Cardinals turn fields red this year
Softball team highlight of another solid year for Bellaire
The 2013-14 school year was another fine season for Bellaire’s sports teams.
Yet, Bruce Glover, Bellaire’s athletic coordinator and head boys basketball coach, admits the competition keeps getting tougher.
“Lamar has always been our big rival, but Westside has really come on lately,” Glover said.
Bellaire, Lamar and Westside were the dominant sports programs in District 20-5A last season, according to Glover. But the Cardinals maintained their winning ways, claiming district championships in boys cross country, boys track and field, girls golf and softball. Bellaire also earned a share of the girls basketball league crown, splitting it with Westside.
“It wasn’t a bad year at all,” Glover said. “We won a couple of district titles and nearly all of our teams made the playoffs.”
In addition to five district crowns, Bellaire qualified for postseason play in several other sports, including baseball, boys basketball, boys golf, girls cross country, girls soccer, team tennis and volleyball.
Head coach Brien Tuffly has built a softball powerhouse, leading the Cardinals to the Class 5A-Region III semifinals six of the past seven years and four 30win seasons. This spring, Bellaire (31-7) took it a step further, reaching the Class 5A-Region III finals, dropping a tough three-game series to eventual Class 5A state champ Deer Park.
“What coach Tuffly has done with the softball program is just incredible,” Glover said. “They keep getting closer and closer to winning a state championship.”
Another successful coach on Bellaire’s campus was Brett Hervat, who steered the Cardinals to a district sweep in boys cross country and track and field.
Glover noted that a number of Bellaire seniors signed national letters of intent for college athletics.
The football team led the way with 11 athletes, with Devonte Jonesand Ryheem Malone inking with Baylor and SMU, respectively.
Others football players included Jesse Blackmon (Kilgore), Devonte Dixon (Mary Hardin-Baylor), Jalon Douglass (Alabama A&M), Jeff Ejekam (U.S. Military Academy-West Point), David Garcia (Valley City State), Brelynd Goods (Kilgore), John Gregg (Marietta), Aaron Harris (Texas A&M-Kingsville) and Julio Lozano (Kilgore). Harris, a two-sport athlete, also will play golf in college.
The softball team had five college-bound seniors — Gabriela Alatorre( Rochester), Olivia Brown (Houston Baptist), Sarah DeLaCruz (Oklahoma City), Molly Oretsky (Penn) and Jasmin Vasquez (Stetson).
Other signees were baseball players Jonathan Delacruz (San Jacinto), Doug Ferrell (Pacific), James Gasper (Houston Baptist) and Zach Oretsky (Trinity), soccer player Sarah Battles (UH-Victoria), basketball players Angel Johnson (Central Arkansas) and Ryan Ogden (Southwestern), volleyball player Briana Moten (San Jacinto) and golfer Taylor Moser (Trinity).