Bruno to return for a fifth softball season
Former Santa Catalina School slap-hitter Marissa Bruno saw her senior softball season at Portland State cut short last March because of the pandemic.
Granted another year of eligibility by the NCAA, the left-handed swinging Bruno will be back in the outfield to finish what she started for the Vikings this spring.
Last year Bruno started all 24 games for Portland State, hitting a collegiate career-high .384, with 14 of her 28 hits going for extra bases.
A three-time member of The
Herald’s All-County softball team at Santa Catalina, Bruno led the Big Sky Conference in triples (5) in 2020, scoring 19 runs and driving in 15.
A .322 career hitter at Portland State, Bruno has scored 78 runs in 156 career games, with 141 hits and 27 doubles. She has driven in 49 runs and sports a career .978 fielding percentage.
Portland State opens its season on Feb. 26.
Graves logging heavy minutes at Hawaii-Hilo
Guard Jordan Graves is showing senior leadership on the hardwood, averaging a teamhigh 34.5 minutes a game for
Hawaii-Hilo, which got off to its first 2-0 start since 2005.
Ranked No. 6 in the NCAA Division II West Region Basketball polls for programs playing during this pandemic season, the Vulcans are co-leaders in the Pacific West Conference.
While the 6-foot-2 Graves has struggled to find his shooting touch, he’s still averaging 7.5 points a game.
A former multi-sport standout at North County High, Graves was granted a medical redshirt year after suffering a seasonending injury last winter. He leads the Vulcans in assists (5.0) and steals (4.0).
Graves started all 26 games as a junior in 2019 and was averaging 14 points a game last season, hitting a game-winning 3-pointer before being injured eight games into the year.
A four-year starter at North County, Graves is the school’s all-time leading scorer, earning a spot on The Herald’s AllCounty Basketball team three times.
Because of the pandemic, Hawaii-Hilo is playing an all-Hawaiian conference schedule, so it won’t have to leave the state.
Softball trio set to make impact at Sac State
Thrust into the limelight as true freshmen last year, three former local prep softball standouts are expected to have an impact on the Sacramento State team this season.
Former Alvarez High slugger Aliyah Robles jumped into the starting lineup last year as a true freshman, starting 21 games in right field for the Hornets in a pandemic-shortened season, recording a five-game hitting streak.
Robles had three doubles and drove in eight runs, adding a pair of steals. Robles was flawless in the outfield, leading the team with six assists.
Robles pounded the ball as a senior at Alvarez in 2019, hitting .645 with a county-high 41 hits. She belted seven homers,
earning all-county honors.
Sophomore Nevah Pinon will have her eye on more playing time this fall. Listed as an outfielder, she hit over .400 during her four-year career at Salinas, driving in 71 runs.
Catcher Amber Rodriguez started 17 games last year behind the dish for Sacramento State, hitting .347. She drove in seven runs, walked nine times and compiled a .448 onbase percentage.
After starting her high school career at North County, Rodriguez was a three-time all-leaguer at San Benito, hitting .458 with nine homers and 74 runs batted in over three years.
Berlanga selected to speak at event
Gonzales football coach
and teacher Art Berlanga was chosen among 300 candidates to speak virtually on Feb. 6 at the Lee Brown Power Voice Summit.
A motivational speaker, Berlanga will be one of 20 speakers at the Summit. Brown is arguably one of the top motivational speakers in the world.
A Soledad High graduate, who also coached at Seaside and Hartnell College,
Berlanga has been the head football coach at Gonzales for three years, leading the program to a school-record 11-0 start in 2018.
Torculas to pack a punch at San Diego
Reunited with her first college softball coach, Alexia Torculas brings a powerful bat this spring to the University of San
Diego roster.
Torculas, who spent a semester at Southern Oregon before transferring to Monterey Peninsula College in 2019, put up monster numbers in her two seasons for the Lobos.
The 2019 Coast Conference co-Player of the Year, Torculas was putting up fantasy type numbers last spring until the pandemic shut down the season, with MPC finishing 16-1.
As a freshman at MPC, Torculas was named to the Northern California first team. Last year she hit .595 with nine homers and 34 runs batted in over 17 games, with 15 of her 31 hits going for extra bases.
A three-sport standout at Notre Dame, injuries plagued her four-year softball career. Toruclas did lead the team in homers in 2017. She was also the league’s Goalie of the Year in soccer in 2017.