A candlelight memorial is scheduled this evening for Deanna Mauer, 23, a Fountain Valley High alum and assistant softball coach at San Juan Hills High School who died Wednesday.
According to the county coroner's office, Mauer perished in a multi-vehicle pileup on the northbound 405 freeway near Edwards.
Photo and video tributes have sprung up on softball websites for San Juan Hills High, where she helped coach, and San Jose State University, where she played pitcher.
On the San Jose State site, Spartan head coach Peter Turner remembered Mauer as "a fierce competitor" with a big heart. A separate biography page said the 5-foot-1 leftie's achievements included setting a single-game strikeout record at San Jose State, landing on an all-conference roster while playing for Central Arizona College, and being named team MVP at Fountain Valley High School.
When she wasn't hurling strikes, Mauer liked to crochet and dreamed of a cosmetology career, the biography said. Born in Long Beach, she would have celebrated her 24th birthday June 14.
The candlelight vigil is scheduled for 6 p.m. on the softball fields at Fountain Valley High School, according to the San Juan softball website.
