Saratoga News
Sports
Azzi, Paolini leads Falcons to win over Cats
By Dick Sparrer
It may be too soon to be calling it a "streak," but the Saratoga girls softball team has put a couple of wins together, and the Falcons are hoping to continue their winning ways when they continue play in the El Camino Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League this week.
The Falcons had edged Los Altos 6-5 back before spring break to snap a two-game losing skid, then rallied last week for a tight 5-3 league win over rival Los Gatos.
The two wins helped Saratoga even its league record at 3-3 and push its season mark to 5-4. The Falcons were to visit Fremont on April 23, and will be home to play host to Palo Alto on April 25 and Fremont on April 30 in a pair of 4 p.m. games.
For Saratoga to beat Los Gatos in any sport is a sweet win, and the Falcons came through with that sweet taste of victory last Thursday on the Gatos diamond.
Junior Victoria Azzi and freshman Cathryn Paolini were Saratoga offensive leaders and senior Lisa Brenner flipped a 4-hitter to lead the Falcons to the 5-3 victory.
Azzi and Paolini each doubled and singled twice to spark an 11-hit attack for Saratoga. Azzi scored two runs in the win.
Junior Jacqueline Gragnola tripled and scored a run for the Falcons and sophomore Laura Ruddy blasted a triple. Brenner and junior Adriana Pak each singled and scored runs, freshman Nicole Gragnola singled and soph Satomi Ishikawa drove in a run. Pak also had a stolen base.
The Cats took an early lead with a run in the second, but the Falcons scored two in the fourth and two more in the fifth to go up 4-1. Gatos got two back in the home half of the fifth to make it close at 4-3, but the Falcons scored an insurance run in the seventh.
That's all Brenner needed. She scattered four hits and struck out two on her way to posting her fifth pitching win of the season. She's now 5-3.
Netters are 11-0
The Saratoga boys tennis team is rolling through the De Anza Division this spring, and the Falcons kept the pressure on the rest of the pack with a 6-1 victory over Mountain View last week.
Abhinov Dev and Rohit D'Costa teamed for another win at No. 1 doubles, cruising 6-2, 6-3, to help the Falcons improve to 11-0 in the division and to 16-2 for the year.
Saratoga will close out the league's regular season at home against Homestead on April 24 before beginning play in the SCVAL tournament set for April 25-26.
