The Cupertino Courier

Sports

Cupertino athletes win all-league honors

By MIKE BARNHART

Indeed, 2006 was a season to remember for Cupertino-area high school softball teams, as two squads won Santa Clara Valley Athletic League division championships and all four reached the Central Coast Section playoffs. Then, in the afterglow of the playoffs, came the announcements of awards for several standout players.

Lynbrook, led by the remarkable pitching of junior Kendra Wood, outlasted defending champion Monta Vista, Homestead and Milpitas and captured the SCVAL De Anza Division flag. Meanwhile, a youthful Cupertino squad scored a co-championship with Wilcox in the El Camino Division and earned a berth in the CCS playoffs for the first time in 10 years.

The Vikings, who beat everybody except Milpitas while posting a 10-2 record in the highly competitive De Anza Division, earned the top seed and a first-round bye in the CCS Division I tournament. However, despite a one-hit, eight-strikeout effort by Wood in the quarterfinals, the Vikings once again could not get past pesky Milpitas. An unearned run in the top of the seventh led to a 1-0 defeat that ended the Vikes' season at 16-3, all three losses to the Trojans.

The fine campaigns of Monta Vista (19-7-2) and Homestead (15-11) also ended in one-run defeats during the Division I tourney. After pitchers Jessica Iwasaki and Jennifer Sparks combined on a five-inning perfect game in a 10-0 romp against first-round foe Andrew Hill, the Matadors succumbed when Watsonville rallied for three runs in the sixth inning for a 6-5 victory.

Homestead's season ended with a 2-1 loss to Piedmont Hills. Senior catcher Jessica Allemandi, the Mustangs' top hitter for much of the season, drove in her team's lone run. Senior teammate Melanie Gularte pitched well in defeat, scattering just five hits.

Cupertino suffered a 12-2 loss to Westmont in the first round of the Division II playoffs, finishing with an overall record of 13-13-1. Among the other Division II entries was West Catholic Athletic League co-champion Presentation and its tremendous senior pitcher, Jamie Lettire, a Cupertino resident.

Lettire, whose right arm earned more than 20 wins for the Panthers in each of the last three seasons, capped an outstanding four-year varsity career at the Willow Glen school with a spectacular senior year. She posted a 24-2 record, with losses only against WCAL co-champion and eventual CCS Division II winner Mitty. Of Lettire's 24 wins, 15 were shutouts, including a perfect game and two other no-hitters. In 168 innings this spring, she struck out 274 batters and walked only seven.

Lettire, who will take her athletic and academic talents to the Ivy League campus of Princeton next fall, also swung a mean bat for the Panthers. Combined with her pitching prowess, her offensive statistics (.371 batting average, 33 runs-batted-in) secured her spot in the minds of WCAL coaches as the league's Most Valuable Player.

Lynbrook's Wood, like Lettire a team leader in the pitcher's circle and the batter's box, was an easy pick for the MVP honor in the SCVAL's De Anza Division, according to Homestead coach Steve Allemandi. "She was the most dominant player in our league--no coaches bothered nominating anybody else," Allemandi said of Wood, who pitched every inning of every game for Lynbrook. "Her ERA (0.20) was ungodly."

Wood, who batted .419 with 12 extra-base hits and 20 RBIs, was joined on the 14-player first team by two teammates, her catcher and twin sister Kelsey and senior Briana Downey.

Monta Vista's Iwasaki was named the division's Most Valuable Defensive Player for the second straight season, after striking out more than 150 batters in 113 innings. But she was excellent with a bat, driving in 20 runs and laying down 10 sacrifice bunts. Los Gatos senior Kyrie Timbrook was chosen as the Most Valuable Offensive Player.

Other first team selections included senior center fielders Britney Sanford of Monta Vista and Katie Reed of Saratoga, J. Allemandi and junior third baseman Lauren Gniadek of Homestead and sophomore corner infielder Amy Highstreet of Los Gatos.

Homestead seniors Gularte (0.93 ERA) and first baseman Courtney Gosnell (.304) were picked to the all-De Anza second team, along with Lynbrook senior infielders Jenelle Baldwin and Shelby White. Other second team selections included sophomore infielders shortstop Sarah Hassman and Kelly Martino of Monta Vista.

Senior Rachel Nishimoto and sophomore Genevieve Fernandez of Homestead and Monta Vista's Sparks were among the players on the honorable mention list.

The all-El Camino first team included three Cupertino players, sophomore pitcher Kacie Pool, freshman catcher Ashley Himan and sophomore shortstop Amanda Schablaske. Senior first baseman Heather Stenson was the only Pioneer on the second team. Seniors Amber Stainthorp and Dziem Hoang, junior Sierra Bohn and sophomore Jessica Blakely all received honorable mention credit.

Baseball

Three Homestead baseball players and two Fremont standouts were among 15 players named to the all-SCVAL El Camino Division first team. Senior Derek Hargis, junior Eric Taubman and sophomore Evan Marshall of Homestead were tabbed to the first team, along with Fremont seniors Nate Cathcart and Kevin Brahney. Among other first team selections were seniors Adam Khan (Lynbrook) and Scott Newberry (Saratoga) and freshman Chad Estes (Monta Vista).

Second team picks included Homestead seniors Nacho Bermudez and Mike Lawler, Monta Vista senior Nick Burrow, Jeff Roberts and Bo Nielsen of Saratoga and Lynbrook junior Amuro Yamamura. The honorable mention list included Homestead juniors Brian Labadie and Alex Jones and Lynbrook senior Mike Reid.

Among the all-De Anza first team selections was Aaron Headrick of Cupertino, a junior pitcher-infielder. Another Cupertino junior, Ryan Matsuoka, picked up second team honors, and seniors Matt McCormick and Leo Haley were honorable mention picks.

Volleyball

There was nothing easy for boys volleyball teams going up against Homestead's squad this past spring. The most obvious challenge was getting hits through the Mustangs' mountainous middle blockers, 6-foot-9 senior Sam Kridl and 6-foot-7 junior Ryan Dedrick. Another issue for Homestead opponents, though, was dealing with the passing and digging skills of junior setter Ryan Bridge.

They were tests that no Santa Clara Valley Athletic League team mastered, as Homestead racked up 14 straight wins without a loss en route to the league championship. The league's coaches acknowledged those facts, while putting together the 2006 all-SCVAL team recently. They honored Bridge as the Most Valuable Player for his all-around play and leadership ability and recognized Kridl and Dedrick among the league's top eight players.

Setter Eric Rowell and middle blocker Frank Fritsch, who helped Los Gatos win the Central Coast Section championship after finishing second to Homestead in league play, were first team selections. Senior outside hitter Gil Perez (Fremont), sophomore opposite hitter Mike Vetrone (Saratoga) and junior outside hitter Lev Girshfeld (Mountain View) also were picked to the first team.

One player from each of the league's eight teams were named to the second team. Defensive specialist Dan Langholff of Los Gatos and outside hitter Mark Pariaszevski of Fremont were the lone seniors in the group. Joining them were sophomore setter Nick McConnell of Saratoga and five juniors: outside hitter Weston Buckner of Homestead, opposite hitter Dennis Chen of Lynbrook, libero Elliot Wang of Mountain View, setter Mitch Bonander of Santa Clara and middle blocker Max Dickson of Wilcox.