For just the third time in SBVC softball history, a Wolverine has been named the Foothill Conference Player of the Year. Savanah Guzman, a sophomore shortstop (Redlands H.S.), was named the 2016 Player of the Year for the Foothill Conference.
This marks the second consecutive year that head coach Jerry Tivey's squad has had its shortstop named Conference Player of the Year, with Guzman following in the footsteps of All-Californian, Lauren Melchor (Redlands East Valley).
Guzman, who was also named first-team All-Foothill Conference for the 2014 season, hit .393 on the season with 31 RBI and 32 runs scored. She also set a single-season SBVC mark with 17 doubles (and the career mark with 28 in two years). Guzman led the conference in doubles and extra-base hits as wells as the combination of runs scored plus RBI. Her two-year totals put her in the top-five of most SBVC offensive categories.
SBVC was honored with three additional First-team All-Foothill Conference selections. First-team pick, freshman pitcher Terilyn Baude (San Bernardino Cajon), registered all 15 of SBVC's wins this year, leading the conference with 111 strikeouts.
Freshman catcher Destiny Flores (Rialto Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower), who scored 18 runs along with 16 runs batted in, was also named to the first team.
The final recipient was freshman third baseman Alexandra Woods (Riverside John Wesley North). Woods, who at some point during the season, played every position except catcher, tallied a .550 batting average with 13 RBI in conference play and set single-year and career SBVC marks with 12 sacrifices.
The second-team All-Foothill Conference picks were led by freshman center fielder Erin Alvizo (Fontana Henry J. Kaiser), who hit .371 in conference and scored 18 runs on the year.
Also honored was freshman right fielder Selena Roldan (San Bernardino Cajon), who scored 19 runs, knocked in 11 and batted .301.
The third SBVC honoree was second baseman Desiree Donley (San Bernardino Options 4 Youth), who tallied 18 runs scored, 11 RBI and had a .390 on base percentage in Foothill Conference play.
SBVC's final selection was an Honorable Mention All-Foothill Conference award for freshman left fielder Desiree Gonzalez (Redlands H.S.). Gonzales came on strong the second half of the season, scoring 12 runs and finishing with a .321 batting average.
SBVC finished up the regular season with an 8-2 mark in its final ten games, including a doubleheader sweep of conference champion Chaffey. The future looks bright for the SBVC squad, who rostered Guzman as the only sophomore along with 14 freshman, seven of whom received postseason awards from the Foothill Conference.
In the final three years of the Foothill Conference (which disbands at the end of the 2015-2016 athletic season and sends SBVC softball to the Pacific Coast Athletic Conference (PCAC) next year), head coach Jerry Tivey's teams compiled the best winning percentage in the conference.
Over Tivey's first three years as head coach, the Wolverines have gone 32-13 in conference play, the best mark of all Foothill Conference schools. In that time, SBVC captured a league championship and two second-place finishes (losing the playoff nod on tiebreakers this year), while advancing to the SoCal Softball Regionals twice.
Photos by Wade Byars.
Information, Photos & Story provided by SBVC Sports Information.