The Willow Glen senior started the final week of his high school career by tossing a 1-hitter in a 5-1 win over Santa Teresa. And he capped the week by crushing a three-run homer with two outs in the bottom of the ninth to lift the Rams to a 9-8 extra-inning win over Mt. Pleasant.

It's a week Garcia will certainly never forgot, and the two victories he spearheaded helped the Rams finish out of the cellar in the Mt. Hamilton Division of the Blossom Valley Athletic League in a fifth-place tie with Prospect.

The Rams lost a 3-2 heartbreaker in eight innings to Prospect last week, and went into Friday's game against the Cardinals needing a win to finish ahead of Mt. Pleasant in the final standings.

A win, though, didn't look promising for the Rams when the Cards rallied for three runs in the top of the ninth. Willow Glen needed four in the bottom of the ninth to win it, and the Rams came through, thanks largely to Garcia's three-run blast. Garcia, who added a single in the game, was also the winning pitcher.

Chris Hobbs singled and doubled to drive in two runs in the Willow Glen win. Doug Dionne and Tista Perri each singled and doubled for the Rams and John Gibilisco and Keith Doleshel added two hits apiece. Justin Jeffrey also doubled.

The Cards rallied for four runs in the second to take the early lead, but the Rams got two back in the third. The clubs traded runs in the sixth, but Willow Glen entered the seventh down by a pair at 5-3. The Rams rallied for the two, though, to tie it and send it into extra innings. That set the stage for the high-scoring ninth.

The win left the Rams 6-12 in the division, sharing fifth with Prospect. Mt. Pleasant slipped to 5-13 to finish in last place.

Willow Glen, 8-20 for the year, had opened the week with a 5-1 win over Santa Teresa. Garcia allowed just an isolated single and gave up a single run in the first inning.

The Rams tied it with a run in the fourth, then won it with three in the sixth. Then added an insurance run in the seventh.

Justin Johnson and Hobbs had two hits apiece for the Rams and Jeffrey doubled.

Jeffrey ripped a solo homer and Carlos Torres doubled home a run, but the Rams lost a tough 3-2 nod to Prospect.

Garcia singled and scored on a double by Torres to give the Rams a run in the first, but Prospect tied it in the bottom of inning and scored again in the fourth to lead 2-1.

Jeffrey evened things up with a solo homer in the sixth and that's how it remained as the clubs headed into extra innings. But a double, a balk, an intentional walk and an infield hit pushed a Prospect run across in the eighth, giving the Panthers the win. Prospect then beat Leigh 7-5 on Friday to finish in the tie for fifth with the Rams.

Willow Glen had just five hits in the loss. In addition to the homer by Jeffrey, the double by Torres and the single by Garcia, the Rams had singles by Dionne and Steve Rebagliatti.


Volleyball team falls

The Willow Glen boys volleyball team lost in the first round of the Central Coast Section playoffs last week, falling 15-9, 15-10, 15-1 to powerhouse Los Gatos. Frank Sarinana had nine kills in the match for the Rams.


Softball split

The Willow Glen girls softball team split a couple of decisions last week as the Rams completed the Santa Teresa Division season. Willow Glen topped Independence 7-4, but lost a 1-0 heartbreaker to Piedmont Hills to finish the league season. They were 16-9 overall.

Sophomore Lindsay Beebe evened her mound record at 3-3 and pushed her league mark to 2-1 by tossing the Rams to the win over the 76ers.

Janelle Calderon, Angie Keeth and Marina Mendez slapped two hits apiece for the winners and Nikki De La Rocha doubled.

The Rams trailed 1-0 after an inning but tied it with a run in the fourth. The Sixers came back with three in the bottom of the fourth to lead 4-1, but Willow Glen unloaded for five runs in the fifth to take command of the game.

The Rams could manage just a pair of singles in the 1-0 loss to Piedmont Hills later in the week. Freshman hurler Michele McCollum tossed a 7-hitter and gave up just a single run in the fifth, but Willow Glen couldn't get it back.


Panthers in playoffs

The Presentation girls softball team advance to the CCS Division II playoffs this week after posting an 18-8-1 record in the 2003 regular season.

The Panthers will open the playoffs on May 22, 7 p.m., against Los Gatos (16-11) at PAL Stadium. The winner will face Pioneer (20-6) on May 24, 11 a.m., at the Salinas Sports Complex. The CCS Division II semifinals are May 27, 4:30 and 7 p.m., at PAL with the championship game on May 31 at PAL.

The Panthers split a pair of decisions last week, beating Valley Christian 1-0 before losing 2-0 on a Notre Dame-Belmont perfect game.

Genny Munoz singled and doubled to lead a five-hit attack for Presentation in the win over the Warriors.