In its first year of varsity sports, Anchorpoint Christian is
building a foundation in baseball, softball and basketball
A year ago, there was nothing but empty land next to Anchorpoint Christian, the small school off Pacheco Pass Highway in eastern Gilroy.
Now, there’s are athletic at the school. And plenty happening on them.
On the baseball diamond in one corner of the field Wednesday afternoon, Anchorpoint baseball coach Ken Bradley enthusiastically shows his 18-man varsity baseball team how to tell by a pitcher’s lead foot if he’s going to attempt a pick-off or not.
On the softball field at the other end, Anchorpoint varsity softball coach Anthony Contreras is motivating his team between drills.
The scenes are the fruition of the vision that’s been in the mind of Anchorpoint athletic director KC Adams for some time now: A varsity athletic program at the 150-student school.
“We don’t have much, but we use what we’ve got. Right now, I’m in the process of trying to build a gym,” said Adams, who also coached the Anchorpoint boys’ and girls’ basketball teams this past winter. “Our thing is we’re just happy to offer an athletic program and give people another venue to go to.”
For the first time this year, the 3-year-old school is competing in varsity sports as a part of the Christian Private School Athletic League, which includes other small private schools from Monterey Bay to San Francisco..
It’s been a difficult first year. Because Anchorpoint doesn’t have its own gym, the basketball teams – which both made the CCS Division V playoffs – always played on the road and sometimes practiced on the outdoor courts at the school. The softball and baseball teams took to the blacktop outside the school while they waited for the new outfield grass to grow. The teams had to be resourceful with practice until April 1, when the field was finally ready .
“That was tough,” said Contreras of the parking lot playing field. “Especially with first-year (players) and you’re trying to explain a double play and you’re not on a field.”
But as Adams points out, every school has to start somewhere. His son JR was a standout football player at San Jose-based Central Coast Section powerhouse Valley Christian, which “started just like (Anchorpoint), probably smaller,” Adams said.
Perhaps not so coincidentally, Anchorpoint Christian’s colors are navy and baby blue and the school’s nickname is the Warriors, just like Valley Christian.
Starting From Scratch
The Anchorpoint baseball and softball teams may not have the experience, but they have the numbers.
Bradley has 16 players on his roster and Contreras has 12. Many of them are first-time players.
“The biggest challenge with this is taking players that don’t have any high school experience, but they have big hearts and are young men and want to compete,” Bradley said. “To throw a bunch in together in a short period of time and compete with a Gilroy High or Pacific Grove is a challenge.”
For a season-opening scrimmage against the Mustangs, Bradley actually recruited non-baseball players on the Anchorpoint campus to play because eight of his players were still playing on the basketball team.
“I said, ‘Look, I’ll loan you a uniform so you can play some games,'” said Bradley, who has over 20 years of coaching experience. He spent 11 years coaching youth baseball in Morgan Hill and coached two years of JV baseball at Live Oak.
The baseball team played its first official game – also its first home game ever – on April 11 against St. Thomas More. The Warriors lost 6-1, but bounced back Tuesday against Bridgemont. Anchorpoint beat the San Francisco-based school 14-4 in five innings.
The team has a good mix of older and younger players. Seniors Mario Mariscal and Michael Seelie serve as the team’s senior captains.
Outfielder Jared Haygood, shortstop/pitcher Mariscal, first baseman/catcher/pitcher Seelie and pitcher Julian Toscano are all returnees from last year’s junior varsity-level team.
Mariscal, who transferred to Anchorpoint from Gilroy High after his freshman year in hopes of pulling up his grades, said he enjoys the atmosphere of the small program.
“It’s a lot more fun,” he said. “I grew to love the game a lot more.”
There is also a core of four freshman, including starter Clayton Eslick, whom Bradley expects to help build the program.
“They’re committing to our school,” Bradley said.
Eslick, who attended junior high at Brownell Academy, said he chose Anchorpoint because he knew the coaches and some other players on the team.
“I think we can go a long ways with the coaches and everyone here, the facilities,” Eslick said about the future of the Anchorpoint program.
On the softball side, Contreras has an even younger group. But two of his youngest players, pitcher Danielle Kinoshita and catcher Adrianna Osuna, are the most experienced. Both players – who are in eighth grade at Anchorpoint – played on the Gilroy Little League All-Star softball team that went to the World Series last August.
“The reason I took them is because the have World Series experience,” said Contreras, who coached for the Gilroy Chaos travel softball team before starting at Anchorpoint.
The early goings of the season were difficult.
“We had to go through a lot of ice packs at first when the girls were learning to throw and catch,” Contreras said. “But I’m already seeing end-of-the-year improvement.”
Freshman Raeanne Solario (three years of travel ball) and Adrianna Osuna’s older sisters Mikhaela, a junior, and Kristian, a freshman, also provide the Warriors with some experience.
The softball team (2-1) plays its first home game Friday against Monterey at 4pm.
More Than Sports
When Mariscal transferred to Anchorpoint, he had to get used to some of the religious responsibility that went along with the program, like praying as a team before games.
“At first I didn’t (like it),” Mariscal said. “But it has changed me a lot, my discipline, attitude, everything.”
And that’s part of Anchorpoint’s mission, according to Adams, Bradley and Contreras. Making up the seven softball rainouts at the end of the season may not happen because majority of the softball team will be on a mission trip to Mexico.
“The fact that we are a Christian school, at some point that message really needs to get across. There’s certainly some challenge you’re presented with trying to be a Christian school around a bunch that aren’t as far as the standards and morals you hold the team to,” Bradley said. “We want to go out and be competitive but at same time, there’s wonderful wins and rewards you can have as a team. We’re building program around that.”
Ana Patejdl is the sports editor of the Gilroy Dispatch. She can be reached at ap******@gi************.com.
