Los Gatos Weekly-Times

Roulin helps Leigh clinch third in Pioneer's Classic

By Dick Sparrer

It was the week of spring vacation for many schools in the area.

But there was certainly no vacation for the high school baseball teams involved in the rugged Pioneer Classic baseball tournament.

Rugged? You bet! The tournament featured nine teams, and of the nine, four were ranked among the top 10 in the Central Coast Section entering the week of play, and four were leading their divisions.

Valley Christian, still unbeaten this season at 19-0-1, entered the tourney as the top-ranked team in CCS. The Warriors were also leading the pack in the tough Mt. Hamilton Division of the Blossom Valley Athletic League.

Bellarmine, a perennial area power under the leadership of veteran coach Gary Cunningham, was ranked No. 4 in CCS going into the week. The Bells, now 15-6 for the year, are in first place in the West Catholic Athletic League.

Two clubs from the powerful De Anza Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League--division-leading Wilcox and third-place Cupertino--were also in the tourney field. The Chargers, 15-3-1, were ranked No. 5 in CCS heading into the tournament, and Cupertino, now 12-9, was ranked No. 9 in the section.

Leigh, the leader in the Santa Teresa Division of the BVAL, joined with Gilroy, Lincoln and Pacific Grove to round out the Pioneer field. All teams except the host Mustangs entered the tournament with winning season records.

"We knew going in that it was going to be a good tournament," said Cunningham. "There were some good teams in it. It was a good test for us."

Valley Christian rolled to five straight wins on the way to the tourney title. The Warriors beat Cupertino 9-0 and Pacific Grove 8-2 in the first round, then beat Gilroy 9-4 and Bellarmine in a 1-0 to gain a spot in the finals. Valley whipped 'Tino 18-4 in the title game.

Richie Navarro, Mike Rouse, Dave Tonini and Matt Cocking led the Warriors to the championship, and all earned all-tournament team honors for their efforts.

Chris McManus and Brian Filizetti of Cupertino; Marty Shull, Jack Headley and Dan Rice of Bellarmine; Billy Himan of Wilcox; freshman Jeremy Roulin of Leigh; and Shawn Scott of Pacific Grove were others named to the all-tourney list.

Bellarmine clinched third place in the tourney with an exciting 5-1 win over Leigh on Saturday. The Longhorns were led by Roulin, who crushed a home run and finished the day with three hits.

Leigh earned the trip to the third-place game with an impressive 11-8 win over Wilcox a few days earlier. Colby Capilla doubled and singled twice to lead an 11-hit Longhorn attack in the win.

Josh Kreuzer singled and doubled to knock in three runs, and Roulin doubled home a pair of runs. Willie Thompson singled and doubled for Leigh, and Greg Baker added two hits.

Tim Reimer was the winning pitcher for the Longhorns, pushing his record to 5-0.

Kreuzer had two hits to plate a couple of runs, but Leigh lost 11-5 to Cupertino a day later. The Pioneers went on to play Valley Christian for the title, and Leigh advanced to the third-round game against the Bells.

Leigh split in the first two games of the tourney, losing a rain-shortened 3-2 decision to Pioneer despite a homer by Capilla before beating Lincoln 7-0.

Thompson no-hit the Lions for four innings before retiring from the mound with a 7-0 lead. Thompson upped his mound record to 4-1 with the win.

Baker doubled twice in the victory, and Kyle Padia doubled home a pair of runs. Reimer and Capilla had two hits apiece.

Gatos drops two

Los Gatos had broken for spring vacation a week earlier, so the Wildcats returned to league play last week but with dismal results.

The Cats lost a pair of games last week, falling 5-2 to Palo Alto and 4-0 to Milpitas, to slip to 4-6 in the De Anza Division of the SCVAL and to 5-10 for the year.

Gatos could manage just one hit in the loss to the Trojans to cap the week. Earlier in the week, the Wildcats had belted six hits in the loss to Paly.

Andy Housley and sophomore Mike Cook slapped two hits apiece to lead the Cats offensively against the Vikings. Ryan Boyd drilled a double for Los Gatos.

Gatos will be back on the diamond this week for a pair of home games. The Wildcats will entertain Homestead on April 22 and league-leading Wilcox on April 24 in a pair of 3:30 p.m. games.

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