Gatos baseball, softball teams lose at CCS

By Dick Sparrer

Both the baseball and softball teams from Los Gatos qualified for the Central Coast Section playoffs this spring.

Unfortunately for the Wildcats, though, they didn't remain in the field for long.

The Gatos boys and girls each lost first-round games last week, each team facing quick elimination from CCS playoff action and facing an end to the 2001 season.

The Los Gatos baseball team lost 6-3 to Sacred Heart Cathedral in the first round of the CCS Division II playoffs, and the Los Gatos girls dropped a 6-1 nod to Burlingame in the first round of the CCS Division II softball playoffs.

The Wildcats finished the baseball season with a .500 record when the loss to Sacred Heart evened their record at 15-15.

Senior slugger Ben Shanker ripped a pair of singles, but the Wildcats could manage just five hits in the loss.

The Irish took the early lead in the game when they touched Gatos ace Matt Swanson for three runs in the first, but the Cats cut the lead with two of their own in the top of the second.

Sacred Heart picked up a run in the home half of the second, but Gatos matched it in the third to trail just 4-3. The Irish scored two in the fifth and one more in the sixth, though, and the Wildcats couldn't match it.

Gatos earned a place in the playoffs by finishing third in the De Anza Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League. The Cats posted a 9-9 record, matching their league mark from the year before.

Wilcox rolled to an 18-0 record to win the division title and Gunn was second at 13-5. Gatos ended up a game up on fourth-place Saratoga. The Falcons finished 8-10 in league.

Seniors Swanson, Shanker, Markus Willard, Joey Warren and Brandon Burke were each playing their final game for the Cats.

But Los Gatos boasts a solid cast of underclassmen who should give head coach Don Ardissone a strong squad next spring. Heading the list of returners will be juniors Chris Eagen, Chris Willard, Tony Frangadakis, James Gentry, Steve Sweeney, Matt Cooke, Tyler Wilson, Alex Anderson, Jayson Furia and Dan Holtzman and sophomores Travis Howell and Alex Rollin.

Softball coach Marlo Ann Cortese will also have a strong crew of returners next spring with only one senior on this year's club.

The Gatos girls wrapped up a 13-14 season when they lost the 6-1 decision to Burlingame in the first round of the CCS playoffs.

Freshman pitching sensation Melissa Mullins allowed just six hits, but the Panthers turned them into six runs.

Burlingame scored two in the first and one in the second to take an early 3-0 lead, then added a single run in the fourth and two more in the sixth. Gatos scored its only run of the game in the fifth.

Junior Amanda Palasky belted two hits for the Wildcats, who had just five hits in the game.

The Cats earned the CCS spot with a 13-13 regular season record. Gatos had tied for seventh in the eight-team De Anza Division of the SCVAL with Santa Clara, both clubs at 5-9.

The Wildcats moved out of sole ownership of last place and into that seventh-place tie with a 5-0 win over Monta Vista on the final day of the regular season.

Mullins flipped a two-hit shutout, striking out 10 along the way, to lead the Cats past the Matadors.

Junior Tara Hodge led a nine-hit Los Gatos offensive attack with three singles.

The Wildcats had lost a 5-3 heartbreaker in 11 innings to Santa Clara a game earlier.

The Bruins scored three in the first to take a quick lead, but Hodge doubled home two runs in the fourth and the Wildcats scored a run in the bottom of the seventh to tie the game and send it into extra innings.

But Santa Clara struck for two runs in the 11th to claim the win.

Lauren Hertan was the lone senior on the Los Gatos club this season, and the rest of the Cats will return to the diamond next year.

Pitchers Mullins and junior Kimi Enright will both return for the Cats along with juniors Hodge, Palasky, Kimberly Pugh and Colleen Cornelius, sophomores Katie Ferrera and Virginia Fritsch, and freshmen Jayne Pimentel, Jackie Pimentel, Donna Battaglia, Niki Cushman and Whitney Ellis.

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