By Pete Borello

It would be hard to imagine Samantha Quintero’s decision to play softball at West Valley College turning out any better.

The Los Altos High graduate batted over .500 as a sophomore this season and earned MVP honors at the community college state tournament, which West Valley won. Quintero’s efforts led to scholarship offers from several big-time programs and she recently decided on the University of Arizona.

Quintero had offers from a few four-year schools when she came out of Los Altos, but they weren’t the caliber of Arizona, which finished second in this year’s College World Series.

“They were OK,” the shortstop said of her options as a senior in 2000, “but I was looking for something more.”

Quintero’s patience paid off - for her and West Valley, which claimed its first state crown since 1990.

West Valley, the top seed from Northern California, beat defending state champ and South No. 1 Long Beach 3-0 May 12 in the title game at Buchanan Softball Complex in Clovis.

Although Southern California teams have dominated the double-elimination state tournament in recent years - winning five-straight titles - Quintero wasn’t surprised by the outcome.

“We lost to (Long Beach) earlier in the year in a tournament, but it was really close - they won 1-0 in the seventh,” she said. “We thought they were the only team that could beat us, and we told each other we won’t let anybody beat us twice.”

What did surprise Quintero was being selected MVP of the three-day state tourney.

“I didn’t expect it,” said Quintero, who played for her father Bernie at Los Altos. “I just went out there to play and do my best - I knew it was my last tournament at West Valley. I wasn’t looking for any awards.”

Quintero, who batted .429 (6-for-14) and scored four runs in the state playoffs, came through with clutch hits and routinely made stellar plays in the field.

In the championship game, the Mountain View resident had two hits - including a double - and a sacrifice bunt. Quintero also drove in what proved to be the winning run for West Valley (52-7), hitting a two-out single in the top of third inning to score Corinne Dobson.

This marked the second time Quintero put long faces on Long Beach (47-6), as she drilled an RBI triple that beat the favored team 1-0 earlier in the weekend.

And in an 11-inning game against Cypress, she doubled and scored a run to help the Vikings to a 3-0 victory.

For Quintero, the state championship was redemption for last year’s disappointing sixth-place finish.

“Last year we had more experience and should have done better,” she said. “This year we came together and didn’t let anyone get in our way. We played our game and everything clicked.”

Quintero hopes she can continue those winning ways at Arizona, where she plans to major in either fashion design or business. The Wildcats might move her to second base, but she’s fine with that.

“I’ll play anywhere for that team,” she said.