Each week, publications from the Southern California News Group’s 11 properties (Orange County Register, L.A. Daily News, Press-Enterprise, San Gabriel Valley Tribune, Long Beach Press-Telegram, The Daily Breeze, San Bernardino Sun, Daily Bulletin, Redlands Daily Facts, Whittier Daily News and Pasadena-Star News) select the Athletes of the Week for their respective region.
Each athlete is then entered into the overall Southern California Athlete of the Week vote.
Click on the newspaper links below the athlete’s name to read about their performance from last week, and then vote for who you think deserves the top honor.
Readers are allowed to vote multiple times. Voting ends at midnight, but final totals aren’t always immediately reflected due to processing.
GIRLS ATHLETE OF THE WEEK VOTING
The overall winner will be announced on Friday, April 15.
Voting poll at bottom of the page.
Brooke Perez, Esperanza: The UC Riverside-bound pitcher threw two shutouts — a three-hitter and a six-hitter — and struck out a combined nine batters to lead the Aztecs to 3-0 and 2-0 victories against then-No. 3 Villa Park and No. 1 Canyon in the Crestview League.
Jada Villegas, Cajon: Villegas has emerged as one of the top pitchers in the Inland area and helped the Cajon softball program once again become a Citrus Belt League title contender. Last week, the left-handed pitcher outdueled fellow sophomore Cambria Salmon to help the Cowgirls pull out a 1-0 victory over Beaumont in nine innings. Villegas tossed a five-hitter and struck out 11 batters in that game. She followed that by firing a two-hitter with seven strikeouts in a 5-0 win over Redlands East Valley. Villegas is 11-3 with a 0.98 ERA and 109 strikeouts in 93 1/3 innings on the season.
Madison Fao, San Pedro: Fao carried a hot bat through last week’s games. The sophomore had four hits in eight at-bats (.500), scored four runs, drove in seven and hit a grand slam in a pair of Marine League wins. Fao is hitting .372 with two home runs and 15 RBIs.
Laci Berocochea, Lakewood: Berocochea pitched a complete game in a 10-2 win against Long Beach Poly that kept the Lancers in first place in the Moore League. The junior allowed two runs (one earned) and gave up seven hits, while striking out two batters. Berocochea, also the team’s cleanup hitter, went 3 for 4, including an RBI triple during a six-run rally with two outs in the fourth inning to break open the game.
