The Lady Aztecs, 21-13 overall, may have started the program’s comeback to Top-10 status this season when it was learned that 12 of the 14 Corona softball players who helped the Aztecs get their highest power point rankings in years should return next season. With seniors Maggie Jackson and Sarah McCabe leading the team of four juniors, four sophomores and three freshmen, Corona entered the DI playoffs ranked No. 10, defeating No. 23 Skyline 4-0 in the first round with the help of freshman pitcher Jessica Lynch. Lynch, striking out eight batters while allowing only four hits in her 10th win as pitcher, helped Corona advance to the second round of the playoffs.
Against Skyline, Corona was able to get on base and score runs in the first three innings after hits by junior Alyssa Alan, sophomore Haley Vallejos and Lynch to lead 2-0. In the fifth, Jackson and freshman Olivia Miller added two runs on Skyline errors and another hit by Lynch. Corona, which lost in the second round to No. 7 Pinnacle on May 5, had a great overall season, as a team, batting .380 while getting on base 43 percent of the time, scoring 20 homeruns with 26 stolen bases and fielding the ball 95 percent of the time. Sophomore Taylor Miller led the team with a batting average of .636, followed by Lynch with .475, Jackson with .435, Olivia Miller with .415 and freshman Mikaeli Davidson with .400. Vallejos and Lynch hit 14 of the 20 home runs scored by the team, with Vallejos hitting the most at 8. Lynch was incredibly reliable getting on base 56 percent of the time but the leading on-base player for the season was Taylor Miller with a 67 percent on- base statistic.
Other players with a 40 percent or higher on-base percentage included Jackson, Davidson and Olivia Miller , along with sophomores Vallejos, Alyssa Baca and Alyssia Sanchez. Olivia Miller had nine of the team’s 26 stolen bases while junior Kylie Holmes recorded five. In the fielding category, Vallejos put out the most players—150 players on 193 chances in 26 games—or successfully put out opponent players 96 percent of the time. Junior Katelyn Stys was able to put out 51 players on 60 chances and also led the team with a 100 percent fielding percentage while freshman Nicole Neumann was credited with fielding the ball 83 percent. Pitching for the team besides Lynch who pitched over 80 innings for Corona were Olivia Miller, who was credited with five wins, McCabe and Stys with two wins each.
