 |
|
|
|
Photograph by George Sakkestad
Prospect sophomore Curtis Wills tossed a 2-hit shutout in a 1-0 win over Piedmont Hills last week. It was the first of three wins for the Panthers on the week.
|
Big week for the Panthers
Falcons are on an El Camino roll
By Dick Sparrer
Everyone's chasing unbeaten Leigh in the baseball race in the Santa Teresa Division of the Blossom Valley Athletic League.
And it's Prospect doing the best job in that chase--good enough, in fact, that those Panthers just could be putting themselves into position for a trip to the Central Coast Section playoffs.
No one--not even Prospect--is likely to catch the Longhorns in the race for the Santa Teresa Division title this spring. But the Panthers did put together three wins last week to move into second place ahead of Gunderson.
Prospect edged Piedmont Hills 1-0, nipped Mt. Pleasant 2-1 and blanked Willow Glen 4-0 last week to improve to 10-5 in division play. Gunderson sits a half game back at 9-5.
Just as important for the Panthers is their season record. The three wins helped Prospect push its overall mark to 14-8, a strong enough mark to keep them very much alive in the CCS playoff picture.
Prospect started play last week with an exciting 1-0 win over Piedmont Hills. Sophomore righthander Curtis Wills tossed a 2-hit shutout for the victory, and Brett Bonvechio's solo homer in the third provided the only run Wills needed. Wills evened his mound record at 2-2 with the win.
Bonvechio finished the day with a pair of hits, and Darrell Jacks and Adam Vidal each slapped doubles.
That was just the start of an outstanding week for the Panthers. David Marrs came back with a 2-hitter in Prospect's 2-1 win over the Cardinals two days later. Marrs led the Panthers offensively with a pair of singles, and Bonvechio smacked a double.
The third was the key inning again for the Panthers, who scored twice in the frame. The Cards touched Marrs for a single run in the fourth, but he hung on to pick up the win, pushing his pitching record to 4-3.
Prospect capped a perfect week with a 4-0 win over Willow Glen on Saturday. Bonvechio ripped his second homer of the week, a two-run shot in--you guessed it--the third.
Vidal tossed a 4-hit shutout for the win, upping his mound record to 3-0.
Photograph by Skye Dunlap
Saratoga's Nick Blue waits for the throw at first during a game earlier this year against Lynbrook. The Falcons beat the Vikings again last week, one of three wins for Saratoga on the week.
Falcons keep winning
Like Leigh in the Santa Teresa Division of the BVAL, Saratoga is running away from the pack in the El Camino Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League.
The Falcons ran their league winning streak to 11 straight games with wins over Mountain View and Lynbrook last week, and they also pulled off a rousing 13-2 nonleague victory over Bellarmine.
The three-win week helped Saratoga improve to 17-5 for the year. The Falcons are 12-1 and alone in first place in the El Camino Division.
Junior righthander Jason Worden tossed six strong innings to get the mound win in the 13-7 victory over Mountain View to open the week. Worden, now 5-1 in the division and 6-2 for the year, struck out 11 before leaving the game after six innings with his club up 10-2.
Ryan Bernard, Mike Drew, Jim Heuther and Dan Morse had three hits each to lead an impressive 18-hit assault for the Falcons.
Bernard tripled twice and singled for Saratoga, and Drew had three singles to knock in three runs. Heuther doubled and singled twice to knock in a pair of runs, and Morse added three singles.
Matt Joyce singled and tripled for the Falcons, and Robin Gill had two hits to knock in two runs. Nick Blue also tripled in the win.
Saratoga nailed 15 more hits in the 13-2 win over the Bells a couple of days later.
Big Brady Moran led the offensive attack with a homer, a double and a single to drive in six runs for the Falcons.
Drew was the winning pitcher and helped his own cause at the plate with a double and two singles to knock in three runs. Blue doubled and singled twice to plate a pair of runs, and Joyce doubled.
It was an 11-run rally in the second inning that vaulted Saratoga to the lopsided victory.
Saratoga wrapped up a perfect week with a tight 6-3 win over Lynbrook on Saturday. Big 6-foot-4 righthander Brian Cavanaugh was the winning pitcher, and 6-foot-4 senior righty Brett Miller came on to get his second save of the year. Cavanaugh improved his mound record to 4-0 with the win.
Saratoga rallied for two in the second and three in the third on the road to the victory.
Warriors drop two
It was a tough week for Westmont in the Mt. Hamilton Division of the BVAL. The Warriors lost 7-4 to first-place Valley Christian, dropped a 4-3 heartbreaker to Leland and fell 8-4 to Oak Grove.
Tony LaVista singled and doubled, and Sean Felder ripped a double, but the Warriors dropped the 4-3 nod to the Chargers on Wednesday.
Westmont had jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the top of the first, but Leland batted back for two in the home half of the first, one in the fourth to tie it and one in the fifth to take the lead.
The Warriors had opened the week with the loss to the Eagles. Oak Grove opened up a 6-0 lead after three innings, but Westmont made it close with four runs in the fifth. The Eagles picked up two in the sixth, though, and rolled from there to the win.
Sophomore Colin McAvoy had two hits, but Westmont capped the week with the 7-4 loss to Valley Christian.
The VC win, coupled with an 11-2 win by Del Mar over Oak Grove the same day, punched Valley into first place in the Mt. Hamilton Division.
|
|
|
|
Saratoga, California Since 1975
