Photograph by Kathy De La Torre
Prospect third baseman Brett Bonvecchio makes a diving stop while Pioneer's Brian Davis heads to third in a regular season game. Bonvecchio was named the top offensive player for the North squad in the all-star series.
Bonvecchio slams North to win
Worden gets mound win in game No. 3
By Dick Sparrer
All season long Brett Bonvecchio has been swinging a big bat for the Prospect baseball team.
So to see the talented senior come through in the clutch in the first game of the North-South All-Star Series was no surprise to Prospect coach Carlos Boles... he'd seen it many times during the regular season when Bonvecchio led the Panthers to the championship in the Santa Teresa Division of the Blossom Valley Athletic League.
Bonvecchio crushed a grand slam to lead the North to a 13-8 win over the South in the first game of the series, and he ended up knocking in seven runs in the three-game set to win the event's best offensive player award.
The North won the Wednesday opener, and the clubs split a doubleheader on Friday night at PAL Stadium. The South won the first game of the twin-bill 3-2, but the North came back to take the nightcap 8-7 to win the series.
Bonvecchio had a single to go with his slam in game No. 1. Leigh's Greg Baker singled and doubled, and Gunn's Anthony Rea knocked in two runs in the win for the North.
Nick Gardiner of Oak Grove homered and singled to drive in two runs for the South, and Bellarmine's Kevin Frandsen tripled and singled twice to knock in two. Willow Glen's Will Rideau slapped a pair of hits for the South, and Mike D'Olvio of Piedmont Hills doubled.
Silver Creek ace Kevin Rose helped the South even the series at a game apiece by combining with reliever Todd Chesnos for a four-hitter in a 3-2 win on Friday. Rose was the winning pitcher, and Chesnos came on to get the save.
Frandsen doubled home a pair of runs for the South in the win, and Brian Davis of Pioneer had two hits.
Cupertino's Josh Lockhart doubled for the North. The North blasted out 12 hits in the second game of Friday's doubleheader to take the series.
Leigh's Josh Kreuzer and Jason Windsor each homered to lead the attack for the North. Kreuzer ripped a three-run homer in the third, and Windsor cracked a two-run blast to key a five-run rally in the fourth.
Jason Worden of Saratoga was the winning pitcher, and Windsor came on to get the save.
Pete Hernandez of Fremont and Erik Dean of Wilcox had two hits apiece for the North. Rea knocked in a couple of runs, and Kyle Buchanan of Santa Clara tripled.
Brad Fanin of Oak Grove singled and doubled for the South in the loss. Ryan Klemencic of Leland and Nate Sutton of Bellarmine each doubled in the game, and Aaron Juarez of Mt. Pleasant drove in two runs.
Rounding out the North squad in the all-star series were Chris Hesenflow, Nick Vidal and Derrick Yamata of Prospect; Andrew Hansen and Andy Heiser of Santa Clara; Steve Chase of Los Gatos; Eric Cherrstrom of St. Francis; Mike Cook, Matt Joyce and Erick Raich of Saratoga; Pat Frost of Palo Alto; Doug Govan of Gunn; Jessen Grant of Monta Vista; Tony LaVista of Westmont; and Jeff Scholar of Live Oak. The North coaches were Boles, Mike Luna of Leigh and Tim Thompson of Gunn.
Other members of the South squad were Mark Bautista and Fernando Del Moral of Leland; J.D. Cockroft and James Holder of Bellarmine; Brian Cleveland, Matt Dolen, Joe Gutierrez, Brandon McDonough and Josh Shim of Santa Teresa; Sean Farrell of Pioneer; Joey Hernandez and Matt Railton of St. Lawrence; Chris Houston, Mike Malott and Tony Sanguinetti of Valley Christian; Erik Loera of Independence; David Macchi of Willow Glen; and Steve Santiago and Eddie Maxie of Lick. The coaches were Dave McDonough of Santa Teresa, Gary Rose of Willow Glen and Clint Wheeler of Gilroy.
Student athletes shine
Two Saratoga sports squads figured among the leaders when the Central Coast Section announced its 2000 spring-season scholastic champions.
Each season the CCS recognizes varsity sports teams with the highest collective grade point averages.
The Saratoga girls track and field team finished sixth overall with a cumulative GPA of 3.5582, and the Saratoga badminton team finished sixth with a GPA of 3.2405.
Clark honored by CCS
Veteran Saratoga track and field coach Marshall Clark was among those recently honored by CCS as a Spring Sports Honor Coach.
Clark, responsible for the recent resurgence in track and cross country at Saratoga, coached high school track and field for 10 years before coaching for 10 years at Stanford University, two years at the University of Montana and eight years at San Jose State University.
He took over the track and cross country programs at Saratoga in 1991 and has taken the Falcons to a level among the top teams in the section.
Clark was a coach for the U.S. National Track Team at the 1972 International Indoor Meet in Moscow.
Kelly 10th
Kim Kelly of Prospect and Kimberly Gorski of Westmont each finished in the top 15 at the CCS girls diving finals.
Kelly rolled up 399.0 points to finish 10th overall. The senior racked up 178.85 points in the preliminaries and came back with 291.90 points in the finals.
Gorski was came on strong in the finals to finish 13th overall. The junior ended up with 373.90 points overall to wind up in the top 15.
Rochelle Rodrequies, a Prospect sophomore, finished 34th in the CCS event.
In swimming competition, the Lynbrook boys placed in the consolation finals of the boys 200-yard medley relay and 400 freestyle relay.
Alex Lee, Jerome Chung, Cole Robinson and Kevin Eng swam 1:45.67 to finish eighth in the medley relay, and Kamil Wnuk, Robinson, Larson Derrick and Kinman Cheung teamed to swim a 3:31.63 for eighth in the free relay consolation race.
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