Foothill boys volleyball beats Cal at Northgate tourney
The Foothill Boys Varsity Volleyball team returned victorious from the 2009 Northgate Tournament last Saturday after a seven-win, zero-loss day in Concord and Walnut Creek. The Falcons demolished teams from Concord, Mt. Diablo and Las Lomas in pool play, then defeated Logan and Chico all in two games each. In the semifinals, Foothill played against the undefeated team of Cal, who had beaten the Falcons in five games in the EBAL match earlier this season. The third and deciding game was a classic heavyweight fight finally won by the Falcons 22-20, with each team surviving several match points. It was the first time Foothill has beaten Cal since 2007. In the final, Foothill played the host team Northgate, also undefeated this season, with wildly cheering fans on both sides of the court. Playing with confidence and consistency, the Falcons won 25-20, 20-25, 15-12. It was a total team effort, led by Coach Dusty Collins.
Cavaliers pound Danville Oaks 57-10 in rugby
In their fourth undefeated game of the season, the Pleasanton Cavaliers creamed the Danville Oaks Rugby Football Club, 57-10, on March 28 at San Ramon Middle School. Oscar Harris propelled the team with the first try of the game, leading 5-0. Sprinting headlong down the field, Justin Marino scored, 24-5, hot on the heels of a Ryan Maples’ quick-footed try minutes earlier.
Danville pushed back with an equally unchallenged leap, which sped the team up 24-10. Marino kicked it up a notch with two tries while Ryan Mende continued reeling in the points, furthering the Cavaliers’ lead, 41-10. Barreling through the Danville players, Estavan de Jesus Ibarra fed the ball to Kingston Cameron, who scored, 48-10. Joshua Parr landed the final score, 57-10, with a last try and conversion. After a grueling back-and-forth between the two teams, the Danville Oaks barely managed to squeeze by with 10 points to their name.
Although this is the Cavaliers’ first season as a team, they are forging ahead with four wins under their belt. For more information, visit www.pleasantonrugbyclub.com.
Dons hold their own at meet
The Amador Valley Dons showed they could hold their own recently and finished seventh out of 39 teams with the girls finishing fifth out of 31 teams and the boys finishing 13th out of 29 teams.
Catherine Breed won the Individual High Point Award and winning and qualified for All-American in the two events she swam (200 IM & 100 Fly). In the 100 fly, her time in the broke the meet record, and also broke Amador’s school record (previously held by Cathy Coler, ’00). All of Amador’s relays teams, whose other members were Natalie Wong, Tory Houston, Jenn Docto, Marie Schmidt, Lindsey Baxter, and Rachel Miller qualified for North Coast.
Five more girl swimmers qualified for North Coast individually. Danielle Stickler placed third in the 100 backstroke, Houston finished third in the breaststroke and seventh in the IM; and Wong placed 11th in the IM and qualified in the 100 fly. Schmidt qualified in both the 200 and 500 free while Casey Couglin also qualified in the 500 free. The dive team also held their own against stiff competition. In an 11 dive meet, Tyler Pullen came in fourth place (out of 16) with a score of 459.05, Alexa Hernandez came in 18th (out of 42 girls) with 343.25, Emma Rigl came in 21st with 307.75, Marina Mihov (24th) with 286.45.
Jake Bahls brought home a first in the grueling 500 free and a second in the 200 to lead the Amador Valley varsity boys to a third place finish in the Second Annual Tom Wilson Invitational held at the Amador pool. Amador Valley varsity girls swimming team was missing a few swimmers, but still managed to finish third. Cassidy Booe and Nicole Plihal turned in the top individual performances, finishing fifth in the 500 free and 50 free respectively. Booe also took 8th in the 200 free.
Red Sox beat the Rockies 15-22
In the AAA division of the Pleasanton Foothill Little League, the Rockies played the Red Sox on April 4 with an ending score of 15-22 (Red Sox). The Rockies came out swinging amassing a dozen hits in the loss. Ben Carter lit up the boards with three consecutive hits, scoring three runs and driving in two more. Trevor Holt was also key at the plate getting on base three times with one RBI and one run scored. Greg Arnold was showing off his sweet swing with three solid singles. The top offensive player was Ben Carter and the top defensive player was Andrew Soldati.
Tied game to resume in Major baseball division
The PFLL Major Angels played the A’s to a very exciting 7-7 tie last weekend. The game was suspended after eight innings due to darkness and will be resumed at a later date. In the top of the third inning the Angels scored the first run of the game. Stephen Chipman led off the inning with a walk. Chipman then stole second base, advanced to third on an infield ground and scored on an error by the A’s. In the bottom of the fourth inning, the Angels Kyle Lawrence pitched to the minimum three batters with the help from the Angels defense. Joshua Ott caught a line drive at second and then threw a dart back to Brock Gustafson at first base to double off the A’s runner. Jordan Ott made a spectacular play at his catcher’s position by catching the fly ball for the third out. In the top of the fifth inning the Angels added to their lead. Luther Little led of the inning with a single. Angels led 4-0. In the top of the seventh inning, Kyle Lawrence led of the inning with a double and scored on Jordan Ott’s line drive single to right field. Little stole second base and then scored on Matt Weir’s single to give the Angels a 7-4 lead. In the bottom of the seventh inning the A’s scored three unearned runs to tie the game at 7-7. Both teams were scoreless in the eighth inning as the sun started to set and the game was suspended at a 7-7 tie.
–Anne-Marie Harrison
