Panthers, Warriors fall in playoffs

La brothers dominate 800 at track trials

By Dick Sparrer

The Prospect baseball team and Westmont softball team each entered the Central Coast Section Division II playoffs with big hopes and dreams last week.

But those hopes were dashed and dreams shattered in the opening round of tourney play for each club.

Prospect lost 6-0 to Burlingame to face a quick exit from the CCS tourney. Burlingame lost 4-0 to Santa Cruz a game later to fall out of the playoffs.

The loss ended a brilliant season for the Panthers, who finished the year with a 19-7 record overall after winning the championship in the Santa Teresa Division of the Blossom Valley Athletic League (BVAL) with a 16-2 record.

Members of the championship Prospect club included J.D. Mazzuca, Kevin McPeck, Kyle Bonvechio, Ted Piggins, Aaron Jacks, Nick Graydon, Brent Maselli, Andrew Meade, Steve Kinney, Steve Kong, Dustin Hanson, Steve Vidal, David Lenske, Myke Gordon, Tony Puccinelli and Vince Arevalo.

The Westmont girls, meanwhile, drew a first-round bye in the softball playoffs, but they lost 4-2 to Monterey in their opener. Monterey, a 10-0 winner over Sequoia in the first round, will face Carlmont in the CCS semifinals this week.

The loss left Westmont 20-10 for the year. The talented Warriors had finished second in the Mt. Hamilton Division of the BVAL with a solid 11-3 record, thanks to the pitching efforts of freshman hurlers Allyson Carrothers and Breanna Kuhny.

In fact, Westmont featured a solid corps of youngsters on this strong squad, so the future looks bright for head coach Jon Hennig and his Warriors.

Carrothers and Kuhny were joined by infielder Lisa Parola as freshmen on the varsity, and sophomores Danielle Chapman and Michele Desmet were also on the squad.

Jennifer Brown, Bonnie Huggett and Jessica Parola all played key roles as Westmont's only seniors. Slugger Katherine Bamford is joined by Victoria Alexander, Shelby Chapman, Jennifer Quinn, Michelle Salmiery and Kyle Soden as juniors on the squad.

The Lynbrook girls softball team opened the CCS Division I playoffs with a 6-0 win over Silver Creek, but the Vikings were eliminated a game later after a tough 2-1 loss to Santa Teresa.

Junior pitcher Tracy Motzny helped the Vikings get off to the good start in the playoffs by tossing a no-hitter in the 2-0 win over Silver Creek.

Angie Lin ripped three hits for the Vikes in the win.

The season ended for Lynbrook a game later against Santa Teresa, though, when the Saints scored two runs in the bottom of the seventh to pull out a 2-1 win.

Motzny tossed a seven-hitter but was tagged with the tough loss. She finished with an 18-11 pitching record, her mark mirroring that of the Vikings. Motzny also doubled in the game for Lynbrook.

Stacy Bolt and Teresa Baldwin had two hits apiece for the Vikings.

Photograph by George Sakkestad

Middle infielder Steven Kong attempts a play at second during Prospect's CCS playoff game against Burlingame. The Panthers ended up losing a 6-0 decision.

La brothers 2-3

Richard and David La have dominated the 800-meter run at all levels this season. And it was no different last Saturday for the brothers from Saratoga.

Richard La finished second in the 800 , David third at the CCS trials held at San José City College.

The two will head up a contingent of four Falcons who will make a return visit to the oval on May 24, 6 p.m., for the CCS finals.

The La brothers will be joined by Will Kraemer and Alicia Follmar at the CCS championship meet this week.

Richard La finished second in 1:58.08 and David La was third in 1:58.60 in the 800 at the trials.

Kraemer, like the La boys a senior, finished sixth in the 1,600 meters in 4:27.85 to clinch a spot in finals.

Follmar, just a freshman, earned a CCS finals berth by running sixth in the 3,200 meters in 11:07.79.

The Falcons will also be represented by two relay teams. Saratoga was seventh in the girls 4x100 relay in 50.56, and the Falcons were eighth in the boys 4x400 relay in 4:08.14.

In other local action, Kim Gleeson was a double winner in the weights for Lynbrook at the trials. Gleeson took the shot put with a heave of 41-10 and she was tops in the discus with a 146-9 effort. Her closest rival in the discus threw 127-1.

Sheridon McPherson supported Gleeson's effort with a second in the triple jump at 37-2, and Julie Chen was eighth in the 100 hurdles in 16.04. The Vikings were also eighth in the girls 4x100 relay in 50.74.

Westmont's Chris Aimonetti and Ashley Mamola finished high enough to earn an extra week of CCS competition. Aimonetti was sixth in the boys discus with a heave of 155-9, and Mamola ran 15.98 to finish seventh in the girls 100-meter hurdles.

Prospect's Ferman Smith earned a CCS berth by placing eighth in the high jump at 6-2.

Falcons in tourney

Only the area's best tennis players make it to the CCS tournament. And the best of the CCS will be in action this week when singles and doubles runs through May 23 at the Imperial Courts at Cabrillo College in Aptos.

Tourney play was to begin Tuesday with first round and quarterfinal action. The semi-final round begins at 10 a.m. Thursday, with the finals getting under way at 1 p.m.

Santa Clara Valley Athletic League (SCVAL) standouts Ken Kao of Monta Vista, A.J. Kerin of Saratoga and Dan Duong of Fremont will represent the area in singles action.

Kerin, the No. 5 in the singles tourney, opens against William O'Shea of Robert Louis Stevenson, and Kao, the No. 6 seed, opens against Nial Brash of Menlo-Atherton.

Duong, unseeded in the tourney, faces No. 8 seed Kareem Berdai of Pioneer in the first round of the event.

Saratoga, Monta Vista and Fremont will also be represented in doubles play.

Robert Yee and Bastian Bartels, seeded No. 4, open the doubles tourney against unseeded Kalin Lundquist and Steve Kwong of Valley Christian.

Saratoga's Garrett Wyatt and Ashvin Soin, unseeded, will take on No. 2 seed Matt Seeberger and Jonathan Sun of Mills, while Fremont's Matt Wong and Sidney Pang, also unseeded, challenge No. 1 seed Jaysen Chung and Joseph Lok of Bellarmine.

Will McAlister and Brian Brogan of Los Gatos will also represent the SCVAL in the doubles tourney. The Gatos pair, seeded No. 5, opens up against Nolan Paula and Yoshi Arakaki of Menlo.

The Del Mar pair of Jeremy Heckley and Joseph Heckley qualified for the section tourney and will open against Chris Harris and Corey van der Wal of Menlo in a battle of two unseeded teams.

Watch the birdie!

Ivan Lee of Monta Vista and Jacquie Pfyl of Gunn were individual singles champions last week at the SCVAL badminton finals in Palo Alto.

Lee won the boys singles title with the victory over Kiril Boulatov of Gunn, and Pfyl took the girls singles crown with a 7-1, 7-0, 7-2 win over An Ly of Monta Vista in the finals. Erica Lin of Homestead was third in girls singles action, with Annie Kao of Saratoga fourth.

Mountain View's Tri Tang and Anh Vo teamed to take the boys doubles title. Ta-ming Shih and Yen-min Chu of Lynbrook finished fourth.

In girls doubles play, Jessica Gasiorek and Julia Rotow of Palo Altos finished first overall. Susan Hwang and Asha Sukamar of Lynbrook clinched third.

Patrick Ku and Susana Wen of Gunn won the mixed doubles championship, with David Lamb and Mega Khiang of Lynbrook second. Ryan Aralar and Kailin Chou of Lynbrook took third, with Fremont's Tony Nguyen and Diana Ngo fourth.