Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League defending champion Scotts Valley is back and feeling more confident than ever that it can uphold its league crown in 2025.
Falcons third-year head coach Jeremy Wilson has faith this year’s group is equipped with the right tools and talent to win a second consecutive league title, and make a possible deep run in the postseason.
“We have a very intact team, we only lost a few seniors last season,” Wilson said. “I believe we can repeat and even go farther this season.”
So far, they are off to a great start following a 6-1 victory over Leigh in non-league play Tuesday afternoon. Senior pitcher Sofie Seese tossed a gem, allowing one run on just two hits while racking up six strikeouts in the complete game win. She improved to 2-1 this season.
Teammate senior Taylor Wilson had one home run, three RBIs, one run scored and a pair of stolen bases, while senior Abby Howell had a pair of hits, including one double and one run scored.
Gracie Delgado, Jazzy Doubek, Jazzy Phillips, Isabella Williams and Chloe Kent each had one hit for Scotts Valley, which improved to a 3-2 overall record this season.
Wilson said he learned a lot from his first two seasons at the helm. He knows what it takes in order to get over their biggest hump from last season.
“We are a great team, we got the talent, but we have to get our hitting together,” he said. “Pitching and defense will be there for us but we need to score runs.”
The Falcons had no trouble putting up runs during SCCAL play in 2024. However, they were outscored against non-league opponents such as Carmel, Hillsdale of San Mateo, Sobrato, Watsonville and Milpitas, which eliminated Scotts Valley from the Central Coast Section Division II playoffs following a 3-0 loss in the quarterfinals.
The Falcons are expected to have a strong rotating unit in the circle with Seese—a University of Nevada signee—leading the charge. Behind Seese are sophomores Kent and Lorelei Warner.
Backing up the pitchers on defense are seniors Wilson and Delgado, guarding the left side at third base and shortstop, respectively.
At the plate, Wilson—the SCCAL’s reigning Most Valuable Player—will hope to create some momentum for the Falcons. She has just three base hits in 16 plate appearances but two of those are for home runs, according to statistics on the Max Preps website.
The reason for a low hit count is because opposing pitchers know to respect Wilson when she has a bat in her hands. She currently has a team-best eight walks along with 10 runs scored, seven RBIs and five stolen bases.
The right side of the infield is protected by Howell at second base and Phillips at first base.
“We should do great as a team, after a great season last season I think we just have to build from that and go far,” Howell said.
Others expected to make an impact in the Falcons’ batting lineup are Delgado and Doubek.
Delgado has one home run and one double along with a team-best seven RBIs and four runs scored, while Doubek has one triple, two doubles, four RBIs and a pair of stolen bases.
One thing Jeremy Wilson won’t have to worry about this season is team chemistry, which makes his job a lot easier. Most of the players have been competing together as young as 8 years old, essentially making them a second family.
“Our team gets along so well. We are really good at making everyone feel welcomed and get involved,” Doubek said.
There wasn’t a huge turnout at this year’s tryouts, mostly because the rain cancelled several of the sessions. Yet, Wilson expects more players to begin trickling in after the conclusion of winter sports.
“Not too worried,” he said. “Our last year’s starters are returning so that takes some stress away from me.”
Each member of the Falcons will have to get involved if they want to defend the SCCAL crown. Before that, Wilson is putting them up to the challenge with another testing non-league schedule in preparation for what lies ahead.
They finished with a 2-2 record at the Watsonville Wildcatz Tournament, including a 15-2 crushing win over South Tahoe and a 16-2 victory against North Monterey County.
Scotts Valley’s pair of defeats came at the hands of Watsonville and Notre Dame Belmont—two CCS playoff contenders.
“We know what it is going to take if we want to make a run so I tried to challenge our team in non-league,” Wilson said.
The Falcons’ remaining non-league portion of their schedule has games at Carmel and Leland on March 8 and 11, respectively. Followed by the Monterey Peninsula Softball Invitational against Monterey, Mountain View and Chico.
Scotts Valley will then travel to Salinas to face Alvarez—the defending NorCal D-IV and CCS D-III champion—on March 18 at 4:30pm.
The SCCAL season begins with a home game against last season’s runner-up Aptos on March 20 at 4:30pm. The rest of the league includes Harbor, Santa Cruz, Soquel and San Lorenzo Valley, which is just one year removed from winning back-to-back league titles.
After several weeks of rainy conditions, the Cougars are finally back in action and on a mission to return home the SCCAL crown. They are led by longtime head coach Mark Brown, who is enthusiastic for the spring campaign.
“It’s been a rough couple of weeks to start the season with all the rain but we got some quality practices in and I have been excited about what I have seen so far,” Brown said.
SLV is not fielding a junior varsity team in 2025, but Brown emphasized his excitement for the current roster and the future of the program.
“We have some great players coming into our program and the great thing about it is that most of them are either a pitcher or catcher, and utility players,” Brown said.
A key returner for the Cougars is senior pitcher Abi Krepelka, who is currently committed to attend and play softball next year at Beloit College in Wisconsin.
“Abi is a great kid and leader, she will be one of our main arms in the circle,” Brown said.
Other pitchers expected to make appearances in the circle are sophomore Grace Purtscher and freshman Bailey Filice.
Brown said another player to look out for is senior Angie Fulkerson, who currently leads the Cougars with five hits in three games played, according to statistics on the Monterey Bay Preps website.
“Angie is one of our most consistent hitters in our lineup and has a glove at third,” Brown said.
Brown believes this year’s group has a shot in the race for the league championship and a possible deep run in the playoffs. SLV began the season with a 14-6 defeat to Alvarez—winners of three consecutive CCS titles—yet immediately bounced back.
The Cougars improved to 2-2 following a 19-4 crushing victory over North Monterey County on Tuesday afternoon. SLV will continue its non-league portion at home against Carmel on Thursday, followed by games against Presentation and Menlo-Atherton in Felton on March 11 and 13, respectively. All three games are slated for 4pm.
Non-league play is capped off with an appearance at the Monterey Peninsula Invitational on March 15 with games against Gonzales, Carmel and Palma.
“I tried to challenge our girls in our non-league games,” Brown said. “We know we have to if we want to compete with the teams over the hill once CCS playoffs start.”
SLV begins SCCAL play against Aptos on March 25 at 4:30pm.
