Franchi threw her second perfect game of the season when she tossed the Saratoga girls softball team to a 2-0 win over Fremont last week in the El Camino Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League.

Not only was Franchi perfect on the day, but she also helped the Falcons hold their perfect record in the division. Saratoga improved to 10-0 in El Camino play with just two league games remaining. The Falcons were to host Santa Clara on Monday and will visit last-place Gunn on May 11, 4 p.m.

With a two-game lead over second-place Wilcox (8-2), the Falcons can do no worse than tie for the league championship and, since they defeated the Chargers in the regular season, they are certain to advance to the Central Coast Section playoffs as the El Camino representative.

Once at CCS, a team needs a strong pitcher to be competitive, and the Falcons have one of the best around in Franchi. She's whirled five no-hitters this spring--two of them perfect games.

The first perfecto came on the first trip through the league schedule when she blanked Wilcox 3-0. The second came last week against the Firebirds.

Franchi accounted for 17 of the 21 outs herself on strikeouts. Still, despite her pitching dominance, the game was still in question heading into the final inning.

Sure, Franchi was blanking the Chargers, but Wilcox hurler Clara Lopez had flipped six zeroes at the Falcons. Saratoga catcher Suzanne Lessack broke up the shutout, though, with a run-scoring triple in the top of the seventh to key a two-run rally.

The two runs were more than enough for Franchi the nail down the win. She also helped herself at the plate with a double and a single.

Franchi had opened the week with a no-hitter in a 6-0 win over Gunn. The hurler, who struck out 14 in this one, was breathing a little easier since her teammates staked her to a 2-0 lead in the first then broke things open with a four-run rally in the third.

Priseilla Chan led the offensive attack for the Falcons with a couple of hits.

Badminton

Don't try to tell the Saratoga badminton players that revenge isn't sweet--those Falcons know otherwise.

The Falcons had lost to Lynbrook early in the De Anza Division season--their only league loss in the last two years--and they needed to win against the Vikings in the second half of league play to create a tie for first place in the division.

That's just what they did.

Saratoga rolled to an impressive 34-11 win over Lynbrook to push the two teams into a virtual tie for first place in the division. Saratoga finished league play at 11-1 and Lynbrook is 10-1 with a match left to play.

It was the brother-sister combo of Kevin and Emily Hur that sparked the Falcons to the important victory. Kevin, a junior, rolled 15-0, 15-0 in the No. 1 boys singles match, and Emily, a freshman, almost matched that performance with a 15-0, 15-1 win over in the No. 1 girls singles slot.

Co-captains Sophia Law, Teresa Lin and Caroline Cherng are other key members of the Saratoga squad along with Vicki Liu.

Earlier in the week, the Falcons had nailed a lopsided 35-11 win over Wilcox.

The title tie gives Saratoga its third straight league championship. The Falcons won the division title last year with an 11-0-1 record.

Track

Alicia Follmar is wrapping up her track and field career at Saratoga the same way she started--by winning.

Follmar was a triple winner at the El Camino Division track and field finals held last week. Follmar raced to wins in the 1,600 meters in 4:59.18, the 3,200 in 11:25.97 and the 800 in 2:20.85.

The Saratoga girls 4x400 relay team also ran to a division win, stopping the watch at 4:10.41, as the Falcons finished fourth as a team in the meet.

In boys action, Saratoga finished seventh as a team, but Ken Douglas raced to an individual win in the 1,600 meters. Douglas clocked in at 4:29.60.

The top Falcons will now advance to the SCVAL qualifying meet set for May 14 at Los Gatos. The top finishers there advance to Central Coast Section competition.

Baseball

Back-to-back wins over Monta Vista and Gunn back in mid-April may turn out to be the highlight of the season for the Saratoga baseball team.

The Falcons are playing out the final days of the El Camino Division season, and it's been a long year for Saratoga baseball.

It got a bit longer last week when the Falcons suffered consecutive 5-3 losses to Lynbrook and Fremont. The loss to the Vikings was especially stinging considering that it marked Lynbrook's first league win over the year.

The last-place Vikings (1-13, 2-17) jumped on the Falcons for two runs each in the fourth and fifth innings to take a 4-0 lead. Saratoga chipped away with a run in the fifth and two in the sixth to cut it to 4-3, but the Vikings picked up an insurance run in the seventh and blanked the Falcons in the home half of the frame to claim the win.

Ben Coggins, Alex Herbach and Scott Darchuk each doubled to key a seven-hit effort for the Falcons.

Saratoga slipped to 6-10 in the division and to 7-13 for the year after the 5-3 loss to Fremont (8-8, 8-14).

It was Saratoga taking the early lead on a three-run double by Matt Wright in the second inning, but Fremont countered with a five-run rally in the third. That was all the scoring in the game.

Saratoga will try to close out the season on a winning note with two games this week. The Falcons were to host Homestead (9-6, 11-11) on Tuesday and will finish the season on the road at Monta Vista (8-8, 14-10). Game time is 3:30 p.m.