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Extra Inning Softball 2018 National Coach of the Year

After going undefeated all year in 2017 until the championship game, our National Coach of the Year completed the title-winning job in 2018. Scroll down to learn who our record-setting honoree is!

Extra Inning Softball is honoring those athletes across the country who have dominated at the high school level including the fall seasons in states like Georgia, Missouri and Oklahoma as well as those who have competed this spring and summer.

Last week we featured the 1st Team All-Americans by position and on Monday we wrapped up the extensive lists with the 2nd Team All-Americans.

Yesterday we revealed who is the National Player of the Year and today conclude our 2018 high school honors with the National Coach of the Year… here’s how to find all the previous selections:

2018 HIGH SCHOOL ALL-AMERICAN TIMELINE

Those chosen as All-Americans and Player & Coach of the Year have been selected based on the following factors:

  • accomplishments, stats and honors
  • importance in the success of the team
  • on-field abilities, skills & talent
  • off-the-field resume, i.e. academic success, community involvement, etc.

Our list is the deepest and most researched you will find as we feel it necessary to honor all those who deserve to be recognized as an Extra Inning Softball High School All-American and National Player & Coach of the Year.

Congrats to all those who made this year’s lists!

*****

Extra Inning Softball High School Coach of the Year:
Rick Robinson (Norco, California)

The 2017 season for the Norco (California) Cougars had to be a bittersweet one as the perennial powerhouse was ranked No. 1 nationally for most of the year, won prestigious tournaments including the Tournament of Champions and the Michelle Carew Classic and ran its record to 33-0 heading into the CIF-Southern Section Div. I title game.

The Norco coach won his 6th CIF-Southern Section Div. I title this year and his fifth with the Cougars.

There, however, the Cougars, though led by Gatorade National Player of the Year and PGF All-American pitcher Taylor Dockins, fell to Los Alamitos 3-1… a team Norco had beaten earlier in the year.

Entering 2018, the storied softball program led by Head Coach Rick Robinson quickly put the defeat in the past and resolved to improve on what was almost a perfect season.

“The players challenged themselves to get back to the finals and not have the sour taste of defeat again,” recalls the coach. “From the beginning of the season, the focus was on the playoffs and unfinished business.”

Still, Robinson admits he couldn’t predict how his team would respond.

“You never know how a season is going to go when you have to replace a four-year starting pitcher like Taylor,” he told Extra Inning Softball this week, “but we could not have asked for more from our pitching staff of Sarah Willis, Stevie Hansen and Hannah Doi—especially the year Sarah Willis had.”

“We returned 14 players from last year’s team that won 33 games, but this year was definitely a team effort with all 17 players starting games.”

Paige Smith came up huge in the playoffs, driving in 10 of the team’s 25 runs with a grand slam in the title game.

Three of those players would go on to have 1st Team Extra Inning Softball All-American years: Willis, who went 25-3 including 10 wins over Top 25 teams in California; catcher Kinzie Hansen, who led the team with a .519 batting average but, according to Robinson, “was even more impressive in how she handled the two new pitchers on the team this year;” and infielder Paige Smith, who led the team with seven home runs and 41 RBIs and drove in 10 of the team’s 25 playoff runs, including four RBIs in each of the final two games.

Adds Robinson, “Paige was key in protecting Kinzie all year-long so teams couldn’t just walk or pitch around her. Her RBI total was also the third most in our program’s history.”

All the pieces were there for a strong season and, although the team lost to three quality teams in San Marcos, Cerritos Gahr and Orange Lutheran—all Top 10 in California rankings with San Marcos ranked No. 1 nationally in some pools—the Cougars also defeated those teams as well this season.

The loss to San Marcos, Robinson laughs, was one of the “craziest games I’ve ever been part of. We agreed to meet halfway between Norco and San Diego and it ended up being on a field on the Pala Indian reservation.”

“During the game, there was an Indian funeral right out past the centerfield fence and a few times during the game the action was stopped to allow the funeral to proceed. Finally, we got to the last two innings and were told we could continue and finish the game, but the players couldn’t make any noise!”

Ultimately, Norco grew stronger as the season went on and swept through the Big VIII League (10-0), had seven wins over Top 10 California teams, beat a state champion in Cienega High from Vail, Arizona and finished 28-3 capped by winning the CIF-Southern Section Div. 1 title, an 8-2 win over Gahr on June 2, 2018 at Bill Barber Park in Irvine, California that was highlighted by a Paige Smith grand slam.

Impressively, it was the Norco’s third trip to the finals in the last four years and the second time it won the title in that period of time. The Cougars have also been in six of the last 10 CIF-Southern Div. I finals.

It’s not easy to replace the National Gatorade Player of the Year, but Sarah Willis stepped up big-time in the circle for the Cougars.

This year’s championship is Robinson’s fifth CIF-Southern Section title at Norco with the others coming in 2003, 2009, 2012 and 2015; his teams also finished second in 2013 and 2017.

He also won a CIF-SS championship in 1996 at Centennial High of Corona and his six total championships ties him with Rob Weil (Los Alamitos and Pacifica) and Rodger Wallace (Pomona Catholic).

Robinson was even part of two more CIF-SS championships as an assistant coach in 1991 and 1992 at Corona High when his sister, Beth, was the pitcher.

For his career, the successful coach has compiled a 560-171-3 record in 24 seasons including 405 wins with Norco from 2000-2018 and 105 before that with Centennial from 1994-1998.

For this season’s great run and for his team’s strong comeback after a disappointing finish last year, Rick Robinson is honored as the Extra Inning Softball 2018 National Coach of the Year.

It wasn’t easy, the coach admits, and he wasn’t sure what he truly had in the team for a while.

“It’s hard to compare teams from one year to the next,” he begins. “Each season has its challenges. This year’s team did not show what it was truly capable of until the last two games of the playoffs when we outscored our opponents 17-2, but overall this year’s group showed it had a great mix of speed and power offensively.”

That talent was always there, but the results were uncertain early in the season. The Norco coach says the turning point was after the Carew tournament in which it suffered the loss to Gahr.

“We weren’t playing poorly but we were not playing with a great deal of energy,” he admits. “We were playing like if we just showed up we would win. After the tournament we won 14 of our last 15 games to close the season.”

Like any season, there were a few close calls, but perhaps none greater than the Quarterfinal round against Huntington Beach, which appeared to take the lead in the top of the 9th inning.

Kinzie Hansen led the team in hitting and had a big double in the bottom of the 9th to win a key playoff game.

“There was a play at the plate and their runner was originally called safe for obstruction but the call was overturned and the runner was called out. We went on to score the winning run on a Kinzie Hansen double in the bottom of the 9th.”

Going into the championship game, the coaching staff and players couldn’t be faulted if they would have lacked a bit of confidence, especially after having already lost to its opponent once during the season and falling short the year before in the championship contest.

“We focused on the tough loss we had to Gahr at the Carew tournament,” Robinson explains, “and knew we couldn’t make any mistakes if we wanted to win. I felt confident that if we played our game, we would come out on top knowing that was a great Gahr team we faced and if we didn’t play well we would have the same outcome as the previous year’s finals.”

The outcome of this year’s championship, however, would be much different as the Cougars all but put the game away after two innings when it jumped out to an 8-0 lead.

“Fortunately for us, we got off to as good a start as any coach could dream of with a three-run 1st inning thanks to a Sierra Marshall three-run double and a five-run 2nd behind Toni Camarillo’s RBI single and Paige’s grand slam. After that we were just counting outs to get to the end!”

The Norco coach admits that winning the finals this year “had a little feel of redemption for a tough loss the year before.”

Robinson is quick to give credit to his Norco softball staff which consists of (l-r) Beth Windham, John Cabrerra, Robinson, Dave Angene, and Mark Smith.

When told this week he would be recognized as the National Coach of the Year, Robinson immediately shared the credit with his coaching staff.

“I appreciate the honor, but I couldn’t do it with the help of my staff. Dave Angene, Beth Windham—my sister who I coached in the two CIF championship game wins with Corona High in 1991 and ’92—and Mark Smith.”

“Dave has been with me all 19 years I have been at Norco and Beth has been on the staff for the last 14 years. She also coached with me at Centennial High when we won a CIF title in 1996.”

“Beth and Dave throw live batting practice every day at practice and can simulate the type of pitcher we are going to see in our next game. The live batting practice is an invaluable asset. Mark is new to the staff but brings an abundant amount of knowledge to the staff. The coaching staff is definitely a team as we are all part of the decision making.”

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