Nicole May (left) from Foothill of Pleasanton was on track to perhaps go unbeaten in the circle as junior and senior. The Oklahoma-bound senior went 24-0 last season with 0.32 ERA and batted .463. At right is arguably most improved player for seniors, Esperanza Coe of Yucaipa. She had 10 pitching wins & 7 HRs with her bat when season shut down and led Yucaipa to national ranking. Coe will play next at Alabama A&M. Photos: Berry Evans III / SportStars & newsmirror.net.
As stated several times, there’s not even close to the number of games that would have needed to be played to fairly select any sort of official 2020 Cal-Hi Sports All-State Teams for softball this year. We still wanted to do something with an honor roll list of top seniors who have either enjoyed outstanding high school careers or who had started out 2020 especially well. We also reveal how our Ms. Softball Player of the Year race was shaping up, becoming more of a three-person group instead of two.
Note: We hope you enjoy this free post on CalHiSports.com. To sign up for Gold Club content, including state records, upcoming updated version of our All-Time Greatest High School Softball Teams in State History and more, CLICK HERE.
Notes: This is an honor roll list for seniors only. Many of the best juniors, especially those who have been busy the past couple of summers on the travel ball circuit, are featured in our Class of 2021 Hot 100 Player Rankings. To see that Gold Club post, CLICK HERE. Those rankings are based on college potential. This honor roll list does have some of the recruiting aspects, but each player also needed to have been quite productive for their high school teams. We have selected 40 seniors for a first team and 50 seniors for a second team.
Like many elite players from the CIF Northern Section in recent years, Central Valley’s Raegan Breedlove will play next at the University of Oregon. In four games pitched in 2019, she had a 0.00 ERA and two no-hitters. Photo: universalfastpitch.com.
FIRST TEAM CATCHERS
Courtney Beaudin (Foothill, Pleasanton)
Alexis Bishop (San Marin, Novato)
Ryleigh Carricaburu (Woodcrest Christian, Riverside)
Aly Kaneshiro (Hart, Newhall)
Sara Kinch (Great Oak, Temecula)
Leilani Melendez (La Mirada)
FIRST TEAM PITCHERS
Raegan Breedlove (Central Valley, Shasta Lake)
Tyler Denhart (Los Alamitos)
Alicia Estrada (Rio Mesa, Oxnard)
Eryka Gonzalez (Camarillo)
Ava Justman (Chatsworth)
Nicole May (Foothill, Pleasanton)
Allie Puente (Clovis)
Grace Uribe (Huntington Beach)
FIRST TEAM INFIELD
Ali Belardi (Los Alamitos)
Hannah Delgado (Santiago, Corona)
Gabby Herrera (Linden)
Tiare Jennings (St. Anthony, Long Beach)
Giulia Koutsoyanopulos (Capistrano Valley, Mission Viejo)
Thessa Malau’ulu (St. Anthony, Long Beach)
Jazmine Perezchica (Palm Desert)
Kiannah Pierce (Sheldon, Sacramento)
Presleigh Pilon (Murrieta Mesa, Murrieta)
Emily Rush (Marina, Huntington Beach)
Kyleigh Sand (Norco)
Madison Simon (Beckman, Irvine)
Savannah Whatley (Heritage, Brentwood)
Staci Chambers of Granite Hills has been one of the top players over the last several seasons in the San Diego area. She hit eight homers in both sophomore and junior seasons and had 0.52 as pitcher in shortened senior year. Photo: EastCountySports.com.
FIRST TEAM OUTFIELD
Alyssa Brito (Pacifica, Garden Grove)
Emily Cazares (Buchanan, Clovis)
Lauryn Carter (Serra, Gardena)
Grace Guzman (Napa)
Diamond Holland (Archbishop Mitty, San Jose)
Valeria Torres-Colon (Amador Valley, Pleasanton)
FIRST TEAM MULTI-PURPOSE (Hitting/Pitching)
Staci Chambers (Granite Hills, El Cajon)
Esperanza Coe (Yucaipa)
Bailey Doherty (Atascadero)
Jessie Fontes (Camarillo)
Sydney Hornbuckle (Stockdale, Bakersfield)
Sarah Willis (Norco)
Cassidy West (Mission Bay, San Diego)
SECOND TEAM CATCHERS
Ashley Donaldson (Branham, San Jose)
Kaitlin Hornbuckle (Stockdale, Bakersfield)
Carli Kloss (Pacifica, Garden Grove)
Camille Marin (St. Paul, Santa Fe Springs)
Kelly McGuigan (St. Ignatius, San Francisco)
SECOND TEAM PITCHERS
Shannyn Bustamante (Temecula Valley, Temecula)
Avery Croxall (East Nicolaus, Nicolaus)
Talia Hannappel (Edison, Huntington Beach)
Ava Hand (Elk Grove)
Taryn Lennon (Lutheran, Orange)
Riley Orcutt (Mater Dei, Santa Ana)
Jessica Acosta had a career batting average in 80 varsity games at Central of El Centro of .500 and will play next in the SEC at Ole Miss. Photo: Twitter.com.
SECOND TEAM INFIELD
Jessica Acosta (Central, El Centro)
Teyha Bird (Cloverdale)
Rylie Costa (Kimball, Tracy)
Marlene Friedman (Mater Dei, Santa Ana)
Hailey Hayes (Foothill, Pleasanton)
Kaitlynn Humphreys (Centennial, Corona)
Sophie Jacquez (Pleasant Grove, Elk Grove)
Avery Lawley (Buchanan, Clovis)
Marissa Montelongo (Kingsburg)
Sam Oliver (Sheldon, Sacramento)
Shelbi Ortiz (Huntington Beach)
Savannah Price (East Nicolaus, Nicolaus)
America Ramirez (Oxnard)
Caliyah Thompson (Valley View, Moreno Valley)
SECOND TEAM OUTFIELD
Allison Beecher (Norco)
Megan Mikami (Beckman, Irvine)
Virginia Nemeth (Glendora)
Sarah Nakahara (Scripps Ranch, San Diego)
Piper Neri (Mira Costa, Manhattan Beach)
Alyssa Orr (Clovis North, Fresno)
Kaylee Pond (Acalanes, Lafayette)
Hailey Smith (Cypress)
Bailey Wallace (Granite Hills, El Cajon)
Rylie West (Roosevelt, Eastvale)
SECOND TEAM MULTI-PURPOSE (Hitting/Pitching)
Jazmine Castaneda (Bullard, Fresno)
Taylor Caudill (JSerra, San Juan Capistrano)
Sophia Fernandez (South, Torrance)
Ally Hersh (Kennedy, Richmond)
Jordyn Hutchins (Woodland Christian)
Alessandra Samperio (Mary Star, San Pedro)
Savannah Serrata (Sultana, Hesperia)
Nahri Tath-Slezak (Redlands)
Gabriela Williams (Cardondelet, Concord)
WHO WOULD HAVE BEEN MS. SOFTBALL STATE POY?
1. Nicole May (Foothill, Pleasanton)
Regarded as one of the top pitchers in the nation with a scholarship to Oklahoma, if May would have ended her career unbeaten for her last two seasons that would have been a hard accomplishment to top for anyone else. Foothill only got to play four games and was 28-0 in 2019. May also has been one of Foothill’s top hitters.
2. Sarah Willis (Norco)
She was the State Sophomore of the Year two seasons ago and was runner-up to May for juniors in a close call last season. Willis had gotten off to a slow start for her both in the circle and at the plate, but as the Washington-bound standout has shown she does her best work coming down the stretch.
3. Tiare Jennings (St. Anthony, Long Beach)
Gatorade did do players of the year this season and said it was basing it more on its other two pillars (academics, community involvement) that on-the-field accomplishments. Jennings has been named as its California honoree. She could have been Ms. Softball if she had led St. Anthony to a CIF Southern Section title (it wouldn’t have been in a top division) and smashed a state record total of home runs (which could have happened given her talent and competition that the Saints were likely to face). Still, even if she had done that, knocking off her future Oklahoma teammate (May) at the top likely would have required Foothill to lose.
Mark Tennis is the editor and publisher of Cal-Hi Sports. He can be reached at markjtennis@gmail.com. Don’t forget to follow Mark on the Cal-Hi Sports Twitter handle: @CalHiSports
3 Comments
Former softball coach who coached Giulia K as a very young player
Thank you for recognizing my daughter, Sarah Nakahara, on your All-State Honor Roll Second Team. She was excited and humbled by the honor. I wanted to ask whether there is a patch we could order similar to the commemorative patches you do for other All-State teams.
Congrats to Sarah. Since it isn’t an all-state team and we weren’t able to choose small schools, medium schools and underclass, patches were not ordered for any of those honor roll squats.