San Pedro’s Martinez, Brucker Are 4-A MVPs

Juniors Petrina Martinez and Victoria Brucker, the leaders of San Pedro High’s City Section 4-A Division championship softball team, have been named 4-A co-most valuable players by a coaches’ panel.

Martinez and Brucker lead a list of nine South Bay players, including five from San Pedro, who were selected to the 4-A first team. Brucker was also named to the all-state team by Cal-Hi Sports.

Martinez, a pitcher, had a 14-1 record with an 0.35 earned-run average and 119 strikeouts in 99 innings. She pitched 12 complete games and six shutouts, including a three-hitter June 3 in San Pedro’s 8-0 victory over Banning in the 4-A championship game.

Brucker, a shortstop, batted .448 and led the Pirates (26-3) with 37 runs scored, 43 hits, nine doubles, four triples, six home runs and 35 runs batted in. She gained notice in 1989 by being the first girl to play in the Little League World Series.

Other San Pedro players named to the 4-A first team were catcher Lisa Hebert and outfielders Diane Marshall and Michael Ahumada. Hebert led Pirate starters with a .500 batting average, Marshall (.394) ranked second on the team with 39 hits, and Ahumada (.313) had 30 hits and tied Marshall for second on the team with 27 runs scored.

San Pedro, which has won the last two 4-A titles under Coach Tony Dobra, finished the season ranked 11th in the state by Cal-Hi Sports.

Banning placed three players on the 4-A first team--pitcher Ompa McKenna, infielder Michelle Chavica and outfielder Primavera Valle. McKenna was 15-5 with a 1.02 ERA and 144 strikeouts in 144 innings. Valle led Banning with a .375 average, six triples, two home runs and 15 RBIs.

Carson’s Jennifer Sponsler was named to the first team as a utility player and teammate Denise Hernandez was a second-team utility choice. Sponsler was 13-8 with a 1.65 ERA as a pitcher and batted .332 with four doubles, four home runs and 16 RBIs.