All-around athletes key to CVC's success
Capistrano Valley Christian doesn't exactly have a team of experienced, elite softball players.
Jessica Nipp, the left fielder, said had never thrown a ball of any kind until she took up softball as a freshman.
"Softball was kind of foreign to me," she said. "I didn't have any friends that played softball. I never got into any softball league or anything. It was just basketball for me."
Bronwyn Seward, the shortstop, had not played softball until she tried out as a sophomore.
Softball is a second or third sport for many of the players on CVC's team, including Jesica Balmer, who plays basketball, volleyball and softball for the Eagles.
In an era when coaches try to get their players to specialize in one sport, the coaches at CVC encourage their girls to try as many different sports as is possible.
"In our school, in our gym, they have banners up there that if you are league champions or you get to the semifinals in playoffs, they put your names on the back of the banners," Seward said.
"That was the goal of us seniors to have a banner up there with our names on it. That's why it's such a big deal because we didn't get it in volleyball or basketball. Softball was our last shot."
CVC won the San Joaquin League title, its first league championship since 2000, and the Eagles knocked off fourth-seeded Victor Valley Christian of Victorville on Thursday to earn a spot in the CIF-SS Division 7 semifinals.
The Eagles play at Kern Valley of Lake Isabella today at 3:15 p.m. in their first semifinal appearance.
"Over the offseason and coming into the year we weren't expecting to be in the semis or anything," Nipp said. "We just try our best, put our best out there and that's what we've been doing."
Nipp is batting .473 with 10 stolen bases and 25 runs scored. Seward is hitting .391 with 13 RBIs and 29 runs scored. Balmer is hitting .278 with 17 RBIs.
Not bad for not being their main sport.
"Everybody knows everybody and everything that's going on," Nipp said. "It's a really small community and we all try to back each other up in our sports and things like that."
NOTES
Loyola Marymount-bound Meghan Harman of Santa Margarita and Northwestern-bound Marisa Bast of Villa Park won't be able to play in the Orange County vs. Riverside County All-Star Game on June 10 at 6:30 p.m. at Mt. SAC because they will be at the Junior National team tryouts June 10-12 at the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista.
Lauren Chamberlain of El Toro, Amber Freeman of Mater Dei, Kylee Lahners of Laguna Hills, Hallie Wilson of Foothill, Marisa Bast of Villa Park and Jessica Plaza of Edison are the other county girls who received invitations to the tryouts.
About 17-20 girls will make the team that will play in the Pan Am Games this year in Bogota, Colombia. ...
The 11th Orange County Coaches All-Star Game has a new format next Tuesday at Bill Barber Park. There will be two games with a Home Run Derby in between. In honor of the All American Girls Softball League started in 1943 the teams will be named after the four original members.
The Blue Sox feature players from the Sea View and Pacific Coast leagues. The Peaches feature players from the South Coast, Sunset and Golden West leagues. The Comets feature players from the Century, Trinity and Orange Coast leagues. The Belles feature players from the Freeway, Orange, Garden Grove and Empire leagues.
The Belles play the Blue Sox at 5 p.m. and the Comets take on the Peaches at 7:30 p.m. Admission is $5. ...
The Soroptomist North-South All-Star Softball Game will be held June 9 at Cal State Fullerton.
