Saratoga News

Photograph by George Sakkestad

Saratoga's Chad Allen (right) outruns teammate Brian Carroll to the finish line in the 300-meter intermediate hurdles at the league track finals.

Baseball race unsettled

Allen hurdles to track title

By Dick Sparrer

It appeared to be a week that could settle a few things in the baseball race in the El Camino Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League.

But as it turns out, all the contenders determined was that nothing was settled at all.

Lynbrook and Saratoga each had opportunities to deal severe blows to Cupertino and Gunn, but both lost. So now the four clubs enter the final week of the season separated by just a single game in the standings.

Gunn holds a slim edge over the rest of the pack with a 10-6 record. Lynbrook (10-7) and Cupertino (9-6) are each half a game back, and Saratoga (9-7) trails Gunn by a full game.

Cupertino climbed right into the race by beating Lynbrook 10-3 and Mountain View 12-9 last week.

The Falcons could have helped themselves tremendously with a win over Gunn, but it was the Titans pulling out a 10-7 win to move into sole ownership of first place.

Kyle Cardin singled and homered to drive in two runs for the Falcons in the loss. Derek Cartmell doubled home a pair of runs, and Troy Cardin doubled.

Lynbrook finished the week with an 11-7 win over Los Altos. Jered Schoettmer doubled twice and singled to drive in three runs to lead the Vikings to the win. Greg Cirimele and Brian Avants drove home two runs apiece.

Ryan Quadro was the winning pitcher for the Vikes and Dan Hoss came on to pick up the save. Hoss also had two hits.

But it was the 10-3 loss to Cupertino to open the week that proved costly for the Vikings. Hoss singled and doubled, and Cirimele and Shawn Flood had two hits each in the game.

BVAL Baseball

While the SCVAL teams were battling it out, Westmont and Prospect were recording very different results in the Blossom Valley Athletic League.

Westmont knocked off James Lick 11-4 and Andrew Hill 10-0 to improve to 13-3 in the West Valley Division of the BVAL. The Warriors, 16-6 for the year, sit in first place in the division heading into the final week of action.

Prospect, though, lost twice in the Santa Teresa, losing 6-4 to Willow Glen and 11-3 to Independence, to drop out of the title picture in the division.

Brandon Morgan slammed two homers, but it wasn't enough for the Panthers against the first-place Rams. Morgan finished with three hits and drove in three runs.

Dan Baucus ripped two hits for the Panthers, and Tim Anderson doubled.

Garrett Langworthy singled and doubled, but Prospect lost to Independence.

The Panthers are now 10-6 in the division and 13-9 for the year.

Zack Felder had quite a week for Westmont, belting five hits in two games and finishing the week with a complete game victory.

Felder went the distance to toss a three-hit shutout in the 10-0 win over Hill. He fanned eight as he lifted his mound record to 5-1. Felder also had two hits to knock in two runs.

P.J. Doherty singled and tripled to knock in two runs. Adam Curtis and Ryan Hanson had two hits apiece.

Felder singled, doubled and homered to knock in three runs and lead Westmont to an 11-4 win over Lick. Doherty had two hits, and Hanson picked up the mound win, pushing his record to 6-0.

Allen a winner

Saratoga's Chad Allen raced to an individual title when the athletes of the De Anza Division of the SCVAL got together at De Anza Community College for the track and field finals.

Allen raced to a league title in the 300-meter intermediate hurdles, beating teammate Brian Carroll to the finish line.

Allen won the event in 40.22, with Carroll a close second in 40.75.

Carroll was also second in the 110-meter high hurdles in 15.55, and Alex Lux came through with a third in the 400 meters in 50.47.

Saratoga also placed second in the mile relay, stopping the watch at 3:30.3.

In the El Camino Division finals a day earlier, Matt Tueller starred for Lynbrook with an individual title.

Tueller finished first in the high jump at 6-2 to head up a list of three Vikings who placed at the meet.

Josh Moores was second in the triple jump at 40-1014, and Eugene Tung was second in both the 200 meters in 23.09 and the 400 meters in 52.77.

In girls' action, Lynbrook's Danielle Mehta was second in the 200 in 26.94 and third in the 100 in 13.00, and Farah Hussain was third in the high jump at 4-10.

Serena DeLaPlace was a double winner for Westmont at the league finals in the Santa Teresa Division of the BVAL. DeLaPlace took the 1600 meters in 5:27.9 and the 800 in 2:24.43 to lead Westmont to a team third.

Melisa Taylor came through with a first in the shot put with a 33-7 heave, and Amy Navarro was second in the discus with a toss of 100-9. Loan Hinh nailed a third in the 100 low hurdles in 18.47 and Katie Weathers was fourth in the long jump at 14-1112.

Scott Hill was a double placer for the Westmont boys, soaring to a second in the high jump at 5-10 and finishing third in the triple jump at 38-1012, with teammate Donnie Haynes fourth at 38-6.

Greg Johnson was third in both the 1600 meters in 4:47.23 and the 3200 in 10:45, and Trevor Guina was third in the 800 in 2:02.9.

T.J. Aimonetti was third in the shot put at 40-612 and Travis Hunt was fourth in the discus at 114-1.

Andre Jacob and Matt Heling finished strong in the 100 for the Prospect boys. Jacob breezed to a second in 11.12 with Heling fourth in 11.37. The two helped the Panthers to a third in the 400 relay in 44.2.

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