Marymount is an all- girls Catholic high school with approx 400 students. The school's southern border is Sunset Blvd and is across the street from UCLA. The northern border (back side of school) is the nationally known Bel Air Country Club. The team actually practices on the flat part of the driving range

   Visit our school web site at http://www.mhs-la.org 

Visiting Claremont a few times, watching games last season & then staying the weekend of Sept 17th with the softball team, Coach Betsy Hipple suggested Shannon take a week to think before committing. Finally, yesterday Shannon made her phone call to Coach Hipple of Claremont McKenna. Shannon made her choice because the school is close to her West L A home (2 hrs), Claremont is a small school & she can receive a great education in her field of studies (Medicine). Also the school is located in Southern Calif - NO cold weather or SNOW.

Shannon joins her former Marymount teammate, Hayley Schultz, who is a freshman at Claremont also studying medicine. Gizzell Pera, another Marymount grad just finished her studies at Claremont & entered UCLA Medical school. The Forbes list of the top 500 colleges/universities puts Claremont at #12 in the nation behind #11, Stanford & ahead of #30, Dartmouth.

   Marymount plays in 2nd CIF Championship hoping for repeat in 2010

  'Target on our Back'  

Univ of Iowa's Coach Looper Signs First Recruit

Marymount's own Megan Blank joins Hawkeye softball program

Head Coach Marla Looper signed her first recruit as Iowa's head coach.

Nov. 12, 2010

IOWA CITY, Iowa - University of Iowa head softball coach Marla Looper
announced today that Megan Blank has signed a National Letter of
Intent to attend the University of Iowa next fall. Blank is the first
recruit to sign under Looper and the new Hawkeye coaching staff.

"We are excited to have Megan join the Hawkeye family," Looper said.
"She will give us depth on the left side of the plate as well as in
the infield. She has some big shoes to fill at shortstop, but I feel
she has the ability to do that."

Blank is a shortstop from Culver City, Calif., and attends Marymount
High School. She is a second team National Fastpitch Coaches
Association (NFCA) all-Region selection and a three-time all-CIF pick,
including first team honors as a sophomore and junior. Blank is also a
three-time all-league honoree and was named league MVP as a freshman
and junior. She is a three-time team co-captain for her high school
team.

Blank has batted over .500 in her first three seasons at Marymount
High School (.578 as a freshman, .517 as a sophomore and .512 as a
junior). She enters her senior season with 11 home runs, 76 RBI, 118
runs scored and 102 stolen bases.

Blank played ASA-affiliated softball for the Strike Force 18Gold
Strike Force and the 16U Victory USA teams that competed in the ASA
Gold National tournaments.

Blank has numerous ties to Iowa, as her father James was born and
raised in Iowa City. In addition, her mother, grandfathers, great
grandfather, aunts and uncles are all UI alumni.

2009 CIF Champions 

 MARYMOUNT  WINS  CIF

    Number 3 ranked Marymount knocked off number 1 ranked La Salle in the CIF championship game on Saturday at the  Deanna Manning Stadium in Irvine, Calif. The 3 to 2 win climaxed a tremendous year by the Sailors & winning against a former Sunshine League foe was quite rewarding. The four marymount seniors remembered back 4 seasons ago when they were joined by the newly hired former Dynasty travelball coach, Dave Clark & had a losing season but still made the CIF playoffs & won their first contest before losing their 2nd game.

    The Sailors were quite relaxed going into the championship game especially after conducting their final practice Friday morning in the school parking lot. They lined up in two lines, ran in opposite directions around the lot & then did their exercises standing & sitting among the 'slots' on the pavement. Senior & ASB Sports Coordinator, Keeley Abram, retrieved the line chalker & proceeded to mark the 3rd & 1st base lines and the pitcher's circle. The girls then did a few drills & then went to the cage.

      The girls have been out of school for a couple weeks so they were asked to come to Saturday's championship with parents/car pools instead of a bus or van. All eleven warmed up like they always have & then proceeded to the main stadium for introductions & the last warmup. Freshman, Sarah Nuslein had the toughest job. Being Marymount's only substitute, Sarah was introduced first & had to go to the 3rd base line by herself. But being a Marymount student she came through like a cultured young lady she is being trained to be and handled it like she had done it many times.

      Sophomore Pitcher, Hayley Schultz, took the mound & got the 1st two Lancers out before their 'very talked about' catcher hit a single through the infield. The next batter flied out to centerfield.

     Sophomore Shortstop, Megan Blank (being recruited by #1 Washington Huskies) was walked & proceeded to steal 2nd base on the 1st pitch to Gina Rogari. It was Megan's 43rd straight steal without getting thrown out & kept her in the top 3 base stealers in the state (we don't count passed balls & wild pitches as steals). On a 'controversial' play with Megan now on 3rd via a wild pitch, Ali Griffiths hit a ground ball to the 3rd baseman who made the throw to 1st, getting Ali. Megan went home on the release by the 3rd baseman & (stopping the action on the video several times) touched the plate with her foot through the catcher's legs before the tag was applied. Alas, the ump ruled that Megan was out - bang, bang.

    La Salle's second inning began with a ground out. The next 2 batter's had base hits. The Lancer's #8 batter hit a foul ball down the right field line which Senior, Marie Hopkins, caught on the run & then tried to get the runners as they taged & advanced on the catch. Hayley struck out the next batter to end the threat.

     The Lancer's 3rd inning ended with a fantastic double play. La Salle's #3 batter, Senior catcher, Katie Tripoli hit a line drive to Rodondo Beach Senior, Keeley Abram who tossed the ball to Megan at 2nd to end the inning.

  Marymount's scoring began in the bottom of the 4th. Manhattan Beach Junior catcher, Ali Griffiths, reached 1st base on an error by the 3rd baseman. Ali was sacrificed to 2nd by Keeley & reached 3d on a passed ball. Westchester Senior,  Hannah Zimmerman, then sacrificed bunted to the 1st baseman who threw the ball into the dirt allowing Ali to score.

        The fifth inning produced Maymounts final 2 runs. With 1 out Megan received her 3rd walk of the game & again stole 2nd base. Ali hit the ball into the gap in left/center field moving Megan to 3rd. Keeley then had her 2nd hit of the game driving in Megan & moving Ali to 3rd. Hannah hit a blooper to center scoring Ali. It was Hannah's 2nd RBI of the game.

     La Salle scored a run in the 6th & another in the 7th after 2 outs making the game closer than it was.

     Pitcher, Hayley Schultz & Shortstop, Megan Blank have been selected to  ESPN's All-Western Region 1st Team. The two Marymount 2011 Marymount Seniors were also chosen to the All-CIF 1st team for the second consecutive year. 2011 Junior, Shannon O'Neill was selected for the 2nd team All-CIF team.    Megan plays travelball for Strike Force 18u Gold finishing 25th in the 18u Gold National Championship while Hayley & Shannon are teammates playing for Minor's Gold 18u Gold team & finished in 17th place in the 18u ASA 'A' division. Both teams will be playing in the same elite division in the summer of 2011.

     Megan has verbaled to the University of Iowa & will sign her letter of intent in Nov of 2010. Hayley is seeking an Ivy League school & is on Yale's recruiting list. Both Hayley & Shannon are being heavily recruited by the nation's #9th ranked academic school, Claremont McKenna.Boston College & Boston University are both seeking Shannon.

        Congratulations to Megan Blank on her recent commitment to the University of Iowa, in Iowa City.  Megan has taken the last few months deciding which university she would attend upon graduation from Marymount High School. This past week she finally chose to be an Iowa Hawkeye.  Megan plays travelball for Strike Force 18u Gold.

2009 POST  SEASON  REVIEW

      The 2009 season began Feb 13th with the annual tryouts & two weeks of practice. 2008 League MVP Pitcher, Andrea Lyons, was the lone senior who graduated (& now attending softball powerhouse, Arizona). Two Freshmen were the 'newcomers' & were added the the roster making 14 players. Coach Clark thought he was going to have some depth in the lineup for the 1st time in his 4 years at Marymount. Three Seniors decided not to come out for the team even though there was a chance of going deeper into the CIF playoffs. So the roster was set at 11 which meant the team would have to make some 'adjustments'.  The positive adjustment was "very little drama".

      The 2 freshmen were Sarah Nuslein of Playa del Rey & Shannon O'Neill of Westchester. Both Sarah & Shannon got some 'priority points' by attending Coach Clark's week long summer camp. Shannon gained additional points by playing for Clark's Dynasty travel team for the prior year and Marymount's summer league team.

    Marymount played their 1st game of the season against Lawndale in the St. Monica tournament. The Sailors won all 4 of their games & won their first tournament in school history.

FAITH

(continued season review)

     "The beginning of anxiety is the end of faith; the beginning of true faith is the end of anxiety".

     With Andrea Lyons gone, Coach Clark wasn't sure how strong Sophomore Hayley Schultz (Westchester) would be. "Could she replace Andrea?". By winning the St. Monica tournament & beating non-league teams like Div III Notre Dame Sherman Oaks and traditional rivals, Brentwood & Beverly Hills, Clark began to 'believe'. Lefty Freshman,  Shannon O'Neill (Westchester) started & won the Brentwood game so Clark knew he had additional pitching. The two 'key' March games were against Div III Flintridge Sacred Heart of Pasadena & Notre Dame Academy, Marymount #1 Sunshine League rival.

    Flintridge Sacred Heart's senior pitcher was on her way to Harvard & is considered by Coach Clark to be the best pitcher the Sailors faced during the season. Hayley stayed right with the FSH pitcher inning by inning allowing  2 runs. Marymount could only produce 1 run & received their 1st loss of the season.

     Notre Dame Academy was no match as the Sailors rolled up 12 runs. Keeley Abram had 8 'runs batted in' hitting for the circuit (single, double, triple, home run) & demolished 'rbi' school records.

     Coach Clark feels that the confidence booster was entering the late Aptil, El Segundo tournament. Going into the tournament Marymount was 4 & 0 in league play. The Sailors took 2 of 4 games, finishing 2nd in pool play against larger division schools. The big win was against the CIF City Section runnerup, Banning. Going into extra innings (8th) with both teams scoreless & playing the International Tie-break,  Marymount scored 1 run. With Banning's runner on 2nd base the Sailors 'activated' their 'Star 2' play which resulted in the runner running into the tag making the 1st out. Marymount won 1 to 0.  

     Worst  to  Best

       "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way . . . "

     Usually a team has bad times & good times & Marymount was no different. A roster of 11 players could bring problems & it finally hit the Sailors during the El Segundo tournament when the SAT's were taken & the 2 Juniors were rushing to get to the 1 pm game. The 2nd game at 5 pm was the 'turning point' of the season when Marymount beat Banning.   There were worst problems during mid season but the team 'persevered', & went undefeated to win the Sunshine League title - the 'best of times' had begun.

     The 'icing on the cake' was the CIF playoffs. Marymount held the number 3 ranking during most of the season & showed it by defeating Windward, Mary Star of the Sea, Grace Brethern & Maranatha. All 4 games could have been 'shutouts' going into the championship game against La Salle but allowing 2 runs had to be good enough.

note - go to the top of the page "Marymout Wins CIF" for the rest of the story.

Marymount's Hayley Schultz chosen

CIF  Player of the Year

     CIF announces the 'Player of the Year' and 1st/2nd All-CIF teams. Two Marymount players received awards from CIF.  

     Sophomore Pitcher, Hayley Schultz, is recognized as the Div VI 'Player of the Year' & Sophomore Shortstop, Megan Blank is on the All-CIF 1st team.  

     Megan Blank was chosen All-CIF first team for the 2009 season. She was the leader or near the top of every catagory in the Sunshine League. She is considered one of the top Shortstops in the nation. Megan has played over a year for one of the top travelball teams in the nation, Victory USA.

      Megan was on the All-CIF 2nd team last year as a Freshman & is being recruited by the College World Series Champion, Univ of Washington as well as Univ of Arizona, San Diego State & Univ of Iowa.

     Marymount took two games last week in the toughest pool in the tournament defeating very good higher division teams, Lawndale & Mark Kepple High Schools. The Sailors, by winning their pool, were then assured of finishing in the top four of the twelve team tournament. In Coach Clark's opinion, both Lawndale & Kepple would have finished second & third with Mary Star of the Sea, Marymount's simi final opponent, finishing fourth. But because of the 'Luck of the Draw', Marymount had the pleasure of playing & beating the host team, St. Monica HS.

     With the St. Monica players posting 'smack talk' on the internet days before the game, the Sailors were ready to 'wipe the deck', which they did. The Sailors began their 'mop up' with Pitcher, Hayley Schultz, stricking out three of the first four Mariner batters. Hayley faced 24 batters & struck out 15 of them for her second shutout of her five victories.

     The Sailors opened their half of the first inning by scoring 3 runs. Leadoff batter, Freshman catcher Shannon O'Neill, beat out a slap hit & then proceeded to steal 2nd base. Junior Firstbaseman, Gina Rogari then sacrificed Shannon to 3rd. Last year's Sunshine League's MVP & 2nd team All-CIF, Sophomore Megan Blank, bounced a single over the 3rd baseman's head scoring Shannon. Megan stole 2nd base & scored on Senior Hannah Zimmerman's single to centerfield. Hayley then sacrificed Hannah to 2nd base who then scored on Senior Lauren Ivey's RBI ground out to the pitcher.

     St. Monica tried to come back in the 2nd inning but with runners on 1st & 3rd, Shannon threw out former Dynasty player Alex Villa who tried to steal 2nd base. Outfielder, Marie Hopkins, did an excellent job of backing up plays & adjusting to each batter.

    Freshman, Sarah Nuslein, joining the team in the 4th inning after participating in an earlier activity was able to cheer on her teammates in the 4th inning when they scored again. With Senior keeley Abram on 1st base, Sophomore Luisa deCarterert singled between 3rd & short to advance Keeley to 2nd base. Junior Ali Griffiths (recovering from an injury) then advanced both runners by hitting a ground ball to the pitcher. Shannon then slapped the ball to the 1st baseman who tried to throw out the hooksliding Keeley. Keeley slid around the Mariner catcher giving Shannon a team leading 5th RBI.

     Marymount's insurance run came in the 5th inning with Hannah on 1st with a base on balls. Lauren then blooped a single to right field moving Hannah to 2nd. Keeley then 'blasted' a double to the left field wall to score Hannah. Megan had been called out leading off the inning for leaving 1st base too soon but after Coach Clark's close review of the video & running the tape backward & forward several times, he stopped the action as the ball was leaving the pitcher's hand & Megan's foot was still on the bag.

     After receiving the victory trophies from the St. Monica players, the Sailors & crew (coaches & parents) celebrated with a victory dinner at the Hacienda Del Rey restaurant in Westchester to the wee hours of the night.

     Marymount has graduated 7 Seniors who played Varsity softball under the coaching of Dave Clark. Where are these Seniors today, Jan. 2012? 

Gizelle Pera :   Gizelle choose Claremont-McKenna College located in Southern Calif just north of Ontario. In 2011, she finished her 4th season playing outfield & batting 3rd in the lineup. She entered UCLA Medical School in Sept. 2011.

Monica Peres : Monica graduated in 2007 & decided to attend Purdue University in Indiana.

Andrea Lyons : Andrea made her choice the University of Arizona, home of the Wildcats. She graduated in 2008 & choose not to play softball in college.

Keeley Abram : Keeley accecpted the offers from  University of Conn and will begin her studies in 2009 & play on the volleyball team.

Marie Hopkins : Attends Rice Univ.

 Lauren Ivey : Attends Univ of Washington 

Hannah Zimmerman : Attends Univ of Iowa & is joined by Marymount teammate, Megan Blank, in 2011

Ali Griffiths : Syacuse

Gina Rogari : Notre Dame

     Maxpreps is the most popular website to see up to date 'stats', 'schedules', news, etc for high school sports.

     Just click on the 'headline' & you will be taken to Marymount softball stats. Click on an individual player for their stats. Click on 'Categories' for batting, fielding, pitching, etc. Click on 'Bat avg' & see from top to bottom.

   2006 was a banner year for the former players of Coach Clark of Marymount High School. Dynasty Gold, Clark's former travelball team provided CIF with 16 First or Second Team All-Leaguers. Clark's 'third time around' coaching travelball began in 1998 when the Dynasty 10u team was born. Playing at 10u for 4 years many girls had to move up because of their age. Today (2006) they are Freshmen in college, graduated Seniors, or incoming Juniors or Sophomores. Listed below are the players, their graduation year, high school, Travel team & college :

Bree Evans - Michigan Univ. 2011 Junior: 3rd team All-American,   Rialto H S 2008, Dynasty Gold

Leslie Rover - UCLA All-American, about 1980, National  Champs? Palm Desert Middle School 

CIF Division I -
    1st Team - Kaylyn Castillo  2007, Arizona St. 2011 & 2 time College World Series Champions, College Catcher of Year 2011, Norco H S - Batbusters       
    2nd team - Charlotte Morgan 2006, Alabama 2010, 1st Team All-American,   Valley View H S.  
Div II - 
   Player of the year - Sahah Vertelka 2006   Rancho Cucamonga
    1st team- Aleah Macon 2007,UCLA 2011 Pitcher,Upland H S
    2nd team - Gabby Smith  2006,    Fontana   C S Fullerton
Div III
   Player of the year - Nicole Kajatani 2006,Tennessee 2010,  Cajon H S
    1st team - Bekki Saldecke    2007,  Cajon H S
               Christina Bolin   2007         Ramona H S
Div IV   
    1st team - B B Bates 2009, UCLA 2011, College World Series Champions,   Victor Valley HS 
    2nd team - Marissa Araujo    2006         Indio - Texas 
    2nd team - Percy Valasquez   2008, La Quinta,Team Smith
Div V   
    1st team - Tyler Lent 2007, Point Loma, Arrowhead Christian H S, Case Batbusters 
Div VI
    2nd team - Gizelle Pera 2007, Claremont 2011,    Marymount H S, Shilos Gold
    2nd team - Misty Finlay      2007    Woodcrest Christian
Div VII
    1st team - Brianna Corral 2007, Cal Baptist college Div II National Champions 2010,  Calvary Chapel
City Section
    2nd team - Sachera Brantley 2006, Crenshaw H S,  RBI Monarchs