Tribune names its SLO County high school softball all-stars. Here’s who made the team
Morro Bay softball player Peyton Schemmer is known for being a hard worker — and her commitment paid rewards in her senior season as she heads off to the East Coast to play at the next level of her sport.
The senior shortstop and pitcher — who has accepted a partial scholarship to play softball at Syracuse next year — lifted weights and practiced along with some of the Morro Bay baseball players at times over the past couple of years.
“It’s pretty inspiring actually watching her and all the work she puts in,” said Morro Bay baseball player Morgan Codron, the Tribune’s SLO County co-player of the year. “To have someone go play in the ACC (Atlantic Coast Conference) from Morro Bay. That’s big time. It’s pretty crazy.”
As a senior this year, Schemmer hit .541 with six home runs, 13 doubles, and 33 RBI while pitching 70% of the Pirates’ innings over the season, posting a 1.34 ERA with 158 strikeouts and 19 earned runs. She led her team in nearly all statistical categories.
Schemmer is this year’s Tribune San Luis Obispo County Player of the Year, with first team, second team and honorable mentions listed below. Players were selected based on stats, coach input, video and leadership qualities, chosen from a talented group of softball players countywide.
Other standouts include Kelsy Rodriguez, a shortstop from Arroyo Grande and the Mountain League MVP, and Nipomo’s Key-annah Pu’a, who led her team to a CIF-Central Section Division 6 title as a dominant pitcher.
Schemmer, along with another Morro Bay standout, Reese Tartaglia, led Morro Bay to the semifinals for the first time in the team’s history.
“Peyton had a great year, especially since she didn’t play all of her junior year due to injury, and her sophomore year was cut short due to COVID,” said Morro Bay Coach Vicki Schemmer, who is Peyton’s mother. “She is a true competitor and a great leader on and off the field. She has a great work ethic and will do whatever her team needs.”
As the No. 4 seed in CIF-Central Section Division 4, Morro Bay beat Bakersfield 12-2 and Dos Palos 6-1 before falling 2-1 to No. 1 Orange Cove, which beat Mission Prep in the final 10-0.
“Without Reese and Peyton, we would not have had the season we did,” Vicki Schemmer said.
The Pirates finished with a record of 9-12-1, but had to forfeit seven games due to a CIF rules violation when a player participated on a recreation team during the season, not knowing it was against the rules.
In her hitting approach, Peyton told The Tribune that she looks to drive the ball to left center, depending on the location of the pitch.
“I definitely have power at times, but I feel like I’m also pretty consistent with line drives and base hits,” Schemmer said. “I concentrate on timing and then adjusting to what pitchers are throwing. It’s all about adjustments and recognizing the pitch.”
As a pitcher, Peyton said she seeks to keep batter’ off balance by “reading their swing.”
“Their foul balls tell you so much about their timing or angle of their swing,” she said. “Messing with the hitters was fun this year, and I just had the mindset of going in and having fun with pitching, knowing that I probably wouldn’t do it again. So I feel like that helped me.”
Schemmer will be a position player at Syracuse University, saying she’s prepared to play infield and was recruited as a shortstop but also is open to other positions.
“I’ll definitely have to work my way in (to get playing time) and just working hard and being open to playing other positions,” Schemmer said. “I’ve been practicing infield outfield, all different spots.”
At the university located in upstate of New York, she’ll study health and exercise science.
“It will be a change moving and a little bit sad not playing with and against all my friends (in California),” Schemmer said. “But I’m excited to go to something new.”
Schemmer said that she’s proud of the group of athletes at Morro Bay High in boys and girls sports who excelled this year.
Multiple teams had winning seasons including football, baseball, girls basketball and girls volleyball.
“We’ve all grown up together,” she said. “And we all saw how we all played different sports in middle school. And then we really saw how we all focused on our sports and it took us to where we wanted to go.”
Here are the Tribune’s selections for SLO County softball all-stars:
First Team
Kelsy Rodriguez — Arroyo Grande
Key-annah Pu’a — Nipomo
Melania Ruelas — Nipomo
Jaiden Ralston — Paso Robles
Andie Dizon — Paso Robles
Olivia Moscardi — Atascadero
Reese Tartaglia — Morro Bay
Savannah Bravo — Arroyo Grande
Roxanne Guerra — Mission Prep
Second team
Emily Duclos — Morro Bay
Ali Lewis — Arroyo Grande
Maddie George — Templeton
Kylee Nancolas — Paso Robles
Brooklyn Neenan — Mission Prep
Olivia Huff — San Luis Obispo
Anissa Garcia — Nipomo
Savannah Ruelas — Mission Prep
Rylinn MacDonald — Mission Prep
Honorable mention
Izzy Cowne — Templeton
Mikaylee Gordon —Mission Prep
Aalia Torres — Mission Prep
Sadie Pilnick — Morro Bay
Chanell Thibodeaux — Morro Bay
Teagan Haley — San Luis Obispo
Alexis Sargenti — San Luis Obispo
Alyssa Moore — Templeton
C.J. Arias — Nipomo
Marissa Rovenstine — Paso Robles
Ellie Stennett — Arroyo Grande
Delayna Quezada — Arroyo Grande
Madeline Hageman — Nipomo
Elie Chavez — Paso Robles
Sophie D’Orazio Lelli — Mission Prep
Eva Machado — San Luis Obispo
Brielle Machado — San Luis Obispo
This story was originally published June 21, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
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