Two of those chosen first team All-State Underclass for their “mad” skills both as pitchers and hitters were Stanford commit Maddy Dwyer of Orange Lutheran (left) and UCLA commit Madilyn Nickles of Merced. Photos: Nadia Martinez/OCSidelines.com & Twitter.com.
With the ink still drying so to speak from the final overall all-state selections in baseball, we are going right into softball with this first post of the 33rd annual Cal-Hi Sports all-state teams. This first one lists 21 juniors, six sophomores and three freshmen on the first team with 30 more players named on second team.
Note: We’ll have an inside look at this year’s all-state softball teams after all of the teams are chosen, including names of players we really wanted to pick but couldn’t. That post plus a nearly 20-year archive of all-state underclass softball teams (which also has been added to the site today) are for Gold Club members only. To join our team today, CLICK HERE.
For the nearly 20-Year All-State Underclass Teams Archive (1996-2014), CLICK HERE.
For more on this year’s Junior, Sophomore & Freshman of Year, CLICK HERE.
Since the various Cal-Hi Sports state players of the year for juniors, sophomores and freshmen were already researched and selected, some of the choices for the annual all-state underclass teams for softball weren’t too tough.
It’s what happened once we got beyond Redding Shasta’s Mia Camuso and other top juniors, delved into the names after San Jose Pioneer’s Holly Azevedo and other top sophomores and even some of the freshmen after Pleasanton Amador Valley’s Danielle Williams that things got messy.
As usual, some of the hardest decisions arose from those ultra-competitive leagues that seem to have double-digit totals every year of girls who are headed to major colleges on scholarships. You just can’t pick all of them.
Take the Foothill League of the CIF Southern Section, for example. Just going by what happened in league games only, we couldn’t have considered Saugus ace and No. 1 Class of 2016 national recruit Mariah Lopez because she missed most of her league games due to an elbow injury. But Lopez did pitch enough innings (124) and did enough in the team’s other games against top foes that it was deemed necessary to select her for the all-state underclass team.
Lopez, of course, wasn’t the only underclass star in the Foothill League, either. The league’s Player of the Year, in fact, was junior shortstop Jessie Harper of Valencia West Ranch. That made her a no-brainer for all-state underclass as well. Two Foothill League catchers – Raquel Blanchard of Hart and freshman Ally Shipman of Valencia (the third Shipman sister now to earn an all-state honor) – also made it onto the all-state underclass first team while two more Foothill Leaguers were named to the second team.
The only schools to get more than one player onto the all-state underclass first team were Etiwanda, Murrieta Valley of Murrieta and Lutheran of Orange.
Here are the 2015 Cal-Hi Sports All-State Softball Underclass Teams:
Taylon Snow of Chino Hills was the 2014 State Freshman of the Year and has committed to Washington, where she plans to reunite with recently graduated sister Tannon Snow (also a multiple all-state underclass pick). Photo: FloSoftball.com.
First Team Catchers
Raquel Blanchard (Hart, Newhall) Jr.
Suzy Brookshire (San Benito, Hollister) Jr.
Kelly Martinez (Yucaipa) Jr.
Dejah Mulipola (Pacifica, Garden Grove) Jr.
Ally Shipman (Valencia) Fr.
First Team Pitchers
Holly Azevedo (Pioneer, San Jose) Soph.
Megan Faraimo (Cathedral Catholic, San Diego) Fr.
Mariah Lopez (Saugus) Jr.
Natalie Lugo (South Hills, Covina) Soph.
Marissa Moreno (Torrance) Jr.
Danielle Williams (Amador Valley, Pleasanton) Fr.
First Team Infield
Nicole Bates (Ceres) Jr.
Amber Bishop (Murrieta Valley, Murrieta) Jr.
Mackenzie Boesel (Lutheran, Orange) Jr.
Mia Camuso (Shasta, Redding) Jr.
Reyna Carranco (Oxnard) Jr.
Eliyah Flores (Grand Terrace) Soph.
Jessie Harper (West Ranch, Valencia) Jr.
Kristina Inouye (Huntington Beach) Jr.
Malia Martinez (Poway) Jr.
Sam Owen (East Union, Manteca) Jr.
Briana Perez (Alhambra, Martinez) Soph.
Megan Stevens (Etiwanda) Jr.
First Team Outfield
Autumn Bishop (Murrieta Valley, Murrieta) Jr.
Jenna Holcomb (Los Alamitos) Jr.
Taylon Snow (Chino Hills) Soph.
Vanessa Taukeiaho (Etiwanda) Jr.
First Team Multi-Purpose
Taylor Dockins (Norco) Soph.
Maddy Dwyer (Lutheran, Orange) Soph.
Madilyn Nickles (Merced) Jr.
Montana Dixon (Lakewood) Jr.
Sarah Parten (Mayfair, Lakewood) Jr.
Taylor Sherritt (Burroughs, Ridgecrest) Jr.
Nerissa Long from Bear River of Lake of the Pines has been one of the top strikeout artists as a pitcher the last two seasons in the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section. Photo: James K. Leash/SportStars.
Second Team Pitchers
Kyla Gendler (Chatsworth) Jr.
Nerissa Long (Bear River, Lake of the Pines) Jr.
Gianna Mancha (Central, Fresno) Soph.
Samantha Mejia (Ridgeview, Bakersfield) Jr.
Carly Slack (Marin Catholic, Kentfield) Soph.
Ciara Stapp (Yorba Linda) Jr.
Second Team Infield
Taylor Burns (Oaks Christian, Westlake Village) Jr.
Jordan Fines (Sheldon, Sacramento) Jr.
Kayla Kessinger (Saugus) Jr.
Zoe Marrott (Acalanes, Lafayette) Jr.
Aniesa Maulepe (Carson) Jr.
Sabrina Nunez (Redwood, Larkspur) Soph.
Chelsea Purcell (Sonora, La Habra) Jr.
Miranda Rodriguez (Elk Grove) Jr.
Karlee Sparacino (Alhambra, Martinez) Soph.
Abby Sweet (Hart, Newhall) Jr.
Shelby Thompson (Benicia) Jr.
Camryn Ybarra (Mission Viejo) Soph.
Second Team Outfield
Alyssa Barrera (Bishop Amat, La Puente) Jr.
Cara DiMercurio (Alhambra, Martinez) Soph.
Miranda Miles (Elk Grove) Jr.
Livy Schiele (Bishop’s, La Jolla) Jr.
Breezy Wise (Agoura, Agoura Hills) Jr.
Second Team Multi-Purpose
McKenna Gregory (Benicia) Soph.
Katie January (Buchanan, Clovis) Soph.
Melanie Olmos (Grand Terrace) Soph.
Kailla Searcy (Paraclete, Lancaster) Jr.
Mark Tennis is the co-founder and publisher of CalHiSports.com. He can be reached at markjtennis@gmail.com. Don’t forget to follow Mark on the Cal-Hi Sports Twitter handle: @CalHiSports
