No words can truly describe the magnificent season for 2016 San Pedro Prep Softball overall, because Port Of Los Angeles High softball junior pitcher Analise De La Roca probably took all of your breath away.

Combined with a gritty effort from a team that lost 3 players to grade cuts at mid-season, and 2 more to injury right before the CIF-Los Angeles City Section Division 1 playoffs, De La Roca along with coach Jesse Espinoza and a hungry cast of teammates would buck the odds in reaching its third consecutive semifinal where they were one bad sixth inning away from topping eventual champion El Camino Real of Woodland Hills.

It's no secret that De La Roca is the 2016 San Pedro News Pilot Prep Softball Player Of The Year, as her statistics all-around back up that claim, along with how the Polar Bears ended up.

The Arizona State commit set a new standard in the CIF-Los Angeles City Section with 408 strikeouts, finishing 26-4 with a 0.43 ERA, 20 shutouts, 5 no-hitters and three perfect games, allowing only 19 runs (12 earned), 31 walks and ten hit batters in 197 innings pitched, and 2,760 pitches thrown. De La Roca also did damage at the plate, hitting .521 with 4 home runs, 49 hits, 16 doubles and 37 RBIs with 13 runs scored (mainly because she was ran for), only striking out three times, drawing 16 walks with an on base percentage of .609, and a .840 slugging percentage.

De La Roca, also the CIF-LACS Co-Pitcher Of The Year, would strike out an insane 20 of 21 batters in a victory over Crenshaw on May 4 in posting an overall record of 26-4, guiding the undermanned Polar Bears to the CIF-LACS Division 1 semifinals with a pair of 1-0 victories over Birmingham of Lake Balboa and then-defending champion Chatsworth in the first two rounds.

Not to mention, De La Roca also went 3-0 combined against fellow neighbors San Pedro and Mary Star to boot.

Espinoza, after previous coaching stops at Mary Star and Banning of Wilmington, would pace the Polar Bears to a 27-5 record, and a perfect 12-0 Coliseum League championship run to earn Coach Of The Year honors. POLA will only lose starting outfielder Vanessa Munoz and reserve outfielder Beatriz Herrera to graduation on Monday, so another long playoff run is not out of the question.

Speaking of San Pedro, the Pirates may not have won 20 games like they did in the inaugural coaching year of Robert Whitney where they went 21-12, it may have been their most enjoyable season yet in Whitney's second year considering they stunned perennial Marine League foe Carson, 4-2 on May 3 which gave Banning the outright Marine League championship. 

One player that truly came out strong in her junior year is the Most Outstanding Player, All-City Division 1 first team catcher Andrea Cline.

Whenever San Pedro needed a hit in the clutch, Cline was there. Sharing captaincy with All-City Division 1 second team junior infielder Ricki Justiniano, Cline was an All-Whittier Tournament selection and helped the Pirates place third in the killer Marine League, hitting a pair of home runs while being the anchor of a deep catching rotation. Cline's best moment was a game-tying two-RBI double that helped spark the Pirates in the win over Carson.

Junior All-City Division 1 first team pitcher Cindy Robles also shined in that win over the Colts, striking out a career-high 11 batters for the Pirates, who finished 16-11-2 overall, 7-3 in league. San Pedro will be senior and junior heavy for 2017, so they are definitely a team to watch as they will again challenge Banning and Carson atop the Marine.

Mary Star floundered in 2016, but it still didn't stop the junior trio of catcher Gianna Fletcher and infielders Amanda Vitalich and Gigi Gentile from going deep, and again...

It was a red-hot April for Vitalich, who hit all six of her home runs that month, including two grand slams. Gentile even hit four home runs, IN ONE GAME, where she clobbered four long balls in a 20-7 victory over Bell-Jeff of Burbank on April 19. Fletcher also hit four homers for the Stars, who also had a great senior season out of third baseman Isabella Samperio. The youthful Stars no doubt will look to climb back into respectability for 2017 losing only three seniors.

Here is the full All-San Pedro News Pilot Softball Team for 2016...

FIRST TEAM
INFIELDERS

Amanda Vitalich (Mary Star, jr.)

Ricki Justiniano (San Pedro, jr.)

Destiny Sambrano (POLA, jr.)

Isabella Samperio (Mary Star, sr.)

PITCHER

Cindy Robles (San Pedro, jr.)

OUTFIELDERS

Gidget Gutierrez (San Pedro, soph.)

Andrea Trejo (San Pedro, jr.)

Vanessa Munoz (POLA, sr.)

CATCHER

Gianna Fletcher (Mary Star, jr.)

UTILITY

Angie Vargas (POLA, INF/P, jr.)

SECOND TEAM
INFIELDERS

Mackenzie Winkle (San Pedro, jr.)

Gigi Gentile (Mary Star, jr.)

Christina Hernandez (POLA, jr.)

Alexa Jaramillo (San Pedro, sr.)

PITCHER

Amanda Rojas (Mary Star, fr.)

OUTFIELDERS

Brittany Mercado (POLA, soph.)

Quincy Greenwood (San Pedro, soph.)

Miranda Marquez (Mary Star, soph.)

CATCHER

Allison Torstensen (POLA, fr.)

UTILITY

Deanna Gonzalez (San Pedro, SS/P, jr.)

PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Analise De La Roca (POLA, Pitcher, jr.)

MOST OUTSTANDING PLAYER

Andrea Cline (San Pedro, Catcher, jr.)

COACH OF THE YEAR
Jesse Espinoza (Port Of Los Angeles)

SAN PEDRO NEWS PILOT PAST PREP SOFTBALL PLAYERS OF THE YEAR

2012: Marina Vitalich, Mary Star

2013: Marina Vitalich, Mary Star; Nicolle Miranda & Allison Bayer, Port Of Los Angeles

2014: Marina Vitalich, Mary Star

2015: Marina Vitalich, Mary Star & Nicolle Miranda, Port Of Los Angeles