The sun had disappeared beyond the RIMAC Annex building on the campus of UCSD. The lights were flickering to life in preparation for a night game, and 15 girls dressed in powder blue jerseys stood ready to play.
“Live for this moment,” said High Tech High coach Vince Ichihara. “It’s not every day you get to play in a championship game.” For the Storm, that statement could not be truer. After 10 years of having a softball program, the team had reached, and then won, its first CIF championship game.
The opponent was offensive powerhouse Oceanside. Just the day before, they had handed us a landslide defeat 19-6. That loss might just have been a gift in disguise. We went into the championship game as the underdog; we weren’t “supposed” to win. Oceanside thought it had the game in the bag, but it hadn’t seen the “real” Storm the day before.
We came out and played with heart and intensity but made sure to have fun and enjoy the moment.
“We were all having so much fun,” said junior infielder Taylor McClintic. “We were cheering and dancing before and during the game, and I don’t think that our team has ever been closer.”
It was the team bond we displayed and played with that led to our 8-3 victory.
Jamie Wilkinson, a junior left fielder, led the team on offense with two RBIs from two singles. But it was the performance turned in by freshman pitcher Abigail Sebert that led the team to victory. Sebert, the likely Frontier League Pitcher of the Year, induced many pop-ups and ground balls and allowed Oceanside just three runs from five hits.
Though Sebert looked relaxed and unfazed by the stage she was pitching on, she was quick to acknowledge that wasn’t necessarily the case.
“It was very nerve-wracking,” she said in a post-game interview. Sebert fittingly recorded the last out of the game on a ground ball come-backer and toss to first base. “Midway through my throw, I realized we had won, and it made me happy.” Ecstatic might be a more appropriate term to describe the emotion we all felt as we came together in celebration following the final out.
The victory was the first CIF title for the High Tech High softball program, but more important, it was the first CIF title for High Tech High athletics. A very exciting feat indeed.
None of our players was more excited than our sole senior, Carly Mitchell, playing her last game in a High Tech High softball jersey.
“I’ve loved seeing our team progress over four years, going from barely winning league to taking over our division,” Mitchell said. “We made history! I will forever remember not only how bad we wanted the title but also how well we played as a team, and all produced – not just one person.” The team has high hopes for next season. With an expected move up to division III and a strong group of incoming freshman, the immediate future of the High Tech High softball team is strong. No matter what new heights we attain next season, we will always take pride in what we accomplished this year and the school history we made. Tricia Warrens is a junior at High Tech High, a center fielder for the Storm, and a spring intern with The Peninsula Beacon.
