There is an adage in sports that it is harder to defend a championship than to win it. That is the challenge that coach Rick Robinson and the Norco High softball team face this season, but the Cougars have the skill to make a run at back-to-back titles after winning 29 of 32 games en route to the Southern Section Division 1 crown last spring.
Robinson entered the 2026 campaign with 728 career wins and has added three to that total as his team won its own showcase last week at Big League Dreams in Chino Hills.
In the final, junior pitcher Coral Williams fanned 11 Orange Lutheran batters in a 2-1 victory, picking up where she left off last spring when she was named the Southern Section Division 1 player of the year after going 17-0 with 10 complete games, a 0.59 earned run average and 147 strikeouts while giving up only nine earned runs in 106 innings. In the semifinals, Oklahoma State signee Peyton May threw a no-hitter and struck out 12 in an eight-inning 3-0 win against Aliso Niguel. She was 10-3 last year with a 1.49 earned run average and 132 strikeouts in 80 innings.
Offensively the Cougars are led by junior shortstop Leighton Gray, a Texas A&M commit who was All-Southern Section as a sophomore after batting .435 with 40 hits, eight home runs and a 0.793 slugging percentage. Add to the mix London Potter, who follows in the footsteps of sisters Riley and Dakota (Norco alums now playing at Quinnipiac and South Carolina, respectively) and catcher/first baseman Camryn May, Peyton’s younger sister.
Since taking over the program in 2000, Robinson has guided Norco to section titles in 2003, 2009, 2012, 2015, 2018, 2019 and 2025 (all but the first in the top division). He also won the Division IV title in 1996 in the second of his five years at Corona Centennial —giving him a Southern Section record of eight.
Among the teams capable of dethroning Norco is Orange Lutheran, No. 2 behind the Cougars in Cal-Hi Sports’ preseason Southland top 20 rankings. The Lancers will miss star center fielder Kai Minor (now an Oklahoma Sooner) but returning are second baseman Sierra Nichols (40 hits), shortstop Madelyn Armendariz (32 hits, 29 RBIs) and pitching aces Rylee Silva (135 strikeouts as a freshman) and UCLA signee Jo Marsh.
Battling the Lancers for Orange County supremacy could be Trinity League rival JSerra, which is off to a 2-0 start behind Florida-bound pitcher Liliana Escobar and sophomore sensation Annabel Raftery, who led the team with 36 hits, 21 RBIs and five homers a year ago.
Sherman Oaks Notre Dame has one of the section’s best all-around players in Oklahoma State commit Aliyah Garcia and starts out as the team to beat in the San Fernando Valley. The senior pitcher/shortstop had one run, two hits, an RBI and drew two walks while recording five strikeouts in three innings in the Knights’ season-opening win.
Fullerton has one of the most formidable one-two pitching combos in California Baptist commit Katelynn Mathews and Analise Barrios (both also play second base). Mathews had a 15-3 record with 185 strikeouts in 115 1/3 innings and Barrios had a 0.72 earned run average last season when the Indians won 21 games and played Norco tough in the third-place game of the Michelle Carew Classic in April. Utah State-bound outfielder Hayley Brock batted .393 with 38 hits and 24 RBIs.
Fullerton pitcher Analise Barrios compiled a 0.72 earned run average as the Indians went 21-8 last season.
(Steve Galluzzo / For the Times)
Despite its loss to Norco in the second round of the playoffs a year ago, Oaks Christian is the cream of the crop in Ventura County as most of its key contributors are back — Utah State-bound shortstop Gianna Garcia, Brigham Young-bound outfielder Terrianna Kelley (33 hits, 27 RBIs, nine doubles, five homers and a .750 slugging percentage in 2025); shortstop Trystyn Crutcher, pitcher Sophia Debs, outfielder Reagan Beck and catcher Giabella Otani.
Other Southern Section programs that should continue their success from last year include Division 1 runner-up El Modena and semifinalist Temescal Canyon, Division 2 champion Los Alamitos and Division 3 champion Marina as well as La Mirada, Ayala, Chino Hills and Long Beach Poly.
In the City Section, Granada Hills finished 28-3 last season and beat nemesis Carson 11-2 in the Open Division final behind player of the year Addison Moorman (now a freshman at Lehigh) but back to help the Highlanders defend their title are All-City senior co-captains Zoe Justman (who slugged .802 as a junior) and Elysse Diaz (47 hits, 12 doubles, seven stolen bases and an .865 slugging percentage).
Players to watch
Name; School; Year; Position
Coral Willams; Norco; Jr.; Pitcher
Leighton Gray; Norco; Jr.; Shortstop
Emoni Lam Sam; LB Poly; Sr.; Third Base
Kale’a Tindal; Harvard-Westlake; Sr.; Outfield
Aliyah Garcia; Notre Dame; Sr.; Pitcher/Shortstop
Rylee Silva; Orange Lutheran; So. Pitcher
Katelynn Mathews; Fullerton; Jr.; Pitcher
Dailynn Battee; Etiwanda; So.; Third Base
Mia Valbuena; Marina; Sr.; Pitcher
Alison Ortega; La Mirada; Jr.; Pitcher
Koa Puppe; Bonita; Jr.; Third Base
Terrianna Kelley; Oaks Christian; Sr.; Outfield
Annabel Raftery; JSerra; So.; Catcher
Alivia Magallanes; Los Alamitos; Sr.; Outfield
Bree Carlson; Huntington Beach; Jr.; First Base
Nia Hall; Temescal Canyon; Jr.; Third Base
Brett Lambrecht; Chino Hills; So.; Utility
Eliana Corona; La Habra; So.; Catcher
Zoe Justman; Granada Hills; Sr.; Utility
Ashannalee Titialii; Carson; Sr.; Shortstop
Zoe Justman slugged .802 to help Granada Hills claim the City Section Open Division title last season.
(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)