Normally in the lead position of this column, we feature the team that won the most games the previous week. But since several of the spring sports teams are just starting their regular season and spring is in the air, well feature a really good game, which was unfortunately lost by The Boys Baseball Team.

Fridays home game against San Diego High School featured the respective teams two best starting pitchers. Sophomore Kevin Couture was on the mound for the Islanders and senior Pedro Robles toed the rubber for the Cavers.

The result was the Cavers winning by the score of 1-0 in eight innings, a game that took 1 hour and 35 minutes to complete from the first pitch to the last. In between there was good defense, good execution and from the spectators standpoint, the sense that a really good game was unfolding in front of us at Strand Field.

Robles had a perfect game going through four innings, which ironically was broken up by Couture, the second hitter in the Islander portion of the fifth inning, who singled. After a perfectly executed sacrifice by centerfielder Ryan Nunn which moved Couture to second, designated hitterDavid West lined a single to left field. Head Coach Sam Ceci, knowing that runs were going to be a scarce commodity in the contest, correctly sent Couture to the plate, where he was thrown out. It took a perfect play to nail Couture and the Cavers executed when it mattered.

Couture, who has pitched 12 innings so far this year and had yet to yield a run, gave up eight hits in the seven innings he pitched. In fact San Diego strung together four singles in their half of the sixth inning, but were unable to score, as it was time for some Islander defensive heroics. Rightfielder Josh Okerman fielded a single and threw - you guessed it - Robles out at the plate. Coronados catcher Geoff Thorne, who played travel baseball with several members of the San Diego team during the past summer, was on the receiving end of the collision at the play at the plate, but hung on to the throw for the out.

The Cavers eventually pushed across a run on a double, an infield out and a wild pitch in the top of the eighth. Nunn singled in the bottom of the eighth with one out to keep the Islanders hopes alive, but he was caught stealing in an effort to get into scoring position. The game ended on a great sliding catch of a foul ball by the Caver catcher.

Although on the losing end of the score, Coach Ceci knew the game was well played by both teams. "Thats as good as it gets for high school baseball. I told our kids, theres nothing to be ashamed of there. We played as well as we can play. They had a guy (Robles) out there throwing hard and putting it where he wants to. San Diego is a good team. They should contend in the Eastern League and be right near the top. That was a good, solid team."

Ceci acknowledged the strong performances from the players in his dugout as well. "Couture had a very good outing. He did everything he could do and he went an inning longer than we wanted him to. Shortstop Blake Spitzer played some great defense for us." Spitzer had missed the last two Islander games due to a back injury, but showed no lingering effects in the field Friday. Jacques Spitzer, Blakes older brother and the Islander first baseman, made a great play at in the top of the eighth inning, diving to stop a line drive that could as easily have been a double down the line.

Thorne, who hit the ball hard twice, had nothing to show for his efforts at the plate. In fact the Islanders had three hits in the game and Robles faced only a total of 25 batters in eight innings, striking out seven Islander hitters.

For the season, the Islanders are 2-2 and their tough non-conference schedule continues with an early-week contest against Mira Mesa, followed by a doubleheader at Morse High School Saturday.

Hard as it is to believe, Your Natterer occasionally makes mistakes and one cropped up last week, describing the Golden Goal which propelled the CHS Girls Soccer Teamhotels in Nice to the CIF Division III title. Vanessa De La Garza stripped the ball from the USDHS defender. Ashley Walsh picked up the loose ball and crossed it to Dayna Queisser, who with the last touch of her prep career scored the championship goal for the Islanders. In the prior account, Walshs important contribution to the winning goal had not been included.

The banquet season is in full swing, and complimentary food (if its free, its for me) has always been a favorite concept of mine. So no one should be shocked that Your Natterer showed up at the appointed time for the Girls Basketball Banquet Sunday evening.

The Varsity Awards as announced by Head Coach Toler Goodwin are: Islander Sports Foundation Award for Integrity, Sportsmanship and Friendship Anne Marie Strohbeck; Most Improved Nikki-Marie Hayden; Rookie of the Year Brooke Becky; Most Inspirational Amanda Marks; Coachs Awards Janelle Kuhlow and Strohbeck; Most Valuable Defensive Player Ashley Depfer; and Team MVP Alexis Castro.

Castro, who averaged 19.8 points, 14.6 rebounds and 6.5 assists per game, was also named Harbor League MVP. Strohbeck was named to the Harbor League First Team and Kuhlow was named to the Harbor League Second Team. The Islander Varsity was 21-8 overall and defeated their Harbor League opponents by an average of 32 points per game on their way to a 10-0 league record and the Harbor League title.

The JV Team awards were presented by JV Head Coach Robin Nixon. The JV squad was 13-10 and finished in second place in the Harbor League. Award winners included: Most Improved Alana Zimmer; Most Valuable Offensive Player Jessica Davis-Ricci; Most Valuable Defensive Player Lindsey Negrete; Coachs Award Morgan Gary; and Team MVP Farrell Pompa.

The Boys Tennis Team under the direction of Head Coach Robbin Adair is facing a very competitive schedule again this year and is off to a tough 0-3 start. This past week they lost close matches to Grossmont (10-8) and Brawley (10-8) before losing to The Bishops School (17-1).

Leading the way for the Islanders this season is No. 1 senior singles player Nick Ivarsson. Junior Matt Rowan is the No. 2 singles player, while the top doubles players include juniors Dan Schneider and Alan Hernandez. Senior Fred Keller figures to contribute, as will fellow senior Andrew Farmer.

The Girls Softball Team played in their traditional season-opener, the Montgomery High School Tournament, and emerged with a 1-3 record. They defeated Escondido Charter School and lost to La Jolla, Brawley and El Cajon Valley.

Head Coach Ed Shanholtz and his team find themselves competing in the Western League, which the veteran coach describes as, "one of the toughest leagues n the southern part of San Diego." The Western League for softball includes defending CIF Division III Champion University City, USDHS, Clairemont, La Jolla, Point Loma, Mission Bay and Coronado.

Oradea UnterkunftShanholtz is assisted by John McClimon and Greg Loving at the varsity level. The JV program is under the direction of J.C. Coolidge and former Islander basketball and softball star Vanessa Stahley serves as his assistant.

The Islanders are extremely young, but have senior leadership supplied by shortstop Missy Lopez, first baseman Jessica Bridges and outfielders Ashley Settle and Sunshine DAmico. The all-important pitching position will alternate between sophomore KristenBarker and freshman Sara Noceto. Barker and Noceto in turn alternate at third base, when the other is pitching. Freshman Lindsey West plays second base, and Farrell Pompa is the catcher.

The top four hitters in the lineup include in order Lopez, West, Pompa and Noceto, which reinforces how young the club is. A total of 31 athletes are in the program, which shows a nice rebound from the lower enrollment numbers experienced recently. The team will play their home opener Thursday afternoon vs. La Jolla Country Day at Green Field at 3 pm.

Finally, some musings on the NCAA Mens Basketball Tournament seeding process. The emerging story seems to be that St. JosephsPerissa hotel rooms, which compiled a 27-1 record in regular season play, only to lose convincingly in the Atlantic 10 quarterfinals to Xavier, did not deserve their No. 1 seed. My response is, well somebody has to be No. 1.

There are no great teams in Division I Mens Basketball this year. There are some very good ones, but the gnashing of teeth and the rending of garments over St. Joes and a No. 1 seed is ridiculous. Its as if the Hawks, by earning the No. 1 seed, have single handedly stolen the food from Americas collective dining table.

There is a concept in physics that gas expands to fill the container in which it is placed. Now consider that ESPN, ESPN 2, ESPN Radio, Fox Sports, countless sports websites, and columnists too many to fathom and radio shows too many to enumerate, all have to talk and write about something. They have too much time and too many column inches to fill and occasionally they will collectively launch into attack mode on an issue that is not worthy of the time or the space devoted to it.

I would rather they discuss how Utah State, which went 25-2, didnt make the NCAA field of 65. The Aggies won .926 of the games they played this season, which is a strong outing in a Sunday church league. Now thats where all of the righteous indignation should be directed.

To get to the NCAA finals, a team has to win six consecutive games. Lose, you go home and watch the balance of the games on television like the rest of us. The obligatory winning streak is required to win the title, whether you play from the first seeded position, the second position or the eighth slot like Villanova did in 1985.

I was there when the Wildcats defeated Georgetown in the Finals and no one cared that Villanova was the No. 8 seed and Georgetown was No. 1. Maybe it was because ESPN, the self-proclaimed Worldwide Leader in Sports, hadnt yet hit its stride and Fox Sports was waiting to be invented, so we could still think for ourselves. Or, as I contend, maybe the entire issue surrounding the seeding position just doesnt matter. Lets just play the games and save the worrying for an issue or issues that might be important.