Stephanie Alvarez came up big last summer. She and her family went to Pismo Beach in August in a vacation ritual they do every summer, to camp and ride four-wheelers in the dunes. Over the July Fourth weekend, the slugging catcher from La Jolla High School went with her travel softball team, the San Diego Rowdies, to the Colorado Sparkler Tournament in Denver. “There were a lot of scouts. I hit a home run. It was the best game I’ve had,” bubbled the senior. So, family/friends and softball. Two big themes in Alvarez’s life. She shows a total enjoyment of both, evident in her frequent laughs and smiles on the diamond. An additional joy this season in the Western League is the inclusion of her younger sister Emily, a freshman, on the Viking varsity. Emily starts at first base, while her older sister is behind the plate. Behind the Alvarez sisters, senior pitcher Katja Sarain and a new crop of players, La Jolla has made a new impact on the league. After winning only three games in 2014, the Vikings were 12-4 overall partway through this season, 4-2 in league.
“I just thought about this season. I thought we could do well,” says Alvarez, hitting a robust .534 with a whopping 1.120 slugging percentage and seven home runs to lead all Western League players. Still, as a leader on a winning team, she shows the same lightheartedness as in her freshman year three years ago. She is the one leading the crazy cheers that characterize girls fast-pitch softball – something you won’t see in boys baseball.
Alvarez tries to encourage her teammates, including her sister in her first year in varsity ball. “I don’t like being the Debbie Downer,” she says. “I try to make it fun.” The sisters played together once before, on a recreation league team. “If she’s not doing well, I try to help her.”
The 18-year-old gets a lot of encouragement from her mother, Edith. “My mom is always there, always there giving me motivational speeches.”
Another booster is her travel team coach, Arch Vest, who has made contacts with other coaches for Alvarez’s future in softball. Her No. 1 choice would be to attend Frank Phillips College, a junior college in Borger, Texas, next year. It is located in the panhandle of Texas, between New Mexico and Oklahoma. The school even has a rodeo team, but it’s a long way from San Diego.
If that doesn’t work out, Mesa College could be the lucky recipient of the power-hitter’s services next year.
Everything has come together on the playing field for Alvarez this spring. She’s pounding the ball for distance and average. She hits third in the order, ahead of Linda Brown, a sophomore third baseman who fills the spot Alvarez played before moving behind the plate. Brown is right behind her, with six home runs and a .437 average. Another weapon is freshman shortstop Josie Sinkeldam, hitting .455 from the leadoff spot.
In a recent game at Coronado, Alvarez made a good throw on a stolen base by the Islanders, but her footwork wasn’t tight, and she had some wasted motion. Head coach Anthony Sarain and assistant coach Tracy Brown work with her on her footwork as well as team strategy.
Following seasons of 20 defeats Stephanie’s first three years, this year’s Vikings cite their first win in the Western League in four years, a victory over Clairemont before the spring break.
Another was a win over Point Loma, the first in recent memory. The Pointer players were caught off guard by the Vikings and their improved look. Point Loma didn’t start some of its regular players and paid a price as La Jolla spanked them on the home diamond, 9-6.
Alvarez, coming to the plate with the bases loaded with one out in the bottom of the seventh inning, crushed the first pitch over the right field fence for a walkoff grand slam homer. Point Loma was in shock, while the Viking players exulted.
