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Wrapping up spring sports honor roll

 

By Phillip Brents

Posted Aug. 5, 2002

With the 2002-2003 high school sports season ready to rear its head next month, it seems time to wrap up some loose ends from the 2002 Metro Conference spring sports campaign.

Baseball honors

Eastlake High’s Eddie Solis and Marian Catholic’s Fernando Castillo topped the San Diego Section’s All-Division baseball teams as Players of the Year. Solis, completing his junior season, helped lead the Titans (28-6) to this year’s Division II title — the school’s second in its history — following a 5-1 extra-inning win against Oceanside June 1 at SDSU’s Tony Gwynn Stadium. Castillo helped key Marian Catholic (26-9) to its fifth division title in seven years following the Crusaders’ 7-2 victory against Christian in the Division IV championship game.

Solis (South Bay League Player of the Year) was joined on the Division II First Team by senior teammate Jack Spradlin (South Bay League Pitcher of the Year). Two Eastlake players earned selection to the All-Division II Second Team: seniors Rene Montes and Danny Silvas.

Marian Catholic senior Salvador Castenallos joined Castillo on the Division IV First Team while two Crusaders earned representation on the Division IV Second Team: juniors Chris Sustaista and Xchelt Palobox. Marian Catholic’s team dynasty collected one more postseason honor when outfielder Carlos Ibarra earned selection to the all-state small schools team.

Montgomery High junior Manny Hernandez earned selection to the All-Division I First Team in balloting by the San Diego Section’s coaches. Montgomery grads Justin Suarez (Mesa League Pitcher of the Year) and Fernando Pacheco (Mesa League Player of the Year) and Bonita Vista alumnus Joel Zumaya all earned Second Team All-Division I honors

Castle Park senior Gilbert Gil was named to the Division II Second Team.

Draft Day

This year’s Major League Baseball amateur draft saw six players from South County selected, including three from Montgomery High. Pacheco, a first baseman, catcher Arturo Bravo and right-handed pitcher Juan Velazquez were the three Aztecs selected in the June 4-5 draft. Also selected were the Barons' Zumaya and Bonita resident Brian Barden and Eastlake’s Spradlin.

Pacheco was the first South Bay player selected. In the fourth round the Cleveland Indians drafted him with the 124th overall pick. Barden, the only one of the South Bay players to be drafted out of college, was taken in the sixth round by the Arizona Diamondbacks. Barden, a third baseman at Oregon State University, grew up in Bonita and attended St. Augustine High School. He was the 189th overall pick.

Zumaya, a right-handed pitcher, was selected by the Detroit Tigers in the 11th round as the 320th overall pick. Bravo went in the 24th round when the Milwaukee Brewers used the 709th pick to select him. Velazquez was taken by the Reds in the 27th round with the 795th overall selection. Spradlin, a left-handed pitcher, was the 1,470th overall pick and was drafted by the New York Mets in the 50th and final round.

Softball honors

Bonita Vista’s Division I semifinalist team earned its share of postseason accolades, starting with San Diego Section Division I Player of the Year Vanessa Iapala, a senior, and fellow Division I First Team coaches’ selection Emily Turner, a junior, and Division I Second Team selections Briana Carrera and Monica Hanono, both seniors. The Barons had their bid for an undefeated season ended following a 2-0 semifinal loss to eventual champion Poway in the Division I playoffs. Bonita Vista, which at one point in the season ranked among the top teams in the state, finished its otherwise glory-ridden season 30-1 with numerous records

Iapala, who also earned recognition as the 2002 Mesa League Player of the Year, set a new section record by collecting her 169th career hit in a league game May 7 against Mesa League rival Chula Vista.

Turner and Carrera both shared honors as the Mesa League Pitchers of the Year.

Eastlake juniors Stephanie Dow and Jennifer Bigbee both earned recognition as members of the Division II First Team. Junior Vianney Campos and freshman Leila Dolfo (South Bay League Pitcher of the Year) were both named to the Division II Second Team.

Sophomore Andrea Marin and juniors Norman Barba and Jessica Castro all represented Marian Catholic on the Division IV First Team while freshman Brittany Vela and sophomore Esther Euribe each earned Division IV Second Team honors.

Football fast-forward

The North defeated the South, 16-13, in this year’s Alex Spanos All-Star Football Classic held July 12 at Mesa College. The game — witnessed by a crowd estimated at 4,000 — serves to showcase graduated seniors one more time before they head off to their respective colleges in the fall.

Quarterback Ian Pizarro, a 6-3, 200-pound Montgomery High grad, earned Most Valuable Player honors for the game for the South, which led 13-7 after scoring the opening points of the second half. Pizarro, who is bound this fall for Weber State in Utah, directed both South scoring drives, hitting Hoover alum Tyrell Spain for a 35-yard scoring pass to erase an early 7-0 North lead.

Besides Pizarro, also selected to the South roster were the following Metro Conference standouts from the past season: wide receiver Detron Johnson (5-8, 176) from Bonita Vista; defensive back Adrian Crabb (5-11, 175) from Hilltop; offensive lineman Dane Ives (6-1, 220) from Eastlake; offensive lineman Patrick Narvaez (6-1, 280) from Chula Vista; offensive lineman Miguel Molina (6-0, 220) from Marian Catholic; and linebackers Curtis White (6-0, 210) and Efren Diaz (6-0, 200), offensive lineman Patrick Fejaran (6-0, 250) and wide receiver Hector Goldbaum (5-9, 165), all from Sweetwater.

Johnson, White and Diaz are both bound for Palomar College while Crabb is headed to Southwestern College, Ives to Grossmont College and Narvaez to Mesa College. Fejaran will attend college at Willamette.

Helix coach Gordon Wood, a Chula Vista resident, coached the South team. Also on board from Helix was quarterback Alex Smith, whose parents reside in Bonita. Smith (6-4, 185) is headed to Utah this fall.

Reggie Grigsby, an El Camino alumnus, earned North Player of the Game honors after making an interception that set up the North’s game-winning drive. Wake Forest-bound Ryan Plackemeier of Fallbrook High kicked a 23-yard field goal with 5:06 left in regulation play to snap a 13-13 tie.

Joe Naiman contributed to this story.

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