All-Area Softball: Flintridge Sacred Heart's Jessica Ferri earns Player of the Year; Maranatha's Sommers is COY

HONORABLE MENTION

Alhambra: Denise Gonzales, Fr.; Carmelita Wimberly, Fr.; Alverno: Barbara Parker, Sr.; Gabrielino: Breanna Delgado, So.; Flintridge Sacred Heart: Mary Knauf, Sr.; Alanna Pires, So.; Keppel: Niprae Chanpasorn, Sr.; Angie Yeh, Sr.; La Canada: Devon Zerebko, Sr.; Amanda Ulf, Sr.; Maranatha: Nicolby Atallah, Sr.; Pasadena Poly: Ally Latta, Sr.; Ramona Convent: Ellie Manriquez, Fr.; Rio Hondo Prep: Tiffany Horton, Sr.; Rosemead: Yazmin Jimenez, Fr.; San Gabriel Mission: Nicole Holguin, Fr.; Sanchez, Jr.; Temple City: Jessica Loicano, So.; Kelsey Hardwick, Sr.; Brittany Vasquez, Sr.

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Ferri shines for Tologs in circle and at the plate

By Keith Lair, Staff Writer

PASADENA - It was not quite the ending that Jessica Ferri envisioned.

That would be a long run in the CIF-Southern Section playoffs. But instead, the Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy standout was barely able to hobble off the field at Oaks Christian in Westlake Village a little more than a month ago.

"It was not how I really pictured my high school career ending," she said. "But I think we exceeded everyone's expectations. Overall, it was a pretty positive season."

Playing on an artificial surface, Ferri injured her right knee sliding into third base on a steal attempt in the first inning of a first-round CIF-Southern Section Division III playoff game. Either her metal cleats - she did not know before the game that she would be playing on an artificial surface - got caught in the surface or she banged her knee on the ground. She does not know what caused the injury.

"The thing that was weird was that it was not an awkward dive," she said. "It was not a good situation."

Nevertheless, Ferri was through for the day, having pitched just one game of high school playoff softball. She was taken immediately to have her knee examined and the Tologs suffered an 11-0 loss to the Lions. Ferri tore her posterior cruciate ligament and is still undergoing rehabilitation.

But the injury did not put a damper on an unbelievable season. She was the top pitcher in the west San Gabriel Valley and the Tologs' leading hitter. As a result, she was selected as the Star-News 2009 Player of the Year.

She had an 18-5 record with a 0.36 ERA. She struck out 254 batters, gave up only eight earned runs and held opposing teams to a .126 batting average.

The Pasadena resident was so good at the plate that halfway through the season coach Kirk Nishiyama moved her to the front of the batting order. She batted .574 - no other Tologs player batted better than .300. She led the team in home runs (10), triples (three), doubles (eight), hits (39), RBIs (27), walks (11) and hit by pitch (six).

"There was a lot of pressure to not only keep the other team from scoring, but to also help produce runs," she said. "It was pretty hard, but I liked the pressure."

The Tologs' bid for their first Mission League title, playing league champion Alemany close three times, of which one game had to be replayed because of a successful Alemany protest after a Tologs victory. FSHA finished tied for second with Chaminade, and scored a 6-0 wild-card victory over Arroyo Grande.

It was the Tologs' first playoff appearance since 2006, when Ferri was a freshman.

"We had come pretty far," she said. "We were 1-2 and to reach that point after a slow start goes to show the character the team has.

"What is really important is that (coaches Nishiyama and Mary Schneiders) are really relatable to the players. They're two really respected teachers and they make it fun. But they also know how to balance it by keeping it competitive. They've done a really good job with the program."

Ferri graduated from FSHA with a 4.35 grade-point average and will attend Harvard, on scholarship, next season. Originally, she had committed to Boston College. But after arriving at the school on her official visit, she decided it did not fit. So, she opted to attend school seven miles up the road.

"What was most important was finding a school with great education as well as competitive softball," she said. "I always wanted to go to the Boston area. I have a lot of family there. I love Boston."

It was a four-year process; the Ivy League school began monitoring her grades and softball skills when she was a freshman.

It was kind of like pitching, which she didn't start doing until the fifth grade when she played outfielder and catcher.

"It was always the coach's daughter pitching," she recalled. "I got sick of brushing flies from the inside of my cap in the outfield and chasing balls."

Ferri began taking lessons from former La Ca ada High School coach Tom Parker.

Her risers and fastballs average 60 mph, but her favorite pitch is a changeup.

"If my changeup is working, I like making batters look silly," she said.

Even with her riser and fastball, she did that to a lot of batters this season.

keith.lair@sgvn.com
(626) 962-8811, Ext. 2233

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Minutemen buy Sommers' philosophy

By Keith Lair, Staff Writer

PASADENA - It was a matter of entitlement.

That's what Scott Sommers did to his Maranatha High School softball players. One of his first moves as the team's head coach was to make the season their own.

"It's about equipping these young ladies to take ownership and to learn what it takes to lead," Sommers said. "Not just be, `Hey I'm looking at my batting average.' It was where we were all pulling the rope in the same direction.

"Talk is cheap, so by them embracing that and having to challenge a few of them that were not of that mind-set, they responded big time. There were a lot of factors there why we did what we did, but I think that was a big factor. Everyone was pulling the rope in the same direction."
Scott Sommers is the head coach to Maranatha High School Softball team and Girls Softball Coach of the Year Monday, June 15, 2009. (SGVN/Staff Photo by Walt Mancini)

The Minutemen took his words to heart. Maranatha won its first league title in 22 years, advanced to the CIF-Southern Section playoffs for the first time in five years and reached the Division VI semifinals before losing to eventual champion Marymount, 8-0, a team it had beaten only a month earlier in a nonleague game. Maranatha finished 22-7. The loss to Marymount ended a 12-game winning streak.

As a result, Sommers is this newspaper's softball Coach of the Year.

Throughout the playoffs, Sommers never took credit for the run, which included a come-from-behind, first- round victory over Carpinteria and then playoff wins over Yucca Valley and Oxford Academy.

"It's not me," Sommers said throughout the playoff run. "It's the girls. They deserve all the credit."

It comes back to that recognition.

"One of the things we challenged our girls (with) this year was to learn to be a servant-leader, identifying the needs of their teammates and then stepping up and serving the needs of their teammates," he said. "As corny as that sounds, it was a big reason for our success because softball is a pretty individualized sport and we were all on the same page. We all wanted to accomplish the same purpose. I think that is what effective leadership is. It's not about the coach."

It helped to have seniors step up. Kimmie Sommers, who is not related to the coach, pitched every inning of the playoffs. Nicolby Atallah and Marnie Hillier had big hits in the playoffs. The team had seven seniors, including Sarah Sandoval, Kristi Gauntlett, Myles Williams and Nicole Simon.

It took underclassmen, too. Shortstop Annie Sommers, who is the coach's daughter, batted a team-high .500.

Scott Sommers and the Minutemen did need to have everything to get aligned right to make the long playoff run, and Sommers admits it.

The Minutemen were moved from the Olympic League to the Alpha League, where they went undefeated. They also were dropped one playoff division. Plus, some of their best players, including Kimmie Sommers, were playing in their final season.

"Talking to our girls at the beginning of the season, I don't think anybody in our program was surprised by where we ended up," he said. "We moved from Division V to Division VI, we moved out of the Olympic League to the Alpha League. I don't think there was a lot of surprise. The girls were like, `We want to get to the postseason and go far in the postseason.' "

"But you do have to perform."

It was the seniors' first CIF-SS playoff appearance after three consecutive fourth-place finishes in the Olympic League. The team went 39-34 in those three years, but only 8-16 in league play.

Long after most schools have their rosters, schedules and coaches intact, Sommers replaced Becca Krueger as the head coach. The move was discussed at the beginning of the school year, but was not finalized until January. Sommers, a part-time teacher at Maranatha, was the junior varsity coach and quickly stepped in.

"It was a smooth transition," he said. "Our seniors did a tremendous job and I am blessed to have great assistant coaches."

keith.lair@sgvn.com
(626) 962-8811, Ext. 2233