Regents’ softball says farewell to 7
By Steve Ames

Special to the T.O. Acorn

La Reina High may be losing seven of its Tri-Valley League softball championship team members to graduation, but head coach Don Hyatt, without discounting their contribution to the Regents 2003 success, is excited for the potential of his team in 2004.

Seniors who will be missing from the roster next year are Sarah DiJulio, Susie Fox, Ashley Nichols, Jenny Ortez, Jessica Prina, KC Robertson and Lynne Wetmore.

"We had a combination of seven seniors, (and) eight freshmen, so we had opposite ends of the pole," Hyatt said. "We had some experience, but a lot of kids who were learning."

The Regents had freshman Ashlee Thompson at shortstop, sophomores Kristin Beaven at third base, Jennifer Littlejohn at first base, and Alex Saline in left field, and freshman pitcher Vicky Brown who threw quite a bit along with Robertson.

"The learning curve was incredible," the coach said. "From where we started out (to) where we finished, the seniors just pulled that group along. A lot occurred. (The final record was) 14-5-1. They did a great job. We had 12 (wins) in a row to that point and (had) only given up one (run) in 70-some innings.

"With the seven seniors, we have a variety of people who started, people who started at one time, people who were role players."

Reflecting on the seniors and their individual contributions, Hyatt said starting pitcher Robertson (9-3) has been there for the team from the beginning along with the position starters:

Wetmore at second base, DiJulio at center field, Fox as catcher for three years, Prina as left fielder; Nichols as a runner and reserve outfielder, and Ortez as an outfielder who, as a freshman, got the winning hit in the California Interscholastic Federation Championship Game.

"They’ve all done such a great job of leading, showing the freshmen and sophomores what it is to play like champions," the coach said.

"Obviously you are not going to win every game, but they set a great example for them to follow. We’re going to miss that example like you wouldn’t believe. It’s tough to replace that kind of stuff.

"You can’t single out any one. You can’t sit and pull out that we’ve missed this aspect or that aspect. But that whole group, I’m going to miss because most of them have been with us for four years, three to four depending on when they joined the varsity."

While Hyatt said, "I’m not ready to say good-bye right now," he said on balance, "I’m really encouraged by what we have coming back.

"They’ve all done a great job. They’ve worked hard. They’re ready to step in and take over. They had kind of a tough year from the standpoint that they did not get as much playing time as they would have liked with us not having a JV program."

One advantage of not having a junior varsity team, he said, is that players learn from being with the seniors daily instead of playing JV and maybe coming up for playoffs or seeing them once in a while.

"I think they were able to grab a lot more from the seniors by being out there with them," Hyatt said. "I know one in particular, Kristen Torres, who worked with Lynne Wetmore on a daily basis at second base, you could just see every day her getting better and better and better. She’s ready to jump in to that spot.

"All of them are kind of the same way. It looks like we have a good group of incoming players. We’ll be ready to go next year. That’s what we talk about."