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The Prospect baseball team finished dead last in the Mt. Hamilton Division of the Blossom Valley Athletic League last season, but you won't catch head coach Carlos Boles complaining. He figures that his club is now back where it belongs--competing in the Santa Teresa circuit.
"We look forward to being back in the 'B' league--back where we can compete," said the coach. "There are some good teams in this league, and we look forward to the tough games."
They've already played a few of them. The Panthers are off to a 2-2 start in league play, beating Evergreen Valley 6-4 and Lincoln 9-6 while losing 13-7 to Piedmont Hills and 6-5 to Silver Creek.
Prospect is 3-4 overall this year, losing 15-1 to Los Gatos and 14-0 in the Los Gatos Lions Tournament and beating Fremont 5-1 in a non-league game.
Boles picks Piedmont Hills and Pioneer as the title favorites in the division this spring. The Panthers have already lost to the Pirates and will get a shot at the Mustangs this week. Prospect will visit Pioneer on March 22, 3:30 p.m., before taking on Homestead on March 24, 7 p.m., at PAL Stadium in the 55th annual Lions Invitational.
Senior pitcher/third baseman Casey Juull tops the list of returners at Prospect this spring that also includes juniors Nick Nichols (pitcher/third baseman/catcher) and Matt Lamb (catcher/center fielder).
Outfielders Chris Cucchira (a junior transfer from Pioneer), Melvin Hutcherson (a sophomore transfer from Valley Christian) and junior shortstop David Kinder are top newcomers on the Prospect varsity.
Juull was the winning pitcher for the Panthers in their 9-6 victory over Lincoln last week. Edwin Wise singled and doubled in the game for Prospect and David Morgan had two hits.
The Panthers lost a 6-5 heartbreaker to Silver Creek two days later. They had jumped out to a 5-0 lead with two runs in the first and three more in the second, but the Raiders chipped away with one in the third, one in the fourth, three in the fifth and one in the sixth to win it.
Nichols was the hard-luck mound loser and Juull drove in two runs for the Panthers.
Warriors blank Cards
Westmont pushed its Mt. Hamilton Division record to 4-1 and its overall mark to 5-4 with a 4-0 win over Mt. Pleasant last week.
The Warriors broke open a scoreless tie with three runs in the fourth and added an insurance run in the sixth.
Justin Jimenez singled and doubled to lead an 8-hit attack for the Warriors and Ryan Magana was the winning pitcher as Westmont limited the Cardinals to just six hits over seven scoreless innings.
The Cards slipped to 0-5 in the division.
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