Saratoga's Matt Joyce gets ready to jump to his feet after homering in last week's 10-5 win over Monta Vista. The Falcons beat the Mats and Los Gatos to move into sole possession of second place in the De Anza Division.




Photograph by Skye Dunlap







Two big wins for Falcons

Saratoga alone in second place

By Dick Sparrer

They had been bunching up behind the leader in the baseball race in the De Anza Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League.

But thanks to Saratoga, things are starting to spread out a bit.

The Falcons won twice last week to move into sole ownership of second place in the division with a 9-7 record. They beat both Monta Vista and Los Gatos to put some distance between themselves and the rest of the pack.

The Wildcats are 8-8 and the Matadors are 8-8-1. Cupertino and Milpitas are tied for fifth place in the division, but are each just two games out second place with 7-9 records.

So there is much at stake as the clubs head into the final week of the regular season, and Saratoga will be out to grab at least a share of second with a couple of wins against Milpitas and Fremont. The Falcons visit the Trojans on May 10, 3:30 p.m., before hosting Fremont on May 12, 3:30 p.m.

Matt Joyce homered and singled and Brian Stirm knocked in a couple of runs with four hits to lead the Falcons to the important 10-5 win over Monta Vista. Mike Cook doubled twice and singled to plate a pair of runs.

Adam Varteressian was the winning pitcher for the Falcons, pushing his mound record to 6-1.

Senior right hander Jason Worden went the distance to flip a one-hit shutout in Saratoga's 7-0 win over Los Gatos on Saturday.

Cook led a 13-hit attack for the Falcons with three singles. Joyce singled and doubled in the win and Erick Raich had two hits to knock in a pair of runs. Stirm doubled and Caleb Mosley tripled.

Warriors, Panthers win

Westmont and Prospect each won a couple of league games last week in Blossom Valley Athletic League play.

The Warriors upset Leland 3-2 in 10 innings and knocked off Del Mar to push their record to 3-9 in the division. Westmont is 10-14-1 for the year.

Prospect, meanwhile, pushed its record to 14-3 in the Santa Teresa Division with two wins and a loss last week. The division-leading Panthers beat Overfelt 6-4 and Piedmont Hills 14-0, but lost 3-0 to Silver Creek.

Nick Vidal went the distance to toss a two-hit shutout in Friday's win over Piedmont. Vidal, who struck out seven, pushed his pitching record to 4-2.

Videal also had two hits to drive in four runs in the Prospect win. Derrick Yamada ripped three doubles to knock in two runs. J.D. Mazzuca doubled and singled twice, Brad Bonvecchion doubled twice to plate a pair and Chris Hesenflow singled and doubled to knock in two runs.

The Panthers, 15-7 for the year, opened the week with the 6-4 win over Overfelt. Bonvecchio singled and tripled to drive in two big runs for Prospect.

Curtis Wills tossed five innings of one-hit baseball to get the win, his second in as many decisions, and Yamada came on late to get his first save of the year.

Prospect could manage just three hits off Silver Creek ace Kevin Rose in a 3-0 loss in the middle of the week. Hesenflow was tagged with the tough loss, despite striking out eight. His mound record slipped to 5-2.

Westmont had opened the week with the 10-inning win over Leland. Tony LaVista tossed a complete game for the win, striking out seven and walking just two. He scattered eight hits over 10 frames as he pushed his record to 6-5 with the win.

Ben Peterson singled and doubled to drive in two runs in the win and Reed Dickert had two hits.

Tony Perez picked up the win in relief and he also helped the Warriors offensively with three hits to drive in two runs in the 10-9 win over Del Mar. LaVista and Fred Mills had two hits apiece in the Westmont win.

Warriors unbeaten

The Westmont boys volleyball team pounded Pioneer 15-2, 15-12, 15-8 last week to push its record to 12-0 in the Santa Teresa Division of the BVAL.

The Warriors, 20-5 for the year, will now advance to the Central Coast Section playoffs as the Santa Teresa champions. Westmont will visit Woodside Priory (21-1) on May 9, 7 p.m., with the winner to visit No. 2 seed Homestead (34-2) on May 13, 7 p.m.

In other action in the division, Prospect rolled past Branham before beating Gunderson to improve to 9-3 in the division. The Panthers, 14-8 for the year, were led to the 15-1, 15-2, 15-3 win over the Grizzlies by Chad Holan and David Najima.

Saratoga, meanwhile, lost 15-13, 15-8, 5-15, 15-13 to Fremont in the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League. The Falcons slipped to 3-5 with the loss.

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