Saratoga News
Sports
Ruddy, Brenner lead Saratoga to 8-inning win over Palo Alto
By Dick Sparrer
Laura Ruddy provided the power and Lisa Brenner provided the pitching to help the Saratoga girls softball team pull out a 7-6 win in eight innings against Palo Alto last week.
Ruddy belted a home run and drove in two runs, and Brenner tossed an 8-hitter, striking out nine along the way, to pace the Falcons to the thrilling win.
Jacqueline Gragnola was swinging a big bat for the Falcons in the game, ripping two singles and two doubles to drive in four runs. She also scored a couple of runs and stole a base.
Lisa Ruddy singled and doubled, scored one run and drove in another and had a steal and Brenner tripled, drove in a run, scored once and stole a couple of bags.
Cathryn Paolini had a single and a walk, Victoria Azzi walked and stole a pair of bases and Nicole Gragnola scored twice. Laura Ruddy also had a steal.
Paly scored first in the game with a run in the top of the first, but the Falcons answered with two in the home half of the frame. The Vikings tied it 2-2 with one more in the fourth, but once again Saratoga responded by scoring three times in the bottom of the inning.
Palo Alto picked up a run in the sixth to cut Saratoga's margin to 5-3, then rallied for three in the top of the seventh to grab a 6-5 lead. But the Falcons tied with a run in the bottom of the inning to send the game into extra innings, then won it in the eighth.
Brenner ran her season pitching record to 6-4 with the win with the Falcons improving to 3-4 in the El Camino Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League and to 6-5 overall for the year.
Earlier in the week, the Falcons had lost a 10-0 nod to division leader Fremont. The Lady Birds improved to 7-0 in the division and to 14-4-1 for the year with the win.
Laura Ruddy had two hits to lead an 8-hit attack for the Falcons and J. Gragnola doubled, walked and was hit by a pitch. Brenner, N. Gragnola, Paolini Satomi Ishikawa and Adriana Pak also singled in the game and Brenner, N. Gragnola and Ishikawa each had stolen bases.
Saratoga will visit Wilcox on May 2 before playing host to Santa Clara on May 4. The Falcons head to Los Altos on May 7 and close out the regular season at home on May 9 against Gunn. All games begin at 4 p.m.
Tennis champions
Jeff Gast nailed a tight 7-6 (7-5), 7-5 win at No. 1 singles to lead the Saratoga tennis team to a 5-2 win over Homestead last week. With the win, the Falcons wrapped up a 12-0 record and the championship in the De Anza Division.
Saratoga, 17-2 for the year, will now advance to the Central Coast Section team tournament.
Falcons 2nd in tourney
The view from the top of Mt. Madonna was nothing short of spectacular last weekend, and the view wasn't too bad for the Saratoga boys volleyball team from inside the Mt. Madonna High School gym.
The Falcons won three matches before losing a tough decision to host Mt. Madonna to finish second in the King of the Mountain Tournament.
Saratoga whipped Scotts Valley 25-17, 25-10, pulled out a tight win over Aptos 25-22, 23-25, 15-11 and beat San Benito 25-18, 25-16 to move into the tourney finals.
The Falcons squared off with Mt. Madonna in the title match, but lost a tough 29-27, 22-25, 15-10 decision.
Junior Mike Vetrone, Kent Johnson and Doug Sabella led the Saratoga show. Vetrone was tops with 41 kills, nine service aces and 47 assists in the four weekend matches. Johnson was the team leader with 60 assists and he had 10 blocks, 19 kills and four aces, and Sabella finished with 31 kills and six aces.
The Falcons split in league play last week, beating Santa Clara 25-14, 25-16, 25-21 after losing to an improved Monta Vista team 18-25, 25-19, 22-25, 25-21, 15-11.
Sabella and senior Ammar Kothari shared team-high kill honors with eight apiece in the win over the Bruins.
The split left Saratoga with an 8-5 record in the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League. The Falcons, now 14-14 for the year, will close out the league season this week when they host unbeaten Homestead (13-0 in league, 32-3 overall) on May 1, 6:45 p.m., and visit Wilcox on May 3 in a pair of 6:45 p.m. matches.
Kothari will be the featured player in the Tuesday match against Homestead. It will be Senior Night for the Falcons, and Kothari is the only senior on coach Brad Frederickson's nine-player roster.
Underclassmen dominate the squad with juniors Vetrone, Sabella, Johnson, Jason Chun, Andy Coles and Andy Capek and sophomores Kevin Fongson and Shawyon Malek rounding out the team.
Swim, track finals
Santa Clara Valley Athletic League division championships will be settled on the track and in the pool this week.
Saratoga will compete at the El Camino track and field finals, set for Saratoga on May 2. A day later, Lynbrook will compete in the De Anza finals at Los Gatos. The best 16 boys and girls in each event, based on the merged marks from the division finals, will advance to the SCVAL Qualifier meet May 11 at Los Gatos.
From there, the top five boys and girls in each event will advance to the Central Coast Section semifinals May 19 at San Jose City College.
In swimming, Monta Vista and Homestead will be the host sites for trials and finals. Saratoga and Lynbrook will be among the De Anza Division contenders.
For both divisions, girls trials are set for May 2, boys trials on May 3 and a combined finals on May 4 at 2 p.m.
Swimmers will be looking to improve their marks, as the division meets are the last ones prior to the CCS Championship Meet, May 18-19 at Stanford Aquatics Center.
