By Jim Seimas
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SANTA CRUZ >> Harbor High’s Joseph Allegri was named the National Federation of State High Schools Association’s West Section Boys Baseball Coach of the Year award winner.
The Pirates’ coach was also the sole recipient of the NFHS’s California Baseball Coach of the Year award. “I was beyond shocked to get notified that I won the state and region awards after getting the Central Coast Section honor,” Allegri said Tuesday. “It was a result of all the hard work we’ve done. The players, parents, administration, all the support I’ve had is continuing to pay off.”
The West Section includes California, Hawaii, Arizona, Nevada and Utah.
Allegri, in his 13th year as head coach, had his team off to a 5-1 start when the 2020 season was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic. In the Pirates’ final game March 11, they rallied for a 6-3 win over Santa Cruz, their first victory over their crosstown rival since March 25, 2015 and it snapped the Cardinals’ 27-game league unbeaten streak.
Eleven of Allegri’s 15 players last spring were seniors, including Cal State Fullerton third baseman Brandon Bobo and Oklahoma Wesleyan pitcher Anthony Cortese.
“This was the best team I’ve had in my 13 years,” Allegri told the Sentinel after he was named a CCS Spring Sport Honor Coach Award winner in mid-April. “It was the best offensive team I’ve ever had, the best defensive team I’ve ever had, and the best