Mater Dei’s Rojas Has Shot at Playing in Olympic Games

Ruby Rojas may not be the household name in Orange County softball circles that Mater Dei’s Marissa Young or Foothill’s Jaime Clark are, but Rojas is closer to playing in the Olympics than either of those outstanding players.

Rojas, a Mater Dei third baseman, is on the Venezuelan national team and will compete this summer in a qualifier in Venezuela for the Pan American and Olympic games. She will also play for the Junior Olympic team in China.

“Oh my gosh, it’s such an honor--I’ve always wanted to play internationally,” said Rojas, 17.

Rojas played for the Southern California Athletics 18-and-under Gold team in a women’s open tournament last summer. She played against the Taiwan national team while the team from Puerto Rico watched. When it was over, the Puerto Ricans asked Rojas her nationality.

“They contacted the Venezuelan team and the Venezuelan team contacted me,” Rojas said.

She missed 1 1/2 weeks of school in September playing in the Venezuelan nationals for Carabobo, the state in which she was born. She was voted its top player.

“I’ve been very lucky,” Rojas said. “Since I was born there, I always wanted to play internationally and have an international experience.”

*

Pacifica, Foothill, Mater Dei and Woodbridge have dominated the top of the county rankings in recent years, but many think Pacifica is ready to fall now that it’s without two-time Times Orange County and state player of the year Amanda Freed.

“Everyone is basing things on Amanda’s absence, so they’re saying we won’t be all that good, which is OK,” said Toria Auelua, Pacifica’s catcher. “We’ll let them say that, and when it comes time for the game, we’ll prove ourselves.”

Auelua says Pacifica is in good hands with senior pitcher Jessica Soto. With Freed absent from last year’s Tournament of Champions in Arizona, Soto and the Mariners won four of five games against a largely national field.

“I love catching for Jessica just like I loved catching Amanda,” Auelua said. “Jessica’s not as overpowering as Amanda, but she’s very accurate with her pitches and has good location. I don’t think our team’s affected at all--it’s not a handicap. We can win ballgames with her. I think she can take us to another CIF championship.”

Auelua said Mallorie Lenn, a freshman third baseman/shortstop, will fill the void left by the absence of Freed’s bat in the lineup: “She’s just as good a hitter as Amanda, to be honest.”

*

For the second year in a row, Corona del Mar isn’t fielding a softball team. Some Sea View League coaches are getting annoyed.

“I was given strong assurances that they would field a team as late November or early December,” El Toro Coach Jim Daugherty said. “I spoke during volleyball season with [Corona del Mar Athletic Director] Jerry Jelnick. He kept saying we’re going to do this. “I told my athletic director that this is really unconscionable on their part that they can’t find a coach to do this or make a decision earlier [in the process] that they’re going to can the program [providing] everyone a chance to schedule around them.

“They know they don’t have a program--why make it difficult on everyone else?”

Jelnick said 22 students attended a softball meeting in September, but his search for a coach through the newspapers and colleges proved fruitless. Only eight students enrolled in the softball class for the second semester. Then the decision was made.

“I’m not going to bad talk anyone,” Jelnick said. “If they think I pulled them around, I’m sorry they think that way. I tried everything I could to get a coach and a team. We could never find a coach . . . and eventually the girls weren’t there either.

“I know they’re disappointed in us.”

Jelnick said the Sea Kings won’t have a badminton team either, also because a coach couldn’t be found.

“It’s a major shock that it happened two years in a row, especially my senior year, when I’ve worked so hard to get where I am in softball,” Corona del Mar pitcher Jacque Marston said. “It’s ruined.”

Marston said blame could probably be shared between administration and students.

“There was definitely a lack of players,” she said. “There was no coach, and no interest.”

Corona del Mar moves into the Pacific Coast League next season and Jelnick hopes to field a team: “We are told we have a nice class coming in.”