The La Cañada High School softball program is consistently of the most competitive in the San Gabriel Valley, a tendency that was cemented 25 years ago when the Spartans claimed their first CIF Southern Section championship with a 2-0 victory over San Bernardino Cajon in the Division 4 final.
“It was a very exciting time,” said former first baseman Jacki Asplund, who earned All-CIF, All-State and co-Rio Hondo League MVP honors following La Cañada’s winning season. “We had lost my junior year. Our goal was to win it my senior year. It was the ultimate goal, and we worked really hard for it. We just had a great group of girls that got along. We had everything we needed to be a winning team with our talent and commitment.”
Following a 1994 campaign that ended with a heartbreaking 4-1 loss against Santa Maria St. Joseph’s in the CIF title game, the Spartans were determined not allow history to repeat itself the following year.
“It sparked a fire in us,” Asplund recalled. “We didn’t want that feeling again. Everything we did going into the season and spring was to win. We were just really dedicated.”
The squad did not disappoint then-head coach Tom Parker and cruised past rivals to capture the Rio Hondo League championship with an 11-1 record. La Cañada then went on an impressive playoff run in which they outscored opponents 9-0, defeating Atascadero, Paso Robles, Riverside La Sierra, Valley View of Moreno Valley and Cajon.
Two-time CIF-SS Player of the Year Lindsay Parker was instrumental to those shutouts. The standout pitcher, who received a scholarship to play at Fresno State University, is statistically among the best in the history of Southern Section. In the CIF-SS career records list, Parker is tied for fourth in earned run average (0.11), seventh in perfect games (7) and ninth in no-hitters (22).
That success carried on at the collegiate level as she earned All-American honors with the Bulldogs and helped the program attain the first NCAA Division I championship in the university’s history.
Parker’s father Tom also played a big role in the girls’ success as a “great leader who really knew the game.”
“He was a great coach,” Asplund said. “He took each of our talents and placed them in the right positions. It all came together.”
Other athletes to earn recognition on the All-Rio Hondo League first team were Kara Campbell Artingstall, Lauren Burns Shen and Tricia Walton Santos.
