Coach Jazz has returned to the first A-ball organization she called home. She played for Mark Espinoza and Ernie Alfanador during her 12u and 14u days, where she met best friend and now assistant coach Mika Maenaga. After Legends, Jazz then went on to play for Cal Nuggets and Varsity for 4 years at Presentation High School.

Ever since she began playing at age 7 for Almaden Lightning, her dream was to have the chance to play college softball. She was recruited to play for the University of Redlands through years of hard work and dedication to her first love. Unfortunately, a bizarre wrist injury two months into her freshman year cut that dream short. Coach Jazz fought hard to get back on the field and stayed on the roster at the U of R until her junior year, finding any way to still be a team player. Whether that meant speaking to prospective athletes through the recruiting process or catching/shagging and being the best “student coach” she could be.

Despite 4 major surgeries and years of physical therapy, she made the painful decision to hang up her cleats and pick up a coach’s clipboard. Jazz has assisted on many of her sister’s teams over the years while also adding yet another surgery under her belt. She refuses to let her ongoing disabilities keep her away from the game and her career as a paralegal. Now, she (and her service dog Tuff) are ready to step up to the plate in a role that has captured her heart once again, positively impacting the lives of young women by coaching the beautiful game of softball.

“Softball has molded me into the person that I am today. The lessons I learned while on the field gave me the strength to push through chronic pain since 2017. Before my injury, I took softball for granted, both the ability to play and the way it contributed to my identity. Losing the ability to play left me lost, but coaching has helped me rediscover myself and strengthened my desire to pass on my love for the game to the next generation. The impact of playing softball reaches far beyond the field, and I hope my story and love for the game can help young girls transform into strong women, who happen to play very good softball(: ” - Coach Jazz

Mika first started playing softball in the Cupertino and Sunnyvale Girls Softball League and then moved to Legends (12u to 14u) where she played for Ernie Alfanador and met Coach Jazz! Mika finished up travel ball at Cal Nuggets (16-18u) and her 4 year varsity softball at Monta Vista High School. She then decided to move to the east coast to play college ball at Swarthmore College (2017-2021). As a starting center fielder and lefty slapper/ hitter, she had a career .430 OB%, .302 AVG, and ranked in Swarthmore’s top 10 for single season and career stolen bases. She was also a part of Swarthmore’s first playoff conference appearance in 10 years in 2019. After Swarthmore, Mika continued to play softball (of the slow pitch variety) while receiving her Master’s in Chemistry at the University of Pennsylvania. Now, she is back in the Bay Area and excited to begin coaching softball!

Coach Cal played 18 years of baseball before his career came to an end after graduating college in 2021. He spent his travel ball years playing for the Trosky/Kali organization based out of Saratoga and San Jose before heading down to Southern California for college. Cal played at the University of Redlands for four years as both an outfielder and relief pitcher, also serving as team captain for his final two years. At Redlands, Cal had a career .269 batting average and 3.30 ERA, earning all-conference honors as a senior. Since graduating, Cal has worked in a research lab at Stanford while finding a passion for coaching softball working with Coach Jazzy at Almaden Lightning. This Fall, Cal will be beginning his PhD in Neuroscience at Stanford and is very excited to spend his time outside of the lab on a softball field, passing on the love for the game that helped him get to where he is today.

“I often refer to baseball as my third parent growing up, working its way into my identity over the years I played. Baseball taught me to persevere through failure, on the field and off. I’ve really enjoyed passing those lessons on as a coach in the last few years, and look forward to learning more and more about softball from Coach Jazzy and Coach Mika.”

-Coach Cal