When Xitlalli Fregoso was beginning her high school sports career at Shadow Hills High her life was in flux.
Making the leap to high school is nerve-wracking enough, but she was doing it without one of her pillars of strength. Her father Fernando, who stoked her love of sports and was a soccer coach in his own right, passed away suddenly when she was 12 years old.
The kind of natural athlete who is immediately good at any sport she picks up, Fregoso embarked on a high school career with her father’s spirit always on her mind as a motivator and a reminder to never take any opportunity for granted on or off the athletic field.
“I remember playing soccer since I was three or four years old and my parents, my dad especially, that was his main sport,” Fregoso said. “He was my coach and after he passed away I still had that drive to continue playing for him, as well as myself, but more for him because he had so many dreams of taking soccer far both for me and for him as a coach. I’m glad I got to finish my career and do it well. I hope he’s proud.”
Now a graduate, Fregoso honored her father by completing her athletic legacy with a senior year for the books.
In the fall she was the desert’s best flag football player and league MVP, in the winter she was the soccer team’s second leading scorer and a first-team all-league player, and in the fall she was an important cog on the Knights’ track and field team participating in seven different events. And in all three sports, her team was the outright Desert Empire League champions.
For her three-sport prowess, The Desert Sun has chosen Fregoso as its Girls’ Athlete of the Year.
Falling in love with a new sport
Fregoso remembered playing co-ed flag football in middle school, so when the sport became a sanctioned girls sport at the high school level, she didn’t hesitate to make the jump from volleyball to try it out.
“It was exciting, just to learn all the new rules and the different play-making skills in order to be successful out there, and do it together on a team with just girls and grow the sport together,” Fregoso said. “I was playing volleyball in the fall, but I’m grateful this sport became a thing, because it’s taken me so far not just in athletics, but in experiences and new friendships.”
Another place the sport took her, especially in her senior year, was the end zone. Fregoso, a speedy receiver and ball-hawking defensive back, racked up a remarkable stat line. She finished the year with 163 receptions for 2,350 yards and 42 touchdowns. On defense she had 21 interceptions, four of which she returned for TDs. She was the only 40 TD catch, 20 interception player in the entire CIF-SS.
She was The Desert Sun’s top flag football player, the DEL’s defensive MVP and she helped the Knights to an unbeaten league title.
But her coaches all say to put the stats aside, it’s her character that is most impressive.
“Lalli is a special athlete because she puts the team first before her individual goals,” said Shadow Hills flag football coach Keith Rouzan. “She leads by example and the time and commitment that she put into flag football was astonishing. No days off sine the first day I met her. She leaves behind a remarkable legacy and sets the standard for our program for the future. She has made me a better coach and will truly be missed. You can imitate her but can’t duplicate her. She’s one of one.”
And Fregoso’s flag football career is not over. She has committed to the university of Redlands to play flag football, a remarkable development considering the sport didn’t even exist when she began her high school career. She said she fell in love with the campus and was happy to stay close to home and is excited to see where her flag football journey takes her.
“What I like the most about flag football different from the other sports is that there is always something going on. Every play something different and excitement of being down by one point and anything can happen. One play could cause a victory or a loss. So exciting,” she said. “Everything about football is fast and I love that. There’s always something going on in every play.”
The importance of sports
After the flag football season, Fregoso jumped into soccer, her first love and helped the Knights to a 9-1 record and league title in DEL play. She scored six goals, second most on the team, and was a leader for the team.
In the spring it was track and field season and, though she admits she originally joined track as a freshman to get faster for soccer, she fell in love with the variety of disciplines in track and field over the years and it fit nicely with her basic athletic desire to try new things and try to get better at them.
“That mindset of wanting to get better every meet, every practice, every training session and that drive kept me in that sport and allowed me to fall in love along the way,” said Fregoso. “I discovered different events that I enjoy doing. Whatever the team needed i was able to contribute and reaching new PRs I thought I would never reach pushed me to keep going.”
Shadow Hills track and field coach Richard DeTamble also said it’s her character that stands out most to him and everyone at the school, where she had a 4.0+ GPA and was homecoming queen.
“I think she’s underappreciated because she’s so humble. But she’s a dominant player and athlete,” DeTamble said. “On the track team, she did seven events over the season. Basically where ever we needed her that meet. Sprints, jumps, both relays, she was always ready. A four-year varsity performer in track and soccer and she’s the best flag football player? Yeah, she’s a star.”
Fregoso loves to put up eye-popping stats, of course, but for her playing sports means a lot more than that. It’s about relationships and, in her case, something even more valuable.
“Sports has always been an important factor in my life, especially since I was going through that challenge in my life with my dad passing,” she said. “Sports allowed an escape and that helped with my grieving. And I gained a lot of important friendships and relationships with teammates and coaches, and those people really stuck by me. Those bonds wouldn’t have been there without sports. So for me, it’s everything combined, that’s why I love what I do.”
Get to know Xitlalli
You voted and you chose …
Your vote went to Jaeda Diaz, the talented three-sport Indio star who dominated on the softball diamond with a .655 batting average and was a first-team all-league performer on the flag football team.
A year after being the DEL flag football MVP, Diaz was again one of the top performers on the gridiron, leading the Rajahs to the second best record in the desert and capturing the attention of opposing defenses and offenses as they tried to slow her down at all costs. She earned first-team all-DEL flag football honors, then helped out the Rajahs’ girls’ basketball team before softball season where she shines the brightest. Diaz, a senior, was named the league’s offensive MVP with her usual gaudy numbers. She finished her season with a .655 average, with 53 runs scored, 59 RBIs, 16 doubles and 14 homers. And this was all in 25 games. Think about that, 53 runs scored and 59 RBIs in 25 games. She’ll go down as having one of the best softball careers in desert history. She’ll play softball at Long Beach State next fall.
The Desert Sun’s top athlete in every girls’ sport for 2025-26
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: ‘She’s one of one’ Meet The Desert Sun Girls’ Athlete of the Year
Reporting by Shad Powers, Palm Springs Desert Sun / Palm Springs Desert Sun
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Shad Powers, Palm Springs Desert Sun | USA TODAY Network
