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Put Her There: Presentation's Helen Gaoteote finished fifth in the shot put at the CCS finals.
Photograph by Kathy De La Torre
Panthers fall in softball finals
Presentation's Voight and Taheri star at the Central Coast Section swim finals
By Dick Sparrer
No one really expected to find Presentation playing for the Central Coast Section Division II championship this spring.
After all, the Panthers finished down in fourth place in the Mt. Hamilton Division of the Blossom Valley Athletic League, and they were seeded No. 6 heading into the postseason tournament.
So a berth in the CCS championship game? Well, that seemed like a bit of a stretch ... to everyone but senior hurler Sarah Wiedlin and her Presentation teammates, that is.
And all Wiedlin did to get the Panthers there was whirl 27 consecutive scoreless innings in the first three games of the tournament.
Wiedlin blanked Notre Dame-Belmont 1-0 in the the CCS opener, and whitewashed Soquel 4-0 in the second round. Then she tossed all 13 innings in a 1-0 win over St. Francis in the semifinals.
Her near flawless pitching performances sent the Panthers into the up against Mitty... and they were playing for the CCS Division II championship.
The title wasn't to be. The Panthers dropped a 4-3 heartbreaker to the Mon-archs to settle for second in CCS.
But "settling" for second was still quite an accomplishment for the girls from Willow Glen.
It was Presentation's first trip back to the section title game since the Panthers lost a 2-1 decision to Los Altos in 1995. And just as they did in that '95 game, the Panthers found themselves in a tight game.
Mitty touched Wiedlin for a run in the first, but Presentation answered back quickly in the top of the second. Hard-hitting catcher Kari Burke ripped a double and later scored on an error to tie the game 1-1. Burke had two doubles in the game for the Panthers.
Mitty came back with a run in the bottom of the second, though, and added two more in the third to take a 4-1 lead.
The Panthers managed to pick up a couple of unearned runs in the fifth to make it close, but that was as close as they would get to the Monarchs, who won their fourth CCS title and their second in three years.
Wiedlin was roughed up for four runs on nine hits by the solid Mitty squad. Quite an outburst, considering that the Presentation hurler had tossed 27 straight scoreless innings heading into the game. Almost half of that came in a 1-0, 13-inning win over St. Francis in the CCS semifinals.
Wiedlin tossed 13 zeroes at the Lancers, allowing just four hits and striking out 16 in the extra-inning game. The win raised her season pitching record to 13-3, though she would slip to a final mark of 13-4 after the loss to Mitty. The Pres ace struck out 42 in the three games leading up to the finals.
While the Lancers couldn't manage a run against Wiedlin, the Panthers were having trouble scoring, too, until Jana Arde broke things up in the 13th. Arde singled and eventually scored on an error to break up the scoreless tie.
Andrea Gremer ripped two hits in the game for the Panthers, who had just five singles against St. Francis.
Presentation finished the year with a solid 25-13 record that included a 7-7 finish in the rugged Mt. Hamilton Division of the BVAL.
Arde and Wiedlin were top hurlers all season for the Panthers, and Burke, Arde, Gremer, Adriana St. Cin and Shannon Linerud led the offensive attack for Presentation.
Panthers fourth
Jenny Voight and Kiana Taheri finished in the top three in two events to lead the Presentation swimming team to a fourth-place finish at the CCS finals back on May 20 at the Santa Clara International Swim Center.
Presentation ran up 177 1/2 points to finish a solid fourth behind Homestead (234), Palo Alto 227 1/2) and Mitty (187). Menlo was a distant fifth at 141.
Voight led the Presentation effort by finishing second in the 100-yard butterfly in 57.56 and adding a third in the 200 individual medley in 2:06.84.
K. Taheri was right behind Voight in the 100 fly, finishing third in 57.59. She was also third in the 200 freestyle in 1:52.45.
Melissa Miller placed in two individual events for the Panthers, nailing a fifth in the 100 free in 53.31 and a sixth in the 50 free in 24.80.
Nicole Taheri added a sixth in the 500 free in 5:04.38 to round out the list of individual placers for the Panthers.
Presentation also ran up team points by placing second in the 200 free relay in 1:39.66 and third in the 400 free relay in 3:34.69.
Gaoteote 5th at CCS
Helen Gaoteote of Presentation heaved the shot put 35-6 3/4 for a fifth-place finish at the CCS track and field championships held last Friday night San Jose City College. Her toss was just a half inch ahead of the 35-6 1/4 effort by sixth-place finisher Danielle Endaya of St. Francis.
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Willow Glen, California Since 1992
