Baseball: Coach of the year
John Diatte has coached at Valley Christian for more than three decades. His program has had a lot of superb players and filled the school’s trophy case with a lot of hardware.
The run the Warriors are on right now has raised Diatte’s profile even higher, as unmiganinable as that might seem. This spring, Valley got hot down the stretch and ended the season with a fourth consecutive championship in the Central Coast Section’s top division.
Valley won its 10th CCS title in Diatte’s 32 seasons as coach, holding off Archbishop MItty 6-5 in the Division I final.
The coach called “Ten” because of the number he wears was emotional after his latest championship, which followed a canceled season in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic and a victory in the final against a West Catholic Athletic League rival that had won four of seven against Valley this spring.
“My nickname’s ‘Ten.’ My own kids make fun of me because I have this obsession with the number 10,” Diatte said after the championship game. “For us to get our 10th is pretty cool.”
— Darren Sabedra and Evan Webeck
READ MORE: All-Bay Area News Group teams – Spring 2021
- ⚾️ Baseball Fab 40 | Player of the Year | Coach
- 🥎 Softball Fab 40 | Player of the Year | Coach
- 🏀 Boys hoops Fab 25 | Player of the Year | Coach
- 🏀 Girls hoops Fab 25 | Player of the Year | Coach
Softball: Coach of the year
Let’s call it what it is. Mike Oakland knows how to coach.
He took over the St. Francis softball program in 2017 after leading the school’s baseball program to championships in the Central Coast Section’s top division in 2013, 2015 and 2016.
After switching sports, which provided him the opportunity to coach his daughter Jessica, Oakland led the softball program to the CCS Open Division title in 2018 and another Open championship this spring, with Jessica leading the way this spring.
Jessica, a junior, hit 19 home runs, and St. Francis finished 26-0 in one of the most dominant seasons in section history.
She was chosen as the Bay Area News Group player of the year and Mike is the Bay Area News Group’s coach of the year.
“I’ve been on teams that have had success and been on some teams that won titles,” Mike said after the CCS final. “Never has there been a team, whether it was as a player or a coach, that went undefeated. I didn’t even think it was possible. … Whether it’s softball or baseball, this was the greatest season I’ve ever had.”
— Darren Sabedra and Evan Webeck
