Spring sports have sprouted with the warm weather, and several teams are looking to repeat the success they enjoyed in 2025.
The spring season boasts the most sports, giving more Cal High athletes an opportunity to shine. Last year, the top performers were the boys’ tennis and softball teams.
The softball team went 19-9 and placed second in the EBAL before losing in NCS.
The boys’ tennis went 24-4 and won NCS for the second straight year.
“I think we’ll be a little weaker, but I mean we’re a strong team,” senior captain Kenn Wijesekara said.
Wijesekara pointed to the team recently winning the James Logan Invitational for the fourth straight season.
“I’m confident that we’ll be at the top of EBAL,” he said.
Wijesekara hopes he and the team can win league for the fourth straight year as well, even with the challenge of a few of their strongest seniors leaving.
“We’d had our [No. 2] and [No. 3] singles and a couple of strong doubles players leave,” Wijesekara said. “We still have a strong team. There’s a lot of depth throughout the lineups.”
This year, the tennis team will have a tough act to follow after the Grizzlies reached the state finals and placed second at the California Interscholastic Federation Championship.
“We had a pretty strong team coming off the NCS win last year and then going all the way to [state],” senior co-captain Satvik Mallya said. “I think my individual performance was pretty strong.”
Last year, the team was impressive, with everyone playing their own part. Mallya said the team was a tight knit group.
“It’s really fun, especially the guys that are on the team,” senior co-captain Vincent Le said. “We’re all really close with each other, because most of us have been on var for all four years of high school, so we really bonded and whatnot.”
One of the greatest challenges the team should face this year is having a new head coach, Erin Callahan, after the former coach left after the 2025 season.
“It’s always hard to adjust, but so far, with [the James Logan] Invitational, things are looking great,” Wijesekara said. “We’ll still be strong enough to hold our own in EBAL.”
Even with the team losing a few players and changing coaches, Mallya is confident the team will perform the same, given they put in all their effort.
“Our new coach is great,” he said. “Her team always helps us out with everything they do. They’re always incentivizing us to play our hardest. They push us to the max and make sure that we’re going to give our best in every match we play.”
In Mallya’s eyes, some of the biggest challenges the team will have to face are that they lost two of their top six players, and even though it will be difficult, they can still fill that gap.
“We just need to put all our effort in and grind it out this season,” Mallya said. “Other than that, I think we’re a pretty strong group.”
Le has a similar perspective with Mallya.
“We’re still a pretty good team, like we can definitely do well, but it’s going to be tougher because we had three seniors that graduated last year, and they were pretty good players,” Le said. “We can still do well, but it’s definitely going to be like a grind, and we got to work hard and be disciplined.”
Cal’s varsity softball team also is looking to build on last year’s success after opening with a 4-2 start.
“We have a lot of talent, and I think we’re gonna go really far this year,” captain Shayla Santolucito said.
Last year, Santolucito had the second most hits on the team, with 33, and the third most home runs.
“I feel like I did really well, because the other girls from other schools were really good, so playing with them and playing better than some of them is rewarding,” Santolucito said.
Santolucito believes Cal has a good shot at winning NCS this year, after last year’s run was cut short in the second round.
“We thought we were going to go a little farther than that,” Santolucito said. “We thought we were going to go at least to the [semifinals].”
Santolucito is looking forward to playing San Ramon Valley as she feels there is always a heated rivalry between the teams.
“We’re really close together, and we’re all really confident in each other’s abilities and just as a team,” said senior captain Alina Curiel, who has committed to play softball for Cal State East Bay next year.
Curiel said not one player is an all-star, but all members of the team are strong and excel in different areas.
“I think just all of us as a team together, we work really well and we all serve different purposes and give different outcomes that helps us win games,” Curiel said.
Curiel said her goal this year is to not let the smaller actions affect her, and to make sure if an error happens she’ll brush it off and move on.
“Don’t let distractions or people get in your head,” Curiel said. “Just keep trying, don’t give up, like if you have a goal keep working on it till it happens. If you keep working hard, you’ll get the outcome in the long run.”
Some other spring teams that are off to a good start include the boys golf and volleyball teams.
The golf team won its first tournament of the season, shooting a 362 at the Cowboy Classic at Wente Golf Course on Feb. 23. Junior Cristian Sander placed second overall with a 68.
The team also took second at the Aiello Invitational at Discovery Bay Country Club on March 16, losing the title by a stroke. Senior Eli Stone and junior Gabe Pineda led the team with even par rounds of 71.
The boys volleyball team (7-7) won its first game on Feb. 26 against Menlo-Atherton High with a score of 3-2. Cal also went on to win three of four games at their first tournament at Atwater High on Feb. 28.
