Bulldog softball alums continue to shine
Five Ramona High School softball alumni have completed their softball seasons in college. One alum just completed her first year as a college coach and one alum has earned a scholarship to a four-year college after completing her junior college career.
Shawna Barrow just completed a stellar season at Palomar College. Shawna started at third base for the Comet’s conference championship team.
She hit a team-leading .475 and also led the team in hits (66), triples (5) and stolen bases (19). She was second on the team with 28 RBI.
Shawna earned a scholarship to Abilene Christian University. The Wildcats were 43-15 this year and were 15-3 in the Lone Star Conference. Great job, Shawna!
Shanti Poston and Alicia Ingram both contributed greatly to the success of the Cal-State San Marcos Cougars. The Cougars went 30-21 in only their second year of existence and advanced to the regional playoffs where they upset the top team in the NAIA, Simon Fraser University. They made it to the title game and lost to the University of Houston-Victoria.
Shanti started 50 games and hit .205 and drove in 13 runs. Alicia worked her way into the starting lineup after making the team as a walk-on and hit .260 with two doubles and three RBIs. Shanty is a sophomore and Alicia is a freshwoman.
Kristina Wright completed her first year at the University of Notre Dame, seeing duty as a catcher. She started 20 games of the Fighting Irish’s 60 games and saw action in 22 games.
Kristina hit .108 with two RBIs. The Irish won the Big East Tournament and lost in the regionals to Michigan.
Dana Roberts was a member of the Harvard University Crimson team that advanced to the Ivy League North Division Champion series for the third time in three seasons before losing to Dartmouth. Dana started seven games for The Crimson and posted a 5-2 record. She was 4-2 in Ivey League action. Harvard finished the year with a 27-17 record and was 12-8 in the academically prestigious Ivy League.
Dana is concentrating in economics and is a member of Kappa Kappa Gamma Sorority.
Tori Gross completed her final year of collegiate eligibility at the University of Memphis. She was featured on the cover of the Tiger’s media guide and got a full-page spread in the guide.
Tori was the epitome of the term of student-athlete at Memphis. She was the Tiger Offensive Player of the year in 2008. She was chosen to ESPN Magazine’s All District Team her junior year (This year’s honors have yet to be announced.)
She was named to the Arthur Ashe Jr. Sports Scholar Athlete first team. She earned the NFCA Scholar Athlete Award all four years at Memphis.
She is a four-time Tiger 3.00 Club member. She is a four-time Conference-USA Commissioner’s Honor roll. And she can play and hit.
Tori started 206 games for the Tigers in her four years. She was a picture of consistency offensively. She hit .298 her junior year and .296 as a senior.
She hit six doubles and five home runs this season with 14 RBIs. She fielded her position at second base well. She had a career fielding average of .953.
Victoria Leinaala Gross represented Ramona High School and the University of Memphis well on the diamond and in the classroom.
After a highly successful playing career at Oregon State University and a year as an undergraduate assistant coach for the Beavers, Mia Longfellow took a job as an assistant coach at the University of California at Riverside.