Mar Vista Softball Finishes Season as Co-League Champions

The Lady Mariners completed another successful season finishing 14-10 overall and 11-1 in league.

“The girls won the program’s third straight South Bay League Championship and sixth out of the last seven years,” said head coach Rick Nichols. “We were not expecting a League banner after losing eight girls to graduation after the 2010 season, so winning the banner was exciting.”

Mar Vista won every game on the road.  Their single league loss came against Olympian, who also finished 11-1-0 in league.

Although the Lady Mariners won another League title, it doesn’t mean their journey to success was free of bumps and bruises.

“We went to Las Vegas for a tournament and lost all five games by very close scores and lesser teams would have folded,” Nichols said. “The girls came together as a team and won their last nine games and made the CIF playoffs.”

Nichols said he had a very young team this year with only four seniors. He started two freshmen for the first time since 2006. The team struggled with upper tier pitching, something they didn’t see in the South Bay League, he said.

“I think our biggest struggle this year was keeping our intensity up with the teams in our league, jumping into CIF was difficult trying to adjust to the speed,” said senior third baseman Stephanie Beltran. “The season went well with only one loss under our belts in League. I’m very proud of how hard the girls worked.”

According to MaxPreps, Beltran was named Mar Vista softball Player of the Year.

“Stephanie was a solid team captain and leader and her stats were outstanding, landing her on the First Team All-South Bay League with five home runs, 35 RBI and a.585 batting average.”

The co-captain was surprised by the honor.

“Being named Player of the Year for Mar Vista is such an overwhelming accomplishment,” Beltran said. “I’m glad I was able to work to my goal of playing at my potential. My favorite part of this year was working with new girls and being able to be a leader.”

Nichols said three other particular players stood out this season. First year varsity players junior Victoria Santa Lucia had 10 home runs -this ranks her in the top 10 all time in the county for a season- and freshman Kristin Gendreau had a .636 batting average. Senior co-captain Ariana Trammel had 18 RBI and 3 home runs.

First Team All-South Bay League selections include Beltran, Santa Lucia, freshman catcher Adriana Hinojosa and junior pitcher Mallory Rosas. Second Team selections include sophomore outfielder Alyssa Rose, Gendreau, Trammel and sophomore second baseman Ashley Harbin.

Even though the team completed another successful season, there’s no downtime. The Lady Mariners will working hard in the off-season with hopes of capturing another League title next season.

“The girls will be playing together throughout the summer and winter in travel ball leagues and fastpitch softball,” Nichols said. “They did this last year and I believe that is what made them such a great team. This will help in working towards a fourth straight League Championship.”