East County softball teams receive recognition in early section power rankings

The early San Diego Section power rankings are especially kind to East County high school softball teams with Christian High School ranked at No. 3 and West Hills High School ranked at No. 10. Additionally, Santana pulled in a Top 20 ranking at No. 16.

Christian entered this week with a 14-3-1 overall record while West Hills was 7-3-1. Santana followed with a 7-4-0 record.

All three East County squads are chasing Bonita Vista and Mater Dei Catholic high schools, ranked No. 1 and No. 2, respectively, with 10-2 records to start the season. Sandwiched between Christian and West Hills in the rankings are No. 4 Poway (9-2-0), No. 5 Cathedral Catholic (8-3-0), No. 6 Imperial (11-3-0), No. 7 Pt. Loma (12-2- 1), No. 8 Escondido Charter (11- 2-0) and No. 9 Rancho Buena Vista (7-4-0).

Santana trails No. 11 Otay Ranch (5-3-1), No. 12 La Costa Canyon (8-4-1), No. 13 San Di­eguito Academy (9-1-1), No. 14 San Marcos (8-6-0) and No. 15 Eastlake (9-4-1).

Among the Top 50 teams in the power rankings are No. 33 Helix (4-2-0), No. 37 Steele Can­yon (5-5-1), No. 38 El Capitan (4-6-0), No. 39 Valhalla (5-9-0) and No. 41 Granite Hills (3-9-1).

With the season just past the opening month mark, there’s still plenty of time for teams to move up in the rankings — or move down.

Christian extended its cur­rent winning streak to seven games after dropping previously top-ranked Mater Dei Catholic, 3-1, in a non-league encounter on March 29. Seniors Ashley Wood and Lucy Sherburne and junior Lily Reyes each scored one run while Wood hammered out three hits, including a pair of doubles, to make a winner out of freshman Alyssa McCur­ty, who scattered six hits over seven innings in the pitching circle.

Senior Kaitlyn Moody tops the Lady Patriots with a 0.466 hitting average through 18 games to go with 20 RBI and three home runs. Sherburne ranks second on the team with a 0.458 average with 20 RBI and two home runs.

Other top hitters include Wood (0.390, nine RBI), junior Sammy Baca (0.353, 14 RBI) and senior Tyler Krystek (0.321, six RBI).

Junior Ava Barrios paces the pitching staff with a 9-2 record with 25 strikeouts in 57.2 in­nings and a 3.03 earned-run average. McCurty entered the week with a 3-0 record, 24 strikeouts in 37.2 innings and a 0.56 ERA.

As a team, Christian is hit­ting 0.327 with a 2.29 ERA.

West Hills is hitting 0.304 as a team with several players possessing astronomical hitting averages: junior Katy Spargo (0.611, 20 RBI, two home runs), senior Kristina Deal (0.486, eight RBI, three home runs) and freshman Kiara Rabaya (0.432, seven RBI).

Senior Gianna Burgin has spun a 4-0 record with 59 strike­outs in 39.2 innings and a 0.88 ERA in eight game appearances while senior Ava Goodman is 4-3 with 42 strikeouts in 39.2 innings and a 3.88 ERA, also in eight games.

Santana’s hitting leaders in­cluded junior Kaylee Lindahl (0.423, five RBI, one home run), senior McKenna Miller (0.393), senior Elizabeth Stephenson (0.364), junior Brianna Canty (0.320, five RBI) and sophomore Ashlyn Darrow (0.304, four RBI, one home run).

Of note, freshman Samantha Mora had logged a 0.800 batting average in four games while ju­nior Bryleigh Britza had a 0.333 average in six at-bats.

There appears to be a lot of talent this year spread around the Grossmont Conference.

Helix is paced by senior Lau­ren Farace (0.550, 10 RBI) and freshman Nikaylah Domingo (0.500, eight RBI, two home runs). In the pitching circle, Farace is 2-0 with 14 strikeouts in 16.1 innings and a 0.00 ERA.

Through 12 games, Steele Canyon’s hitting leaders in­cluded junior Dannika Lakin (0.438), junior Makenzie Meyer (0.417), senior Hailey Trujillo (0.406) and sophomores Kallan Shaw (0.389) and Bailey Evans (0.318). In nine games, junior Marina Gonzalez had turned in a 0.400 hitting average.

Top hitters on El Capitan in­cluded sophomore Sofia Simone (0.429), junior Ciara Bernardini (0.394), freshman Brynlie Ford (90.364), junior Quinnley More­house (0.316) and junior Kylee Frazier (0.306).

Freshman Addison Higuera had logged 31 strikeouts in 28.2 innings.

Sophomore Natalia Marco had made a mark on Valhalla with a 0.325 hitting average while junior Devyn Mack had recorded 46 strikeouts in 85.1 innings to go with five wins and a 1.56 ERA.