Senior slugger leads Sage

The Sage Hill School softball team did surprisingly well last year under first-year Coach Rodger Corbett, going 12-8 overall and 7-3 in the Academy League.

Corbett showed he could build a team from the ground up and make them league-title contenders, as the Lightning made a rare CIF Southern Section playoff appearance.

This season hasn’t been as kind to the Lightning, who are just 2-5 in the Academy League and most likely will miss the playoffs. Sage Hill boasts a solid nucleus of players, but that nucleus has a lot of inexperience around it, which has led to inconsistency.

But one of the Lightning’s bright spots this season has been senior third baseman Alison Gonzalez, who has been consistent at the plate, in the field and on the base paths. Gonzalez, whom Corbett calls the fastest player on the team, leads the club with seven steals.

Gonzalez also brings senior leadership as a captain and one of the top hitters on the club. Gonzales had a pair of hits, including a home run in Sage Hill’s 8-4 victory over rival St. Margaret’s in a key Academy League game April 25.

“She’s got a quick bat and good hands, she’s always a threat,” Corbett said.

Gonzales is also tough. During a loss Tuesday to Oxford Academy, she was batting and she fouled off a pitch that somehow got inside the protective cage on her helmet, catching her on the mouth.

“The helmet went up and the ball went inside the face mask,” Corbett said. “It was one of the strangest things I’ve seen on a softball field. It loosened a couple of teeth, blood was flowing. But she stayed in the game, walked, then stole second and third base.

Corbett said that as good of a player as Gonzales is, she’s even a better person.

“She has a very good attitude and is a very good student,” he said.

One of Gonzalez’s main tasks this season has been staying positive, despite the fact that the team is struggling.

“She doesn’t get down at all,” Corbett said. “She tries to keep the kids up and going all the time. She doesn’t get frustrated and either do the other girls.”

Corbett said he is content with the progress his largely inexperienced team has made this season. Gonzalez, senior Rebecca Hembarsky and sophomore phenom Katie McKeon were the team’s only returning starters from last year, so Corbett is realistic about the talent level.

“The kids try like crazy, but sometimes when the ball gets through to the outfield, we just can’t catch it,” he said. “We’re getting better. Not good enough yet, but better. Some games they shine, some games they don’t.”dpt-athlete06.IMGGraphicInfo8K1QMR93200605068K1QMR93No Captiondpt.06-aow-gonzalez-CPhotoInfoE01QMG5120060506iyt9qencMARK DUSTIN / DAILY PILOT(LA)