Photograph by George Sakkestad
Los Gatos catcher Nick Cuevas puts the tag on Nick Duran of Fremont for an out at the plate. The play helped the Wildcats go on to nail a 7-5 win over the Indians.
By Dick Sparrer
Los Gatos had to win--twice.
And Gatos coaches Joe Winstead and Wayne Senini knew it.
They knew that the Wildcats would have to win two games last week if they any hopes of staying in title contention in the tough De Anza Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League.
And they wouldn't have minded seeing someone come along and upset first-place Wilcox, too.
Well, this is the stuff wishes are made of. Because not only did the Wildcats knock off Fremont and Santa Clara last week, but the Indians came back to beat Wilcox and cut down the gap between the Chargers and Cats.
Wilcox, ranked among the state's top 20 teams this spring, was unbeaten and resting atop the standings in the De Anza Division heading into play last week.
But Fremont upset Wilcox 9-7 to drop the Chargers to 8-1 in the division.
The same day, Los Gatos ripped Santa Clara 9-2 to improve to 6-4 in league play. The Cats are second in the division, just three games behind Wilcox in the loss column.
Noah Sweeters and Court Showerman came through with solid mound efforts for the Wildcats last week.
Sweeters was the winning pitcher in the 7-5 victory over Fremont to open the week. The righthander improved to 4-1 for the year with the win.
Senior catcher Nick Cuevas, who tagged out a runner at the plate to cut off a potential run for Fremont, ripped a pair of hits to lead a five-hit assault for Los Gatos.
The Indians actually jumped out to a 2-0 lead with single runs in the first and fourth. But Gatos took control of the game with a five-run rally in the fourth.
The Cats picked up insurance runs in the fifth and sixth. They turned out to be very important indeed when the Indians rallied for three in the seventh only to come up two runs short.
Gatos came back two days later to blast out 15 hits in a 9-2 win over Santa Clara.
Ryan Baldinger singled and homered and knocked in two runs for the Cats in the victory. Cuevas and Craig Frey each belted a pair of doubles and a single and drove in two runs apiece.
Scott Grover had three hits for Los Gatos, including a double, and Brian Geddie singled and doubled to plate two runs.
Showerman was the winning pitcher for the Wildcats, evening his record at 2-2.
Los Gatos jumped out to a quick lead with two runs in the first. Santa Clara tied it with two in the fourth, but Gatos rallied for five in the fifth to take command. The Cats added a pair of insurance runs in the seventh.
Marcyes leads Leigh
Leigh's Troy Marcyes may have had bigger days.
He may have had days when he belted more hits, or days when he was more overpowering on the mound.
But while the Leigh star may have had bigger days, he's had none better than the day he had against Santa Teresa on April 2.
Leigh rode Marcyes' strong right arm and powerful bat to a tight 4-3 win over the Saints.
Marcyes picked up the pitching win, evening his season record at 3-3, and he also blasted a home run to lead Leigh to the victory. Junior outfielder Scott Purdy knocked in a couple of runs for the Longhorns.
Santa Teresa actually took the early lead in the game with a run in the first and two more in the third. But Leigh tied it with three runs in the fourth, then broke the tie with a run in the fifth.
Leigh lost a 1-0 heartbreaker to Piedmont Hills later in the week. Piedmond broke up a scoreless tie with a run in the fifth, and that would turn out to be the only run of the game.
The Longhorns could manage just three hits in the game.
The split left the Longhorns 3-3 in the rugged Mt. Hamilton Division of the Blossom Valley Athletic League. Leigh is 5-9 for the year.
The 'Horns will visit Prospect for a nonleague game on April 12, 2 p.m., before returning to league play April 16 at home against Independence.
This article appeared in the Los Gatos Weekly-Times, April 10, 1996.
©1996 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved