July 24, 2008

SPORTS

Baseball

Almaden Seniors, Juniors play winning ball

Almaden Junior and Senior Little League baseball teams managed to win their sectional championships last Wednesday night and again on Monday night when they played in the All Star State Tournament.

Coach Mike Rodriguez, Taylor Ronsvalle, Gabe Chavez, JD Correa, Jordan Penny, David Rosas, Trevor Marino, Justin Buller, Daniel Rodriguez, Kavin Patel, Codie O’Connell, Ryan O’Malley, Frankie Wilson, Coach Dean Correa, and Coach Tarun Patel. Not pictured: Brandon Hecke

Both teams are in the state’s NorCal Division with about 400 other leagues. It’s a significant accomplishment that both the Juniors and Seniors represented Almaden in the divisional tournament.

However, the Senior all-stars, while playing Tuesday night’s fourth game in as many days, fell behind 4-0 and could not overcome the deficit. This was the team’s second loss and they were eliminated.

The Almaden Junior all-stars fared a bit better. They were playing their third game in three days and despite a number of one run games, the Almaden team suddenly blasted out 15 hits in five innings to beat a team from Benecia by a score of 14-1. Brad Kuh pitched 4 solid innings and Nick Medeiros added an inning of his own to hold Benecia to three hits and one run. Almaden was to play Rocklin on Wednesday, 5:30 p.m., at Willow Glen High School.

Both all-star teams won their Sectional Championship on July 16. The Senior all-stars won big over Serra by a score of 13-1. Justin Buller hit a towering 2-score home run in the first inning to start things off. He also pitched a 5-inning complete game. The Senior team then headed off to Sacramento to play Niles-Centerville in the Divisional tournament starting on Saturday.

The Juniors all-stars beat a tough Hollister team by a score of 6-3 on Wednesday night. Kuh pitched six strong innings and Andrew Todd came in to close it out for Almaden. Morgan Newby blasted a 3-run homer in the fifth inning to give Almaden some breathing room.

Hollister loaded the bases up in the bottom of the seventh with one out before the last batter hit a ground ball up the middle that Conner Jauch fielded, tagged second and threw to first base to end the game and clinch the championship.

On Saturday night in Sacramento, the Almaden Seniors played their first game in the California Divisional tournament. Playing under the lights at 8 p.m., the Almaden team beat Niles-Centerville by a score of 12-7. The Seniors played their next game on Sunday evening against a team from Oakland. Unfortunately, the Seniors lost 4-3 after a mounting a comeback in the last inning and suffering through a great deal of controversy throughout the game.

The Junior All-star team played its first State tournament game on Sunday at 10 a.m. against Tracy Little League. After slipping behind 3-0 through the first five innings, the Junior team started its comeback. Jauch reached on an error in the sixth inning and scored on Newby’s double. Newby scored on Robbie Zipp’s single to close the gap going into the top of the seventh. In the seventh, Almaden tied the game on an RBI double by Tyler Champlin. But, in the bottom of the seventh, Tracy drew a walk, stole second base and eventually scored on a fly ball down the right-field line that dropped fair by a foot. Almaden lost a heart-breaker, 4-3.

On Monday night, both teams kept their state championship hopes alive by winning late in their respective games. The Seniors overcame a 3-2 deficit in the sixth inning in come-from-behind victory. In that inning with two outs, Ryan O’Malley doubled in two runs to give Almaden a 4-3 lead. Right afterwards, Frankie Wilson singled in O’Malley to give Almaden a 5-3 lead after six innings. Almaden added a couple more to end the game with a 7-4 victory. Trevor Marino pitched six strong innings and Daniel Rodriguez finished off the last inning to get the save.

The Junior team won yet another nail-bitter on Monday night by a score of 3-2. In the third inning, Jauch singled home Kuh to score the first run. The Olivehurt-Linda team tied it up in the bottom of the inning right before Almaden took the lead in the fourth inning when Zipp singled and scored a wild throw. Moments later, Michael Rocca drove in James Kahn which would end up being the winning run. Tyler Champlin allowed one earned run in 6 2/3 innings with Kuh closing out the game with a strike-out.

Almaden players compete in roller hockey tournament

Leland High students Garret Niklowitz and Cody Wolterman play roller hockey for the Silicon Valley Quakes. They recently took part in a tournament at the Silver Creek Sportsplex.

Unfortunately, the Quakes didn’t make it to the playoffs, but the team did work hard, placing fourth at the International Tournament in Philadelphia in early July. The Philadelphia tournament is like a junior Olympics.

Roller hockey is played exactly like ice hockey except that players wear inline skates instead of ice skates and play on a wooden floor instead of an ice rink.

Out of the 400 teams in the tourney, all of which are competitive traveling roller hockey teams, three or four play out of the sportsplex along with the Quakes. There were 30 teams in the Quakes age group at the tournament in San Jose. Quakes coaches are Steve Weng, Brett Wolterman and Dan Goode.

Both Niklowitz, who will be a sophomore, and Wolterman, a junior, played this year in Toronto, Philadelphia and Florida.

With the season now over, players will get a rest until September when tryouts take place and tournament play begins in October and November. During the season, teams usually travel within the state.

San Jose girls water polo club plays Chino Hills tourney

Eighteen girls from the San Jose Water Polo Club went to Chino Hills to compete against some of the best water polo teams from southern California.

The 16 and under team included Kristen Koolpe, Devynn Bakke, Sarah D’Angelo, Kelsey Nolan, Kelsey Shyba, Tam Nguyen, Leanne Kirtland, Carson Nestler, and Stacey Koolpe. The 18 and under team was comprised of Amy Georgiou, Mary Sweeney, Kelsey Nolan, Kelly Davis, Courtney Gold, Hallie Barnes, Jaya Kasiraj, Kylie Sarpa, Carson Nestler, Courtney Cellar, Tam Nguyen, and Morgan Gahagan.

Eighteen girls from the San Jose Water Polo Club went to Chino Hills to compete against some of the best water polo teams from southern California.

The 16 and under girls went 3-3, placing eighth out of 20 teams. They defeated LA Water Polo club 11-4, Temescal Valley 14-1 and San Diego Shores 8-7 with a late game shot. The Shores are a perennial contender in the National Junior Olympics tournament. They are the top club from the San Diego region. The girls also played a tough game with El Rancho, a 9-10 shootout loss. They also had another close loss to Socal, 6-9, the eventual tournament champion.

The 18 and under girls placed third out of 22 teams, defeating Radier from Florida, Rosebowl, and El Rancho in the first three games. Then they lost a close game to Socal, 6-9 in the semis. Socal is one of the top clubs from the Los Angeles area and the fourth place finisher at last year’s National Junior Olympics.

In the third place game they matched up with the San Diego Shores, the 2006 silver medal winner at the National Junior Olympics and last year’s sixth place finisher. The third place game went back and forth throughout playtime with San Jose playing great defense.

The girls made the necessary adjustments to stop the primary play. Georgiou had a great game in goal, closing out the angles to make some amazing saves. Defense kept the team in the game, allowing an opportunity to get the last shot. While the Shores collapsed on Nolan in set, Nguyen made a lob shot with seven seconds left that landed perfectly over the goalie’s outstretched hand.

This tournament definitely added to San Jose’s confidence, said Coach Eric Rise.

The girls now know they can compete with the elite club teams in the country.

Sports Briefs

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