Bear Lacrosse places second in JV division
Pleasanton’s 7th grade Bear Lacrosse Club gave the JV level some competition a couple weeks ago. In the Triple Threat Girls Lacrosse Tournament on July 12 and 13 at Diablo Vista Middle School in Danville, the youngest team took second place in their division.
In the first game against Triple Threat JV, the girls were a little nervous against the older and bigger players, but made a valiant comeback in the second half to lose by only 2. In the second game against Sacramento Lacrosse Club, the girls jumped out to an early lead and held on for the win. On Sunday, they battled LuLax from Moraga and won to take the 2nd seed in the playoffs.
They faced SLC again and after a slow start in the first half, took control to win 6-1.In the Championship game, the girls had a rematch against the Triple Threat JV and lost by 2 in what proved to be a physical but exciting game.
Pictured above: Coach Danni Zuralow, Cambi Cukar, Lauryn Hayashi, Lindsey Kail, Lynnea Flaherty, Haley Brodnick, Rebecca Dumanski, Head Coach Theresa Sherry, Madison Steele, Melanie McCissock, Ali Bryan, Katie Bryan, Hannah Stapp, Evan Murphy, Tori Larsen, Kylie Drexel, Kira Ewanich and Molly Grozier
RAGE College Showcase in town this weekend
RAGE soccer is hosting its 5th annual College Showcase this weekend, July 26 & 27.
The tournament will include 144 teams from eight states playing in front of over 100 college coaches.
The teams fall into age groups from U-15 to U-19 and will play at Pleasanton Sports and Recreation Park, Val Vista Community Park, Amador Aquatic Park and Harvest Park Middle School.
For more information about the tournament or a schedule of game, visit www.rageshowcase.org.
Pleasanton Foothill League All-Stars light up the scoreboard
The Pleasanton Foothill 12-year-old All-Stars played Home Run Derby by blasting five homers July 19 in a 10-2 victory over Lafayette in the San Ramon Tournament.
One inning after Sam Wagner hit a towering homer to center field, Foothill teed off with four consecutive round-trippers in the fifth inning. After Max Sanderson’s two-run shot, the next three batters, Michael Echavia, Tommy Gamble and Kevin Vigallon all went deep, clearing the outfield fence. Earlier in the game, Foothill got run-scoring singles from Cory Frederickson, Gabe Gonzalez (2 hits) and Nick Hermes. Brett Lewis added a double.
Later that day, Echavia and Gamble hit back-to-back homers in the first inning in a 10-6 loss to Granada. Gamble went 3-for-3, Sanderson had an RBI single, and Greg Hadley hit a triple.
On Sunday, Vigallon went 3-for-3, and Josh Stevens, Echavia, Gamble and Wagner had two hits each as the team defeated Livermore National 11-1. Vigallon drove in three runs, while Echavia and Matt Winsby had two RBIs each. Cory Frederickson and Gamble added RBI singles, while Hadley contributed a sacrifice fly. Echavia, Stevens, and Hermes all pitched well for Foothill, which improved to 2-1 in the tournament.
Pleasanton Seahawks swim strong at Junior Olympics
The weather was hot this past weekend at the Junior Olympics swim meet and so were the Pleasanton Seahawks. The Seahawks were well represented by all the relay teams, including the 10-and-under boys who placed second in the 200 Medley Relay. Many swimmers made it to finals including Regis LaChance, Maxime Rooney and Katie Woods.
Rachel Knowles had a great meet dropping times in her events and placing first in her age group in the long events, 800 and 1500 free. Roshni Nair, Bridget Moran, Cassidy Booe and Maggie Woods all had great swims in the 200 free. Also, Maggie Kauffeld and Tim McLaughlin had best times in many of their events.
The Senior group was well represented with great swims from Katrina Anderson, Brandon Chandler, Marissa and Allison Brown, Andrew Seitz, Kyle Lindsey, Catherine Fong, Brianna Neumayr, Danielle Stickler and Natalie Wong.
Pleasanton American Captures the Little League Section 3 Majors Championship
Powered by the pitching of Jake Dronkers and the bat of Ryan Meisenheimer, the Pleasanton American 12 year old All Stars captured the Section 3 Championship with a 5-2 victory over Hillsborough Little League on Sunday afternoon. Dronkers pitched 5 1/3 strong innings to hold Hillsborough to two runs on 3 hits and Meisenheimer blasted two home runs in the win.
To reach the championship game PALL beat Hillsborough 6-2 in the opening round. In the 2nd round they beat the host team Manteca 8-0 and in the 3rd round beat San Lorenzo 12-1. This set up the showdown with Hillsborough
After losing to Hillsborough each of the last two years in the Section 3 Championship, PALL finally came out on top this year to move into the Division II Tournament.
After trailing 0-2, PALL would tie the score in the 2nd as Meisenheimer hit a solo shot to center. After consecutive walks to Nick Goldstein and Chase Hennings, Austin Piscotty singled to right scoring Goldstein. PALL would take the lead for good in the 3rd inning as Brian Hsu led off with a single and Meisenheimer launched his 2nd homerun, to right field, to make the score 4-2. Pall would add an insurance run in the 5th as Dronkers walked and scored on a passed ball. TJ Friedl came on in relief with 1 out in the top of the 6th to preserve the win.
Nothing came easy as Hillsborough continued to apply pressure all game long, but PALL’s defense was at its best each time. Hillsborough loaded the bases in the top of the 2nd as Ryan Anderson made a great catch in short center field to end their rally. In the 4th, with a runner on 2nd, Meisenheimer caught a line drive down the 1st base line that would have scored a run. In the 5th, with runners on 2nd and 3rd, Friedl caught a high rising line drive to deep center to end the inning and in the top of the 6th, with the bases loaded, Dronkers fielded a sharp hit down the 3rd base line, tagged 3rd and threw to 1st for a game ending double play.
Big kids swim hard too
Many times the older kids are overlooked in recreation swim meets, but for the Pleasanton Meadows Sharks, their 15-18 swimmers pulled in 96 points, almost 25 percent of the team’s total on Saturday. Unfortunately for the Sharks it wasn’t enough as they fell 589-389 to the DBAC Piranhas.
Leading the way in this impressive point total for the 15-18’s was a sweep by the boys of the 50 free. Curtis Wong got to the wall first, followed quickly by Joey Silva, Taylor Helms, and Miro Asadourian.
Wong and Silva also went 1-2 in the breaststroke with Jay Ryoo taking third. Silva got a first of his own in the backstroke with Sneharth Mukherjee taking third and Joey Walsh getting a fourth. The boys also won both relays handily. The older girls also contributed with Melissa Wee winning both the free and the fly while Astra Birznieks took the breaststroke. Wee also placed second in the IM. Birznieks got fourth in the free just behind teammate Amber Brown.
The 9-10 group also contributed mightily to the Sharks point total. Alyson Isaacs and Talia Florio went 1-2 in the free, while Jack Geasa and Nick Tucker did likewise in the IM. In addition, Tucker took the fly and Geasa won the breaststroke. Isaacs went out and took home
another first by winning the IM.
Kaala Cheney and Elsa Schwaninger took turns finishing first with a 1-2 punch for the 13-14 girls. Cheney finished ahead of Schwaninger in the fly, and Schwaninger returned the favor in the IM.
Also going 1-2 for the sharks were Blake Tucker and Eric Thomas in the 7-8 back and Cody Vaeth and Brent Werder in the U6 backstroke. Vaeth and Tucker also won their respective free events.
Sidney Vaeth won a pair of U6 events (free, fly), while Kyra
Schwaninger took the 11-12 breaststroke and Joey Geasa won the 7-8
fly.
Tidal Waves drown Stingrays
The Club Sport Tidal Waves topped the Del Prado Stingrays in an exciting contest on Wednesday July 16. Many personal bests were recorded and a couple of club records were broken.
Congratulations to the Stingrays Taylor Peterson for the Women’s 15-18 Freestyle (25.72), Jake Newman, Boys 9-10 Freestyle (31.77), and the 9-10 Boys Medley Relay (Jake Newman, Tommy Sabatini, Jacob Banke and Taylor Smith, 1:12.59) for breaking their club records.
The Tidal Waves top swimmers for the meet were Alyse Bateman (17), Elle Surber (13), Chenoa Bodero (6), Tara Daly (6) and Lexi Venema(10), for the girls. The boys were led by Kyle Surber (15), Conner Daly (10), Jack Kost (6), Collin Miller (11) and Nolan Jetter (6).
The top Stingray girls for the evening were Alyssa Bardakos (8), Megan Doi (10), Jaclyn Strom (14), Hannah Fowler-Kimsey (12) and Meghan Hogue (8). For the Stingray boys, Matthew Sun (14), Cameron Kurotori (12), Jake Newman (10), Eric Gates (15), and Christopher Nespor (14) led the pack.
Del Prado beats Ruby Hill
The Del Prado Stingrays defended their home pool with a win over the Ruby Hill Killer Whales, 573 to 396.
Leading the Stingrays, for the girls were, Megan Doi (10), Alyssa Bardakos (8), Taylor Peterson (18), Meghan Hogue (8) and Stephanie Doi (13). The top Boys were Eric Gates (15), Cameron Kurotori (12), Matthew Sun (14), Andrew Goard (12) and Tommy Juarez (8).
The top performers for the Killer Whales were McKalee Mooney (12), Lindsey Maddalon (6), Kirsten Hewitt (9), Brianna Nicholas (12) and Lauren Sowers (5) for the girls, and Tom Sornsen (9), Chase Psinakis (10), Nick Johnston (13), Christopher Yang (5) and Jason Cunningham (17) for the boys.
Also turning in some excellent swims were Lindsey DeWilde (13), Laura Klein (13), Lauren Graham (5), Isabella Foster (6), Eileen Drury (12), Jake Newman (10), Christopher Nespor (14), Jack Bell (6) and Taylor Smith (9) for Del Prado. Other top performances for Ruby Hill were turned in by Lindsey Baxter (15), Taylor Sowers (7), Lexi Nicholas (12), Lexi Ewanich (10), Lindsey Olenic (14), Jack Madden (6), Joey Vasquez (8), Llewelyn Sannajust (6), Evan Lee (12) and Alec Psinakis (14).
