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One season ended for the Westmont baseball team last week, and another will begin this week. And the Warriors are hoping that the second season will be just as successful as the first.
Westmont wrapped up the Blossom Valley Athletic League Santa Teresa Division season with a 5-1 win over Independence to finish 17-1 and in first place in the circuit.
The division champs will now take their 19-6 season record into the Central Coast Section Division II playoffs that begin May 22 when the Warriors host Mountain View (21-6) at 4 p.m. The same day, Saratoga (18-12) opens CCS Division II play at Monterey (23-9). The winners of the two first-round games will then meet in the quarterfinals on May 24, 7 p.m., at Washington Park in Santa Clara.
The tournament semifinals are May 29, 4 and 7 p.m., at San Jose Municipal Stadium, and the championship game is May 31 at Muni.
Coach Jason Miller's nine had already clinched the Santa Teresa Division crown before facing Independence, but the Warriors put the exclamation mark on their championship season with the 5-1 win.
Junior hurler Ricky Meinhold went the distance for the victory, tossing a 2-hitter and striking out eight. Meinhold pushed his season record to 10-1 with the mound win.
Mike Sato singled and doubled for the Warriors and Mike Gorski and Jimmy Stevenson ripped two hits apiece. Westmont finished the day with 10 hits.
The Warriors broke a scoreless tie with a run in the third, then added two in the fourth and one in the fifth to take a 4-0 lead. Meinhold lost his bid for a shutout when the 76ers scored in the sixth, but Westmont answered with a run to cap the scoring.
Falcons win two
The Saratoga baseball team won two games last week to tie for second in the El Camino Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League and earn a berth in CCS.
The Falcons crushed Lynbrook 15-0, then whipped Mountain View 14-6 to wind up the league season 12-6 and in a second-place tie with the Spartans.
Brett Behnke and Chris Hornberger starred for the Falcons in the two wins, leading the club with their bats and pitching arms.
Behnke, a senior right hander, tossed a 3-hit shutout in the win over the Vikings and also singled twice to drive in three runs. Behnke's mound record improved to 7-1 with the win.
Hornberger led the Falcons at the plate with a double and three singles in the win. Jeff Lyn had three hits for Saratoga, Jon Anderson singled and doubled and Chris Mariani had two hits.
Brett Granum, Ryan Newberry, Phil Spencer and Scott Sato each doubled for 'Toga and Stephen Azzi knocked in two runs.
The Falcons scored two in the second and two more in the fourth to lead 4-0, then broke the game open with 11 runs in the fifth.
Saratoga snatched a share of second place in the division with the 14-6 win over Mountain View. Hornberger was the winning pitcher, pushing his record to 7-4. He also drove in two runs to help his own cause.
Anderson had four hits to plate four runs for the winners. Granum doubled and singled twice and Buck Wright ripped two doubles.
Follmar stars
Alicia Follmar ran to a pair of individual victories to lead the Saratoga girls track team to a third-place finish at the SCVAL De Anza Division track and field finals.
Follmar raced to a win in the 1,600 meters in 5:02.16 and also took the 3,200 in 10:57.32.
Evie Aura supported with a win in the 100-meter dash in 12.83. She was also second in the 200 in 26.90.
Amanda Van Hoesen chipped in with a second in the shot put with a heave of 30-4, and Lauren Belomy was fifth in the 300 hurdles in 48.9 and sixth in the 400 meters in 1:02.97. Zola Petkovic ran fifth in the 100 hurdles in 17.43 and Michelle Fongson was sixth in the long jump at 147 for the Falcons.
Saratoga ran second in the 4x400 relay in 4:19.39 and third in the 4x100 relay in 51.55.
The Saratoga boys, meanwhile, were seventh at the league finals, despite a second-place finish by Tom Cummins and a couple of places by Will Alleshouse.
Cummins tossed the discus 13611 to finish second at the finals. Alleshouse was third in the 400 in 52.42 and fourth in the 200 in 23.61.
Hari Subramaniam ran third in the 3,200 meters in 10:18.10 and Roy Jang was fourth in the shot put at 424. Aaron Blair was fifth in the 300 hurdles in 44.44 with teammate Michael Wong sixth in 45.54.
Patrick McKenna was sixth in the 100 in 11.75, Jacob Osborne was sixth in the triple jump at 3811 and Alex Reeves tied for sixth in the high jump at 56.
The Falcons were sixth in both relays.
Panthers win two
Prospect closed out the year with back-to-back wins over Willow Glen and Leigh to finish 6-12 in the Mt. Hamilton Division of the BVAL and 10-17 for the year.
Tony Puccinelli ripped three hits and knocked in three runs to lead the Panthers to an impressive season-ending 7-5 win over playoff-bound Leigh.
Aaron Jacks tossed 6 2/3 innings to get the win for the Panthers. Jacks gave up seven hits and five walks but struck out 11 on the day. Steven Vidal got the final out for the save, getting a Leigh hitter to fly out with the bases loaded in the seventh.
It was back-to-back run-scoring singles by Puccinelli and Casey Juull in the top of the seventh that gave the Panthers the cushion they needed to clinch the win.
Prospect had scored three runs in the first. Ted Piggins singled, moved up on a sacrifice by Steven Kong and scored on a passed ball after Jacks had walked. Puccinelli followed with a double to drive in Jacks, then he scored on a ground rule double by Juull.
Leigh got two back in the top of the first, but Prospect had it 4-2 with a run in the third. Kong singled, stole second and scored on a two-out single by Puccinelli.
Leigh tied it in the bottom of the frame, but the Panthers regained the lead in the fourth. Piggins struck out, but reached when the ball got away from the catcher. Kong bunted him to second and Jacks doubled Piggins home.
Prospect came back with the two important runs in the seventh. Kong and Jacks walked to open the frame, then Puccinelli and Juull followed with the run-scoring hits.
Kong singled to round out the eight-hit attack for the Panthers.
Prospect had opened the week by beating the Rams 3-2 in eight innings. Jacks doubled twice and singled and Puccinelli had two hits—including the game winner.
Vidal tossed a complete game for the win. He threw just 100 pitches in eight innings, giving up just five hits and three walks while fanning four.
The clubs were locked in a 2-2 tie through the regulation seven innings, but Prospect scored in the bottom of the eighth to win it.
Jacks opened the inning with a double and was balked to second. Vidal was walked intentionally, but Puccinelli beat out an infield hit to plate Jacks with the winning run.
Willow Glen scored a run in the first, but Prospect matched it in the bottom of the frame. Jacks and Vidal singled, then Puccinelli singled home a run.
Prospect took the lead with a run in the fifth. Garrett Karen, up from the frosh-soph, ripped his first varsity hit and Piggins doubled him home.
The Rams tied it on a solo homer by Justin Jeffrey in the sixth, but the Panthers won it in the eighth.
Jacks had the three hits, Puccinelli had two and Piggins, Vidal, Juull, Karen and Peter Rodriguez each singled.
Warriors in CCS
The Westmont girls softball team will join the baseball team in the CCS Division II playoffs. The Warriors take an 11-15 season record into their first-round game against Mountain View (17-13). The Warriors will face the Spartans on May 22, 5 p.m., at PAL Stadium with the winner advancing to the quarterfinals against Mitty (28-2) on May 24, 10 a.m., at PAL.
The Warriors finished 6-6 in the Mt. Hamilton Division after a split with Leland and Leigh last week in a couple of 1-0 games.
Sophomore Breanna Kuhny flipped a 2-hit shutout for the Warriors in the 1-0 win over Leland. Kyle Soden doubled in the game for Westmont.
Kuhny lost a tough decision to Leigh, giving up just a single run in the first and only four hits in the 1-0 loss. Kuhny slipped to 6-3 for the year with the setback. Rachel Gellman and Michelle Salmiery had two hits apiece for the Warriors.
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