North softball team starts playoffs with romp against Calvary Chapel

RIVERSIDE-- For J.W. North softball coach Ernie Tamayo, getting his players prepared for their game in the preliminary of the CIF Southern Area Department 6 playoffs was relatively simple.

Tamayo and his training staff didn't have such a simple task getting the field prepared for Thursday's game. With a lot of raking, drying and pounding compound, the group handled to eliminate all the puddles and have the dirt infield looking pretty great despite the heavy rain that fell overnight.

North (24-3) scored 4 runs in each of the very first 2 innings Thursday. The Huskies included two more runs in the fourth and freshman pitcher Remi Martinez minimal Calvary Chapel of Downey to 3 hits in a 10-0 success that was stopped after 4 and a half innings due to the fact that of the 10-run grace guideline.

North will play the winner of the Coastal Christian-Sierra Vista game on Tuesday in the 2nd round. The site is to be figured out.

Tamayo was the baseball coach at North for 6 years prior to switching to softball.

He took the group to the CIF finals in 2018, however the group missed the playoffs in 2022.

" This season has actually been a really big turnaround for us," Tamayo stated. "We have a really excellent group."

The addition of freshmen like Martinez has actually helped improve the group. Tamayo stated he has understood Martinez considering that prior to she was born.

" Her mother utilized to deal with me on school," Tamayo said.

Martinez throws 7 various types of pitches, three of which she learned from her daddy, Angel, who was a soccer gamer.

" I think he may have wanted me to play soccer," she said, "but I followed my 3 siblings who played softball."

North's players are hoping to make a deep run in the playoffs this season.

" I think we have a pretty good possibility of winning CIF," stated Angelina Martinez, who had two doubles and a triple in the victory Thursday. "We have great defense and great pitching."

The sophomore, who is not connected to Remi Martinez, has "been an impact player considering that she got here," Tamayo said.

Angelina Martinez, who bats third in North's powerful batting order, has two older siblings who played at North. Her earliest sibling, Alyssa Martinez, plays at Cal State San Bernardino.

She wishes to get a complete scholarship to an NCAA Division I college.