly Lozano (Otay Ranch), McKenna Gieger (Patrick Henry), Abigail Tripp (Rancho Bernardo), Alexis Huey (Poway), Michelle Cervantes (Mater Dei Catholic), Alexis Jimenez (Bonita Vista), Mia Cascio (Rancho Bernardo), Isabel Cintron (Otay Ranch), Ryleigh Rinker (Poway), Viviana Vargas (Otay Ranch), Michaella Salvatierra (Mater Dei), Kendall Luna de la Fuente (Rancho Bernardo), Ashlee Sweet (San Pasqual), Gabriela Rodriguez (Olympian), Kayla Menges (Poway), Victoria Figueroa (San Ysidro), Allie Reese (Poway), Zarina Key (Classical Academy) and Kaitlin Surber (Poway).
West team all-stars included Sereniti Trice (Cathedral Catholic), Tiara Hill (Carlsbad), Caylene Nguyen (San Marcos), Gabby Moreno (Rancho Buena Vista), Samantha Garcia (Mission Hills), Alexa Brunetti (Del Norte), Turtle Padilla (Sweetwater), Sequoia Lewis (Chula Vista), Maddy Egan (Point Loma), Layla Thiessen (La Costa Canyon), Ava Torre (Cathedral Catholic), Georgia Bilski (Torrey Pines), Kathryn McGinty (Torrey Pines), Jessica Phelps (Del Norte) Alex Riggs (Our Lady of Peace), Callie Christian (Mira Mesa), Olivia Anderson (Santa Fe Christian), Breanna Wilson (Mar Vista), Abby Huhn (Mission Hills), Hannah Waclawski (Mission Vista), Stefini Ma’ake (Our Lady of Peace), Leah Ridenour (University City), Illiana Romero (Bayfront Charter) and Shea Johnson (Cathedral Catholic).
Home run derby participants included Otay Ranch’s Lozano, Granite Hills’ Mujica, Patrick Henry’s Gieger, Rancho Bernardo’s Tripp, Our Lady’s Ma’ake, Del Norte’s Brunetti, Mission Hills’ Garcia and Santa Fe Christian’s Anderson.
Ma’ake dominated the home run derby with 83 points (24 home runs and 11 balls to the warning track in the preliminary round) and capped her victory in the event with 64 points in the final two-minute round. Lozano finished second with a distant 21 points.
The East all-stars defeated the West all-stars, 10-7, in the ensuing game. Mater Dei Catholic’s Salvatierra led the East team with three hits while Rancho Bernardo’s Kendall Luna de la Fuente had two hits. San Marcos’ Caylene Nguyen collected two hits for the West team.
Poway’s Menges earned the game’s MVP award after pitching 4.1 innings for the victorious East team.
The game featured a pair of offensive spurts. The East scored seven runs in the fifth inning to break out in front 9-2 on the scoreboard while the West rallied for five runs in the bottom of the frame.
Around the horn
Twelve East County teams qualified for this year’s section playoffs, including eight Grossmont Conference teams and four non-district schools.
Granite Hills received the No. 1 seed in the Division I bracket while league rival Steele Canyon was seeded fourth. El Capitan received the No. 9 seed among Division I teams while Santana was seeded 10th and Helix Charter was seeded 11th.
Christian received the No. 3 seed in the Division II bracket while West Hills was seeded seventh. Grossmont was seeded seventh and Foothills Christian was seeded ninth among Division III teams.
Alpine’s Liberty Charter received the No. 4 seed in Division IV. El Cajon Valley received the No. 2 seed in Division V while Mountain Empire was seeded eighth.
Steele Canyon advanced to the Division I championship game, dropping a 4-3 decision to third seeded Otay Ranch. The Lady Cougars qualified for the Division III Southern California regionals, advancing to the semifinals.
Steele Canyon defeated Granite Hills twice in the Division I double-elimination semifinals while Christian and El Cajon Valley also ended their seasons in the semifinal round.
Six of the 12 East County qualifiers won at least one game, five won at least two games and two won at least three games.
