Nation's No. 1 softball team Amador Valley has 'It'

PLEASANTON, Calif. — Amador Valley (Pleasanton, Calif.) softball coach Teresa Borchard is no salesperson. But she's definitely selling people – especially kids – to get out to watch her Dons play soon. 

They host cross-town rival Foothill (Pleasanton) in a North Coast Section Division I semifinal game Wednesday. If victorious, they'll finish out the season — and the careers of six accomplished seniors — either Friday or Saturday looking to claim their second CIF North Coast Section title in four seasons.

"People need to get out here to get some autographs," Borchard said.

It's not because Amador Valley (25-0) is undefeated or the top ranked team among more than 15,000 in the country. Or that they may have the country's best pitcher, UCLA-bound Johanna Grauer who has piled up more than 1,000 strikeouts and almost 100 career wins. Or that they have future college players at almost every position including shortstop (Ashley Lotosynski, UC Davis), catcher (Victoria Molina, Stanford) and center field (Nicole Yozzo, Lehigh).

Those are all good reasons to secure a potentially famous signature or valuable memorabilia.

But Borchard thinks some of her girls might be doctors or politicians or dignitaries or recognizable media members. If nothing else then, leaders in their fields, whatever that is.

"I've been around a lot of kids," said the second-year head coach, who has been a club coach almost a decade and part of Amador Valley's program the last eight seasons. "But these girls have something special. They work extremely hard, have amazing discipline yet they have fun in the process. They just have ‘It.'"

Inside the lines

They own a cumulative 3.6 grade point average, 10 of the 16 made All-Academic standing this spring and four own 4.0 GPAs or above.

Junior second baseman Sammy Salustri just earned Top 10 national honors among 17,000 scholars in a DECA conference contest. She's being recruited by all the Ivy League schools.

Grauer was a member of the Swedish national team.

Sophomore Emily Roskopf plays on a rugby team that last month won a national championship in Boston.

Lotosynski plans to be a veterinarian, Molina an FBI agent and Grauer an executive with Major League Baseball.

Junior first baseman Katelynn Moore has already committed to play at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Prescott, Arizona.

These kids are high-fliers, but just as important, Borchard said, utterly grounded. They know the meaning of a day's work. They're polite, respectful and down to earth.

"They don't take days off," she said. "They don't get ahead of themselves. They stay remarkably focused."

And that's not easy when you're on top of the national heap. It would be human nature to revel, rest or relax. But that's just not Amador Valley's style. Almost all of them play year-round. It's a grind and takes grit, repetition and mental toughness.

"If you allow yourself to think about it, it's sort of amazing," Lotosynski said of her team's No. 1 rankings. "When we're on the field, we just focus on inside the lines."

By every action, diving catch, strikeout, game-ending home run, the Dons are proving they are deaf and blind to the national championship rhetoric.

"We can't possibly think about the rankings," Grauer said. "We have one more week. … two more games of high school ball. We have to go out with a bang."

If they play anything like their 11-0 six-inning quarterfinal home game win over Castro Valley Friday, they'll finish the 2014 season with a sonic boom.

It was nearly perfection.

Warrior spirit

Lotosynski made a brilliant backhand stop and throw in the third inning to rob Marya Ornelas of a sure base hit. She then blasted a walk-off two-run homer in the sixth, one of her three hits and two of her four RBIs.

"She makes that play look routine," Grauer said of Lotosynski's gem.

Yozzo did one better, going fully horizontal to make a diving catch of a sinking line drive off the bat of Allison Decker leading off the fifth.

"She's been practicing on that diving catch a lot lately," Grauer said. "It's not by accident she made that play."

Said Yozzo: "I've been drilling for that like 100 times and my stomach has been all torn up. But I didn't feel any pain when I caught it. Too much adrenalin."

The catch preserved a no-hitter by Grauer, who struck out 10 and walked one to improve to 25-0 and lower her ERA to 0.47. She's struck out 247 in 177 innings while allowing 51 hits and 47 walks.

A four-year starter, the 5-foot-8 Grauer throws in the high 60s and has an assortment of at least five pitches.

"She's a special kind of kid and competitor," Borchard said. "She rises to whatever occasion. You can't teach her warrior spirit. And the best part of her is her humble nature. That's really what sets her apart. Pitchers can sometime be princesses, but she's always respectful, accountable and works as hard or harder than everyone. Her teammates love playing behind her and vice-versa."

Said Yozzo: "Johanna does great job of giving credit and dispersing the praise."

There's plenty to go around, especially this season. Grauer isn't striking out as many batters this season as the previous two, instead saving her arm, experimenting with more pitches and letting her defense do a lot of work.

But in tough spots or tough games, Grauer will definitely rare back and fire.

"She's totally humble and genuine, but what I'm most proud of Johanna is how fired up she gets in pressure situations," Molina said. "She's better than normal in those spots. She takes it personal. She says to herself, ‘You're not going to get a hit off me because I'm better than you.' I think that makes her great. She'll always fight through and get the job done."

Grauer also bats third and leads the team with a .393 average, which speaks to her determination, Borchard said. "She doesn't even bat on her club team. She came to me before the season and wanted to be a bigger contributor offensively so she worked on it, and look what she's doing now."

On Friday, she drove in four runs with a pair of singles and fielder's choice, two of Amador Valley's 11 hits which included two hits each by Salustri (.338 average) and Molina (.321). Yozzo and Lotosynski raised their averages to .359 and .329, respectively.

Though Grauer gets the wealth of the team's attention, she by no means rules the squad. It's a shared and seamless duty. "We probably have seven leaders on the field."

Said Yozzo: "Our personalities mesh perfectly."

Driven Dons
Much of the team's focus centers around NCS defeats the past two seasons after winning the school's first crown in 2011.

In 2012, the Dons were unbeaten and ranked No. 1 in the country, only to lose in the finals to Logan (Union City) 1-0. Last season, Grauer sustained a severe high-ankle sprain right before the playoffs and didn't pitch in a first-round 4-1 loss to San Ramon Valley (Danville).

The losses were painful, but critical reminders not to look ahead. Borchard never does. She was invited into the program by former coach and former UCLA All-American Julie Marshall eight years ago and the two changed the culture of a last-place program in one of California's top leagues, the East Bay Athletic League.

Marshall guided the Dons for six seasons before Borchard took over in 2013. She beefed up the team's schedule this season and Amador Valley responded by winning four straight games in Southern California to take the Michele Carew Classic. The Dons won games by scores of 1-0, 1-0, 2-0 and 2-1. 

"That definitely toughened us up and proved we could play with anyone," Borchard said.

It also firmed up their standing at the top of the national rankings. The Dons have been simply stirring the cement ever since and ready to pour it with two more wins. 

"We appreciate the attention, the rankings and honors we're receiving," Borchard said. "But we want that ranking and will celebrate it only at the end of the season."

They, along with some autograph seekers.

"We're trying not to pay too much attention to it (the rankings) right now," Molina said. "But if we can win these last two games, win NCS and be ranked No. 1 in the country, that would be awesome."