CUHS’ Becerra signs to play softball at Cal Baptist
EL CENTRO — Central Union High senior Karmyna Becerra recently accepted an athletic scholarship to play softball at California Baptist University.
Becerra signed her national letter of intent on Nov. 11 with the private, Christian university in Riverside.
The 17-year-old said she will be studying criminology at CBU.
The CBU women’s softball program competes in National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I. The program finished with a 10-14 overall record in its abbreviated 2020 season.
“I could play Division I, be close to home and be close to God,” Becerra said of her decision to commit to the Lancers.
Becerra is the first player on the 2021 CUHS softball team who has accepted an athletics scholarship, CUHS’ co- head softball coach Chris Acosta confirmed.
Having D-I talent isn’t new to the CUHS softball program.
2020 CUHS graduate Janyssa Martin signed to play at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, while teammate Jessica Acosta signed to play at the University of Mississippi.
Becerra has played on varsity since her freshman year. She has also consistently led the Spartans in home runs.
Becerra was selected to the All- Imperial Valley League second team her freshman year, and to the All-IVL first team her sophomore year.
The COVID-19 pandemic abruptly ended the Spartans’ 2020 season (Becerra’s junior year), when it finished with an overall record of 5-1.
“I thought I was going to be sad, but I like travel,” she said. “It was my junior year, so it didn’t really hurt me that bad. But If I miss my senior year, I think I would be sad.”
Becerra was recruited to play third base at CBU. For Central, she was starting third baseman her freshman year, and has since moved to starting second baseman, as well as pitcher.
It did not come as a surprise to Coach Acosta that his second baseman received a D-I offer.
“There was no doubt,” Acosta said. “I knew she would be playing at the D-I level.”
Becerra’s father, Cesar Becerra, however, was at a loss for words when his daughter recruited by CBU this past summer.
“At that point, I was speechless,” he said.
Karmyna Becerra’s path to D-I status involved dedicating the better part of her life to travel softball — traveling out-of-county frequently and continuing to practice even after the high school season ended.
Becerra started swinging a bat at 4 years old when she started playing T-ball on an Imperial Valley Girls’ Softball League team.
She continued playing with the IVGSL and eventually joined the Imperial Valley Fogball team.
At 10 years old, she began playing travel softball.
Her first travel team was the Yuma-based Wicked, later renamed the Firecrackers.
She then played with the San Diego-based Renegades and decided to return to the Firecrackers.
Becerra remains with the Firecrackers. She was even traveling with the team on Friday to play in a tournament in Las Vegas, Nev.
Off the field, she has been working with local coaches and trainers, such as Ricky Guzman and Anthony Hellum. Becerra’s father has been her longtime batting coach.
To her knowledge, Karmyna is the first in her family to earn an athletics scholarship.
She became inspired to play softball while watching her older sister, who played a year of varsity softball at Central.
For Imperial Valley softball players interested in playing at the next level, Becerra advised it was only through travel ball that she caught the attention of CBU scouts.
She also advised up-andcoming players to “send a lot of emails and videos” to their dream schools.
“That’s how I got recruited — I couldn’t stay in the Valley,” she said. “And just keep working hard, because it’s different for us girls that want to go to Division I softball. We have to prioritize our time. We can’t be going out like a regular high school student. We have things that need to be taken care of. So just stay focused and know what you want.”