The Sunnyvale Sun

Sports

'Birds win events but lose meet to Wilcox

By Mike Barnhart

A lthough the Fremont girls swimming team won all but two events in its meet at Wilcox on March 28, it was the Chargers who left the pool with a team victory, 91-86.

Sophomore Claire Umeda paced the Firebirds, winning two events and swam legs on two winning relay teams. Umeda won the 200-yard individual medley in 2:31.09 and the 100 butterfly in 1:10.07. She also combined with junior Stephanie Wei, senior Ellen Umeda and junior Julia Chen to win the medley relay in 2:01.23, which beats the qualifying time for the Central Coast Section meet.

C. Umeda teamed with Wei, freshman Sara Tulane and senior Julia Sterling to win the 400 free relay.

E. Umeda raced to victory in a pair of freestyle contests, covering the 200 in 2:05.97 and the 50 in 26.42. Chen won the 100 free in 58.22 and junior Ariana Canalez won the 500 in 6:12. Two other Fremont juniors were winners, Gloria Yee (1:20.6) in the 100 breaststroke and Briana Huang (1:06.19) in the 100 backstroke.

Wilcox, which won only the 200 free relay and the diving event, tallied enough team points with eight second-place finishes and four thirds to earn its first Santa Clara Valley Athletic League El Camino Division win of the season. The difference may have been in the 200 free relay, where the Chargers' final swimmer touched just .43 of a second ahead of the Firebird.

Wilcox also won the boys portion of the meet, 89-78. Sophomore Brian Peters (diving), freshman Andrew Messner (200 free) and juniors Evan Kashi (100 fly) and Evan Mahoney (100 back) all claimed individual wins for Fremont. Messner, Kashi and Mahoney joined junior Nathan Raff for a win in the 200 free relay. The quartet clocked 1:37.97.

In the first event of the day, Wilcox scored a narrow win, 1:54.95 to the 1:55.08 registered by Firebirds Messner, Ryan Kashi, E. Kashi and Mahoney in the 200 medley relay.

Senior Bryan Dericco sparked Wilcox, taking the short sprints and helping two relay wins. His 22.89 in the 50 made the CCS cut.

Homestead beats LG

It was not easy, but the Homestead boys volleyball team remained unbeaten in league play with a five-game win against visiting Los Gatos on March 26.

The Mustangs lost two of the first three games before rallying to score a 20-25, 25-23, 18-25, 26-24, 15-10 triumph. Doug Rathbun had 14 kills for the Mustangs, who improved to 5-0 in SCVAL play and 8-2 overall, while Los Gatos slipped to 6-1 in league and 7-5 overall.

Wilcox (3-4) won two matches, including a four-game victory over Fremont (3-5).

Mats blank Fremont

Monta Vista's Kelley Martino and Fremont's Taylor DeSilva locked up in a real softball pitchers' duel on March 28, before the Matadors prevailed over the visiting Firebirds 1-0.

Ashley Vernazza tripled and scored the lone run on Yujia Ding's single in the bottom of the fifth.

Martino, meanwhile, allowed just four base runners. She tossed a 2-hitter and walked just one, while striking out 16 and helping her team improve to 5-0 in SCVAL De Anza Division play.

DeSilva scattered five hits and pitched well for Fremont (4-2), impressing Monta Vista coach Ray Teixeira.

"DeSilva has a nice change up and was very deceptive," Teixeira said. "Next to [Leigh's Carissa Theis], she's probably the best pitcher we've faced."

Fremont bounced back from the 1-0 loss to Monta Vista by blasting Carlmont 11-2 in the quarterfinals of the Charlie Miguel Tournament the next day at Twin Creeks in Sunnyvale. Celine Kealiinohomoku ripped a home run and had three runs-batted-in for the Firebirds. Candi Latini was the winning pitcher.

Kealiinohomoku walloped two more home runs in the semifinals, but the Firebirds lost 9-3 to Milpitas. Fremont's overall record dropped to 8-5-1.

Homestead did not play in the tournament, but improved to 4-1 in league and 8-4 overall with two wins last week. After a 12-1 whipping of Lynbrook, the Mustangs knocked off Milpitas 3-2 in eight innings.

Senior Becca Gularte, the winning pitcher in both decisions, was the offensive star against Lynbrook with two hits and three RBIs. Genevieve Fernandez rapped two hits, including a home run, against Milpitas (3-2).

Mustangs sweep

Homestead swept last week, taking care of Gunn in a pair of tight De Anza Division games.

Homestead needed to go an extra inning of work before topping Gunn 4-3 in eight innings. Senior pitching ace Evan Marshall went the distance on March 26, allowing seven hits and striking out 11.

Bryan Yang came through at the plate with two triples and a single. He also drove in the decisive run in the last of the eighth.

Two days later at Gunn, Homestead again won in the last inning. The Mustangs scored three times in the top of the seventh to overcome a 3-2 deficit and pull out a 5-3 victory. Sophomore John Batinich belted a home run and senior Evan Harris had three hits.

The wins improved Homestead's record to 5-1 in De Anza play and 14-3 overall.