The Willow Glen Resident

Photograph by George Sakkestad

Airborne: Pioneer's Mike Ereno, flying high in an effort to turn two in a nonleague win over Los Gatos, was a top hitter for the Mustangs in the Pioneer Classic last week. Ereno was injured in Pioneer's third game, though, and the Mustangs ended up eighth in their own tourney.

Valley tough in tough tourney

Bells nail third in Pioneer Classic

By Dick Sparrer

It was the week of spring break.

But there was certainly no vacation for the high school baseball teams involved in the rugged Pioneer Classic baseball tournament.

Rugged? You bet! The tournament featured nine teams, and of the nine, four were ranked among the top 10 in the Central Coast Section entering the week of play, and four were leading their divisions.

Valley Christian, still unbeaten this season at 19-0-1, entered the tourney as the top-ranked team in CCS. The Warriors were also leading the pack in the tough Mt. Hamilton Division of the Blossom Valley Athletic League. Host Pioneer also plays in the BVAL's top division.

Bellarmine, a perennial area power under the leadership of veteran coach Gary Cunningham, was ranked No. 4 in CCS going into the week. The Bells, now 15-6 for the year, are in first place in the West Catholic Athletic League.

Two clubs from the powerful De Anza Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League--division-leading Wilcox and third-place Cupertino--were also in the tourney field. The Chargers, 15-3-1, were ranked No. 5 in CCS heading into the tournament, and Cupertino, now 12-9, was ranked No. 9 in the section.

Leigh, the leader in the Santa Teresa Division of the BVAL, joined with Gilroy, Lincoln and Pacific Grove to round out the Pioneer field. All teams except the host Mustangs entered the tournament with winning season records.

"We knew going in that it was going to be a good tournament," said Cunningham, a Willow Glen resident. "There were some good teams in it. It was a good test for us."

Valley Christian rolled to five straight wins on the way to the tourney title. The Warriors beat Cupertino 9-0 and Pacific Grove 8-2 in the first round, then beat Gilroy 9-4 and Bellarmine in a 1-0 to gain a spot in the finals. Valley whipped 'Tino 18-4 in the title game.

"Valley Christian is for real," admitted Cunningham. "They're very talented and very well coached."

The Warriors edged the Bells in the 1-0 thriller to move into the title game. Richie Navarro tossed a two-hit shutout for the win, and Marty Shull was tagged with the loss despite allowing no earned runs.

Navarro, Mike Rouse, Dave Tonini and Matt Cocking led the Warriors to the championship, and all earned all-tournament team honors for their efforts.

Chris McManus and Brian Filizetti of Cupertino; Shull, Jack Headley and Dan Rice of Bellarmine; Billy Himan of Wilcox; freshman Jeremy Roulin of Leigh; and Shawn Scott of Pacific Grove were others named to the all-tourney list.

Bellarmine clinched third place in the tourney with an exciting 5-1 win over Leigh on Saturday.

Justin Abreu and Mike Dorsa, a pair of Willow Glen residents who each played locally in the Lincoln Glen Little League, led the Bells to the victory.

Abreu, the winning pitcher in game one of the tourney, came on in relief in the second and tossed four strong innings to get the mound win. Freshman Chris Russo flipped the final two frames to get the save.

It was Dorsa's two-run double in the sixth inning that broke a 1-1 tie and gave the Bells their margin of victory. Dorsa had homered and doubled in a 7-3 win over Gilroy earlier in the week. Headley and Jordan Sims also homered for the Bells.

Bellarmine had taken the early lead against Leigh on Nate Sutton's run-scoring triple in the third. Sutton, a sophomore, also singled in the win.

The Bells had opened the tourney with a thrilling 3-2 win over Wilcox in 12 innings. Rice was outstanding on the hill for Bellarmine and Shull came a "great catch," according to Cunningham.

After beating Gilroy a game later, Bellarmine came back to crush Pacific Grove 15-3 before losing to Valley Christian.

Headley, whose run-scoring single in the 12th clinched Bellarmine's 3-2 win over Wilcox in the opener, earned a place on the all-tourney team after ripping seven hits in the four games he played for the Bells.

J.D. Cockroft and Joe Bennett were other key players for the Bells in the clutch 3-2 win over Wilcox to open the tourney. Cockroft doubled and singled twice in the win for the Bells, and Bennett had two hits.

Gary Anderson came through with a couple of hits against Gilroy, then homered in Bellarmine's win over Pacific Grove. Freshman Chris Russo picked up the mound win.

"It was a well-run tournament, and it was a fun atmosphere," said Cunningham of the tourney, giving credit to Pioneer coach John Schilling and tourney director Bob Scudder.

Host Pioneer opened the tourney with back-to-back wins over Leigh and Lincoln, but the Mustangs lost three straight to end up eighth overall.

The Mustangs opened the tourney on a rainy Monday and trailed Leigh 2-0 heading into the bottom of the fifth.

Kevin Gray beat out an infield single, and Ben Sabin walked with two outs. Danny Haakma came through with a clutch double to drive in two runs, and Jamel Choudry followed with a run-scoring single. The umpires called the game at that point, and Pioneer had a rain-shortened 3-2 win.

Sophomore Sean Farrell tossed a four-hitter to get the win for the Mustangs, pushing his record to 2-1.

Kevin Mack, another sophomore hurler, nailed the mound win in Pioneer's 8-2 win over Lincoln. The southpaw upped his season mark to 3-0 with the win.

Choudry homered and drove in two runs in the win, and Sabin knocked in a pair. Mike Ereno ripped a triple.

But Pioneer lost 7-6 to Cupertino and 10-6 to Wilcox later in the week to fall into the seventh-place game.

Todd Scudder blasted a run-scoring double, and Jason Murdock and Sean Hallihan slapped two hits apiece, but the Mustangs lost 6-2 to Pacific Grove to wind up eighth in the tourney.

Murdock had homered and doubled, and Bryce Hall and Haakma each singled and doubled in the loss to Wilcox. Grant Murdock and Greg Haskell added two hits apiece.

Gray and Haakma had each doubled in the loss to Cupertino a day earlier.

Rams lose two

In regular season action a week earlier, the Willow Glen baseball team lost twice, falling 12-11 to Oak Grove and 4-2 to Gunderson. The Rams are now 3-7 in the Mt. Hamilton Division of the BVAL and 5-9 for the year.

Eric Brugioni crushed two home runs and David Dudley blasted one, but the Rams lost 12-11 to the Eagles. Brugioni finished the day with three hits to drive in three runs, and Dudley had two hits.

Mark Arreola and Brett Magnani had two hits apiece in the loss for Willow Glen.

Ricky Jackman singled and doubled and Brad White doubled, but Willow Glen dropped a 4-2 nod to Gunderson.

The Grizzlies scored two runs in the first to take an early lead, but the Rams tied it with two in the fourth. Gunderson broke the tie with two in the fifth, though, and that provided their margin of victory.

Willow Glen returns to league play this week following spring break. The Rams will visit Pioneer on April 22, 3:30 p.m., before heading to Gunderson on Friday.

Panthers win

The Presentation girls' softball team, meanwhile, opened the Bank of the West tournament in Santa Maria with a tight 1-0 win over St. Joseph's.

Alyssa Messier tossed a four-hit shutout to lead the Panthers to the thrilling victory. Jessica Maynes led a four-hit Presentation attack with a double.

The Panthers broke up a scoreless battle with a run in the top of the sixth. Messier then blanked St. Joe's over the final two frames to clinch the victory.

Presentation is now 4-9 for the year.

WG netters fall

Willow Glen won twice in doubles play, but the Rams could win just one of five singles matches in a tough 4-3 loss to Del Mar last week in the Santa Teresa Division of the Blossom Valley Athletic League.

Vince Butera and Anthony Dean teamed for a 6-2, 6-4 win at No. 1 doubles and Will Burns and Nick Perez joined forces for a 3-6, 6-0, 6-3 win at No. 2 doubles. Junior Jon Hunter pulled out a 6-4, 7-6 victory at No. 3 singles, but the Rams lost in the other four singles bouts to fall to the Cardinals.

Willow Glen is now 5-3 in division play.

Rams spike win

Willow Glen evened its record at 4-4 in the Santa Teresa Division of the BVAL with a 15-12, 15-7, 15-5 win over Prospect.

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