The Willow Glen Resident

Rams, Mustangs collide in key game

By Dick Sparrer

There were 24 teams in the field when the 14th annual Charlie Miguel Invitational Softball Tournament began last weekend.

And all 24 had hopes of playing for the championship when the tourney crown would be decided on March 28.

But that dream remains alive for just over half of the teams in the rugged field. Because only 13 clubs return to the four-field softball complex at Mission College in Santa Clara with a chance of winning the Miguel crown.

Fremont, Wilcox, Santa Teresa and Piedmont Hills would appear to have the best shot of getting into the March 28 championship game. The four clubs are each unbeaten after the first weekend of tourney play.

But co-host Pioneer tops a list of nine teams still alive in the losers' bracket as the tourney enters its second weekend of play on March 27.

A full slate of games is on tap for Friday. The featured contests will match Wilcox against Fremont and Santa Teresa against Piedmont Hills in a pair of 6:45 p.m. winners' bracket games.

Fremont put together wins over Westmont (3-2), Cupertino (2-0) and Del Mar (3-1), while Wilcox beat Notre Dame-Belmont (3-1) and Pioneer (3-1). Santa Teresa opened with wins over Gunderson (12-1), co-host Santa Clara (5-4) and Mountain View (2-1), and Piedmont blanked Los Altos (6-0), Mt. Pleasant (5-0) and Valley Christian (1-0).

In a losers' bracket game on Friday, Lynbrook and Los Altos will square off at 5 p.m., with the winner to face Mountain View at 6:45 p.m. In other 5 p.m. losers' bracket games, Los Gatos battles Valley Christian and Del Mar faces Soquel. Pioneer takes on Westmont at 6:45 p.m.

The Mustangs opened the Miguel Tourney with a lopsided 15-0 win over Lincoln. Pioneer's ace, Maria Sedillo-Glatt, tossed a pair of scorless innings in the win.

But Pioneer dropped a tough 3-1 nod to Wilcox a game later to slip into the losers' bracket of the tournament is co-hosts with Santa Clara.

Willow Glen, meanwhile, lost two straight to open Miguel play. The Rams lost 4-1 to Notre Dame-Belmont, despite a solid performance by Nikki Garcia.

Garcia tossed a seven-hitter and helped her cause at the plate with a triple and two singles. But the Rams could manage just four hits in the loss to Belmont.

Willow Glen lost 3-2 to Soquel a game later. The Knights broke a 1-1 tie with a run in the bottom of the seventh.

Willow Glen had opened play last week with a lopsided 11-4 win over Prospect in nonleague action. Garcia led the Rams to the win with a home run, a double and two singles to drive in three runs.

The Rams hosted Pioneer in a key league game on March 24, 3:30 p.m., when Garcia and Glatt will likely go head-to-head in a key pitching match-up.

The Mustangs took a 4-4 record into the game. Pioneer edged Lynbrook 3-2 last week in nonleague play. Anastasia Beavers and Lisa Fanelli ripped two hits apiece in the win, and Glatt tossed a seven-hitter.

[ Back to Contents Page | Willow Glen Resident Home Page | Archives ]