By Dick Sparrer
Spring break meant a break from baseball action for the Wildcats at Los Gatos High.
But was a welcome break for the Wildcats? Gatos coaches Joe Winstead and Wayne Senini will find out this week when the Cats return to the diamond for a couple of games in the De Anza Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League.
Los Gatos had just started to turn around a slow start with three straight wins before the break. The Cats had beaten Fremont and Homestead in league games, and Leigh in nonleague action.
The Wildcats will try to keep that streak alive this week when they host Palo Alto on April 16 and visit Monta Vista on April 18 in a couple of 3:30 p.m. games. Gatos is 3-5 in the division and 5-8-1 for the year.
But the question facing Winstead and Senini this week is how the Cats will look after the week off.
"The big question is how we'll be after we lay off for this week," Senini said before the the break. And, according to the Gatos coach, the Cats had better be good.
"I figure we'll have to win seven of 10 to make the playoffs," he said. "We're going to have to get hot."
They were before the break, winning three games in a row. And the Wildcats will find out Wednesday if they still are.
Tough week for Leigh
Leigh had a tough week, losing three close decisions in the rugged Mt. Hamilton Division of the Blossom Valley Athletic League.
The Longhorns lost 4-3 to Pioneer, 3-0 to Santa Teresa and 2-1 to Santa Teresa to slip to 1-7 in the division and 5-12 for the year.
Kyle Padia ripped a double to spark a seven-hit attack, but the Longhorns lost a tight 2-1 nod to the Saints to finish off the week.
Jeremy Kreuzer was tagged with the loss, even though Leigh outhit Santa Teresa 7-6. Leigh scored a run in the first, but the Saints picked up single runs in the second and third and held on for the win.
The two clubs battled it out earlier in the week with Santa Teresa claiming a 3-0 win despite a four-hitter by Jason Guzman. The Saints scored single runs in the first, third and sixth, and Leigh was held scoreless.
Guzman and Ken Fowler each doubled in the loss for Leigh.
Leigh had opened the week losing a tough 4-3 nod to Pioneer. Will St. Clair singled and doubled to knock in two runs for the Longhorns. Eric Gonzalez slapped two hits for Leigh, and Scott Purdy singled and doubled.
Leigh frosh-sophers win
Jeremy Fowler snapped a 5-5 tie with a run-scoring double that capped a three-run rally in the third, and the Leigh frosh-soph baseball team went on to claim an 8-5 win over Pioneer.
Jeff Sanfilippo doubled twice in the win for the Longhorns, and freshman Jonathan Kreuzer also doubled.
But it was Kreuzer's performance on the mound that proved the difference in the game. The big right-hander struck out eight in three innings of relief to help the Longhorns nail down the win.
Kreuzer struck out eight straight before giving up a walk in the seventh. He then got the final out on a comeback.
This article appeared in the Los Gatos Weekly-Times, April 16, 1997.
©1997 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.