Traveling to nearby Stockton to take on the Reserve at Spanos Park, Escalon junior Elizabeth Allan represented the EHS golf program at the Sac-Joaquin Section Masters Tournament.
“It’s a nice course, and very challenging,” pointed out head coach Chris Casazza. “It has extremely long bunkers, deep bunkers, multiple holes with water in play, all with narrow fairways and a challenging layout.”
Allan had qualified previously as an individual for the Nov. 4 event, and she was accompanied to Stockton by coach Casazza and two senior teammates, Rose Percey and Genevieve Casazza.
Allan completed the 18 holes with a score of 107.
“It was a good score considering the difficulty of the course, and the fact that she had never played the course before,” explained Casazza. “It was a great experience for Elizabeth. We could tell as we walked into the registration area that this tournament was definitely a next level of competition. It was very professionally run by a full staff from CIF.”
Three teams from the Masters qualified to go on to the NorCal State Tournament, added Casazza.
They included Oak Ridge, with a team score of 386; Granite Bay, 395; Pleasant Grove, 412. All three are Division 1 schools.
“Hilmar, our friends from the TVL, finished with a score of 554,” Casazza said. “They were led by Valerie Quaid with a score of 90. Four (individual) girls moved on to the NorCal tournament, with qualifying scores needing to be 74 or below.”
Casazza said getting the chance to see Allan play in the elite event was a special moment.
“We were all very proud that Elizabeth was there to represent Escalon, which she did very well,” the coach noted. “Our goal from day one was to have our girls represent Escalon with sportsmanship and class. She did both.”
Seniors Percey and Casazza were able to walk the course and followed the group that Allan was playing with through all 18 holes of the tournament.
“Elizabeth said it was nice to be able to look out and see friendly faces,” Casazza said. “It was a nice way to end a special, fantastic, rewarding, and successful season with Escalon’s top three golfers.”
Those top three, in fact, received special recognition, selected as the tri-MVPs of the Lady Cougars golf team and all three also netting All-TVL honors as well.
“They were our three-headed monster this year,” Casazza said of the trio. “I was honored to have been their coach.”