The Sunnyvale Sun

Sports

League titles on the line for local teams

By Mike Barnhart

As the spring sports season reaches a crescendo, a handful of local teams are on the verge of winning league championships and many individual athletes are poised for post-season success.

While swimmers, divers and track and field athletes from Fremont, Homestead and the other Santa Clara Valley Athletic League schools compete in division finals this week, Homestead's volleyball and baseball teams will clinch league titles with wins this week.

The softball teams at Fremont and The King's Academy entered the week sitting atop their respective leagues with unbeaten records. And the TKA baseball team, in second place with an 8-1 record, remained in the hunt for a league crown.

Volleyball

With 3-0 wins over Monta Vista and Santa Clara last week, Homestead headed into its May 1 match at Saratoga with a 14-0 record in SCVAL play and 32-3 overall. If the Mustangs were able to take care of business in that one, they clinched the league title. But, if Saratoga surprised the Mustangs, second-place Mountain View (13-2) can earn a co-championship by winning at Homestead on May 3.

Either way, Homestead likely will be one of the top seeds among a 16-team field in the upcoming CCS Boys Volleyball Championships, May 10-17.

Seniors Andrew Blazensky and Ryan Dedrick both buried six kills in Homestead's 25-7, 25-7, 25-12 win against visiting Santa Clara last Thursday. Dedrick also had six in a 25-16, 25-9, 25-19 triumph at Monta Vista on April 24.

Fremont lost its only match of the week, 25-11, 25-16, 25-20 to visiting Lynbrook. The Firebirds, who finished fourth in league play during the previous three seasons, fell to 3-11 in the SCVAL and 7-17 overall. Senior Dean Catungal paced Fremont's hitters with eight kills.

The King's Academy maintained its second-place spot in the Private Schools Athletic League with a win over Redwood Christian of Castro Valley. At 6-2, the Knights entered the final week trailing only Harker Academy (8-0) in the PSAL.

Baseball

Homestead, 11-0 in El Camino play after 4-3 and 9-2 wins over Fremont, entered this week's series with Saratoga four games shy of a perfect division season. However, coach Chuck Camuso's Mustangs would be happy to take a split against the Falcons this week.

Really, one win against the Falcons is all that is needed for Homestead (18-5 overall) to earn the division's automatic bid in the CCS playoffs that begin May 16. The Mustangs enter the Tuesday-Thursday series three games ahead of Saratoga (8-3) and four in front of Santa Clara (7-4).

Homestead won the first meeting with Saratoga back in March, so one victory this week will give the Mustangs the season series and a tiebreaker advantage over the Falcons, if for some reason they falter twice in the home-and-home with Santa Clara, May 8 and 10. If Saratoga beats Homestead twice this week, then the Mustangs would need two wins against Santa Clara to secure the title.

Santa Clara, which beat winless Lynbrook (0-11) twice last week, can only finish first if Homestead loses all four of its games and Saratoga sweeps the Mustangs and then loses its final pair to Fremont.

Fremont nearly knocked Homestead off of its unbeaten perch on April 24. After scoring twice in the top of the sixth, the Firebirds took a 3-1 lead into the bottom of the seventh. But, the Mustangs rallied for three runs to stay unbeaten. Senior Alex Jones provided the game-winning hit. Erik Taubman (2-1) picked up the pitching decision over Rob Ramer. Jones and Fremont's Tom Lopez both had two hits in the game.

Two days later at Fremont, the Mustangs broke up a 2-2 game by scoring seven times over the last three innings and won 9-2. Catcher Rex Blodgett's three hits paced a 12-hit attack, as Homestead improved its overall record to 18-5. Kevin Labadie (4-1) was the winning pitcher and junior Brett Hardy earned a save.

Ramer, who collected three of Fremont's seven hits against Homestead, sparkled on the mound and at the plate last Saturday in the third-place game of the North Monterey County Spring Classic.

In a game that had been postponed because of rain on April 14, Ramer's efforts helped the Firebirds beat the host Condors 6-1 and improve their overall record to 10-14. In hurling a complete game, Ramer scattered just five hits and did not walk a batter. On offense, Ramer rapped two double and a single and drove in a pair of runs.

Fine pitching performances by junior Joe Biagini and senior Corbett Clarke carried The King's Academy to a pair of PSAL wins. Biagini pitched shut out Valley Christian of Dublin 7-0 with a 5-hitter, and Clarke's 4-hitter beat Harker 5-3 three days later.

Evan Chaney had three hits in the win against VC-Dublin. Thadd Winton walloped two triples, chasing home two runs, against Harker. With the win, Clarke improved his mound record to 7-1.

TKA has five league games in the final two weeks of its league schedule, none bigger than a home game against league leader Sacred Heart Prep on May 4. The Gators (10-0) blanked the Knights 8-0 in an earlier meeting.

Swimming

Homestead's girls team, unbeaten in six dual meets, hopes to continue its superiority and capture a division championship at the El Camino finals this week in the Mustangs' pool.

Fremont, Cupertino, Milpitas, Wilcox, Santa Clara and Los Gatos will join Homestead for the three-day event. Girls trials are set for Wednesday, boys trials on Thursday, and a combined finals on May 4. All sessions are set for 2:30 p.m.

Swimmers will be looking to improve their times, as the division meet is the final opportunity to qualify for the CCS Championship Meet, May 18-19 at Stanford Aquatics Center.

The Homestead girls closed out their dual meet schedule with a 131-29 triumph over Santa Clara. The Mustangs placed first in every event. Freshman Jesse Bergman won the 50-yard freestyle and 100 butterfly, and she combined with freshman Sage Wikman and juniors Jenny Coryell and Kristy Peanasky to win the 200 medley relay.

Peanasky later won the 200 free and teamed with junior Stephanie Kung, freshman Anne Peanasky and senior Michelle Camburn to take the 200 free relay. A. Peanasky (200 individual medley), Camburn (500 free) and juniors Jessica Lawrence (100 free), Alysha Ungson (100 backstroke) and Audrey Chu (100 breaststroke) also won individual events. Wikman and Chu teamed with freshman Janet Mok and senior Emily Pool to win the 400 relay.

Fremont's girls also claimed every event in their final dual of the year, 128-41 over Milpitas. Meanwhile, the Firebirds lost a tight boys contest, 83-78.

Julia Chen won the 100 breast and the 100 free, as well as helping out on a pair of relays. Ellen Umeda (200 free), Claire Umeda (IM), Stephaine Wei (50 free), Briana Huang (100 fly), Ariana Canalez (500 free) and Chelsea Lofland (100 back) also were winners.

Lofland, Chen and the Umeda sisters won the medley relay. Aimee Lindsey, Chen, E. Umeda and Lofland combined to win the 200 relay. Lindsey joined Karen Huang, B. Huang and Wei in the 400 relay.

The 200 free relay proved to be the difference in the boys' portion of the meet. Fremont's team of Matthew Amm, Evan Mahoney, Vlad Kozyrev and Evan Kashi was barely beaten at the touch by the Milpitas unit.

The same Fremont foursome bounced back to win the 400 relay. Kashi also won the breaststroke and butterfly for the Firebirds. Chris Corley won the 200 free and Kozyrev took the 500 for Fremont.

Track and field

Homestead and Fremont will compete at the El Camino track and field finals, set for Saratoga High School on May 2. 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.