Naturally, Justine Vela wanted to improve from her sophomore season to her junior year.

There was just one problem: Vela had had a sophomore season to remember, with a 19-5 record, a 0.27 ERA, 241 strikeouts and a surprise trip for Stockdale to the Division I Central Section championship game.

Where was the room for improvement?

"I was like, 'How am I going to top last year?'" Vela said.

Consider it done. Vela finished the spring 17-6 with a 0.19 ERA and 324 Ks. She also filled in the missing piece: An epic 15-inning gem in the section championship, in which she shut out Clovis-Buchanan 1-0.

And all of that with what she said was noticably more of the attention and pressure that comes with success.

No matter. Vela is an easy choice for her second straight Californian Player of the Year honor -- and if you watch her, it's easy to see why.

"I've stood in (the batter's box) against her," Stockdale coach Amanda Hockett said. "The movement on her pitches is phenomenal. You never know what's coming because she has so many pitches she can work with. A pitch could be coming inside, but it could be coming more in or it could be going back out over the plate."

Somehow, Vela hadn't been heavily recruited by major Division I schools before she verbally committed to UC Davis. Consider the Aggies lucky.

"By the time she got to a (high) level, the bigger schools had already given away their money," Hockett said. "If she had waited, she could get a bigger offer, but she wanted to stay close and go to a good school."

But first, Vela wants to end her high school career with -- get this -- even more improvement. It'll start with adjusting to the new National Federation of High School rules, which will move the pitcher's rubber three feet back. The 43-foot distance will match NCAA rules and the distance used by most traveling teams.

"Going from travel ball to high school to go from 43 to 40, it plays with you," Vela said. "I'm excited to stay at 43 and go to college and have it be good there, too."

Vela allows that the longer distance lowers her velocity a bit, but she said she can make up for it with more movement.

That's representative of Vela's cerebral approach to pitching, one of the things that allowed her to top that super sophomore year.

"I think I'm a smarter pitcher," Vela said. "Last year, I was a little inexperienced; it was my first time starting all those games. I've matured more -- on 0-2 counts, I'm keeping it away from batters instead of giving something to hit. I can nibble (on the plate) more."

Her focus won't be a problem, either. Vela often uses the term "in my zone" after especially dominant pitching performances.

"When I'm pitching, I hardly hear anything else," Vela said. "My mom asks me after if I heard her say something from the stands, and I never do."

That's bad news for local hitters, who will have to deal with Vela for another year.

"Now it's like I topped my sophomore year," Vela said. "Doing it again is going to be even harder. I just have to work harder."