
Softball
The Bucs, under head coach Vince Ichihara, come into the week at 17-4, one of the best starts in school history. Mission Bay entered the week at 5-0 in league action, having a shot to wrap up the league championship with a win against rival La Jolla, a team Mission Bay beat 11-1 earlier.
“As a team we are having one of our best hitting seasons batting .416 combined,” Ichihara stated. “We’re getting strong seasons from our seniors – JP Perez .400 batting average, Paige Parkhill .321, Serena Castro .426, and who is tied for the team lead with five home runs, and Maya Cota who leads us with a .529 average. “Our underclassmen are also contributing big-time. Maddie Grooms, Keionna Flores .420, Cheyenne Chavez .493, Cat Griffiths .389, Paige Pallamary .387, M. Grenfell .295 and Cassidy West .448, also tied for team-high five home runs, but also as a pitcher has a .060 ERA with 150 strikeouts which is third in the county.”
According to Ichihara: “We have an opportunity to win league back-to-back, which would be great for these girls who deserve it. The season is going by so fast so I’m just trying to soak it in as my first group of seniors that I have had the whole time will be graduating this season. Hopefully we can finish the season strong and make a good run in the playoffs again.” Senior night is May 8 against Coronado, with Ichihara hoping to get a good crowd out for the game. Track and field
The boys entered the week at 5-0 and the girls at 4-1, respectively. Head coach Danny Perez noted that the final regular season meet is this Thursday and will decide the league championship. The boys won 17 consecutive dual meets and 23 of the last 25 dual meets.
According to Perez, key contributors are TK Berhe (top mark of 4:38 in mile, 10:06 in 3200); Alec Pletogher (No. 2 in San Diego in the long jump for a sophomore at 21 feet, second in league). Key members of the girls have included Alyssa Hernandez (top triple jumper in the league and only 16 inches away from Mission Bay school record) and freshman Linda Giffing (5:41 in mile, 12:03 in 2 mile, new freshmen record). Swimming
In the pool, the Bucs and head coach John Knight are geared up for post-season action. According to Knight, the Bucs are being led by seniors Kiley Knight and Ethan Gathright. Kiley Knight has qualified for City Championships in every event she has been entered in so far. Meantime, Gathright has also turned in a solid season, qualifying for the 50 free. Izanna Hypse, Darinka Vicencio, Jeanne Picard, Rory Knight, Forrest Wells, Jackson Combs and Kyle Baker were looking to qualify for City Championships. Golf
The Bucs, under head coach Gebel Anderson, finished the regular season with a record of 10-3. Four players made the City Tournament, with three out of the four making the CIF Tournament starting May 14.
According to Anderson, the top golfers to date have included freshman Andy Knight and junior Aydan Lopresti. Boys volleyball
The Bucs lost a tough five-set match with first-place Madison before rebounding with a five-set victory over Serra High recently. That left the Bucs with a mark of 6-6 on the season.
Mission Bay, which finishes league action on May 3 against Morse High, has been rebuilding under head coach Nikki Caufield.
“We anticipated that after losing four starters from last year that this year would be a rebuilding year and we started slowly while waiting for several new players to start with the team,” Caufield said. “However, since spring break, the boys have been playing really well and but for three losses in five sets this season, by a total of 10 points, we’d be near the top of the playoff rankings. We are hoping to gut out wins against Clairemont and Morse and be able to make the playoffs again.” So far this season, Zander Caufield leads all Division III players in aces, is in the top 10 in hitting percentage, and leads the team in passing and digging. Josh Leone is second in hitting percentage in Division III. Tetsoro Escudero leads all Division III players in assists. Other key contributors include senior Stephen Tarbell who is leading the team in attacks and sophomore Andre Jovien is one of the top outside hitters for the team. Boys tennis
Mission Bay, under head coach Trong Tong, heads into this week with an overall record of 3-9 (3-5 in league play). To date, top players include number one singles player Jake Stone, number two singles player Arthur Maury, and the number one doubles team of Nicolas Guevara and Alex Li.
“Having just finished our first season in a reshuffled league, we are certainly more competitive within the league than outside of it,” Tong remarked. “Aside from University City, our league champion, I feel that we’re right in the mix with the remaining teams. If our league stays mostly intact next year, we’ve learned quite a bit about our rivals to get more competitive going forward.
“Our beginners have come a long way since the season’s commencement, and our seasoned players have tremendously improved on playing closely competitive matches. Although we didn’t make team CIF, we’re hopeful that a couple of our players will make a run in next week’s league tournament to qualify for individual CIF.”