May 12, 2004

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Palo Alto Online

A chance to finish perfect

by Rick Eymer

Menlo School and Sacred Heart Prep will be looking to finish their baseball seasons with an undefeated league season this week.

Menlo junior Andy Suiter will likely be on the mound when the Knights host second-place Sequoia on Wednesday in the PAL Lake Division regular-season finale at 3:15 p.m.. Suiter, who has yet to allow an earned run in league play, is bearing down the school's career strikeout record. He's 34 shy of Jimmy Noreiga's 309 strikeouts.

Suiter is 11-0 on the year with a school single-season record 126 strikeouts in 75 innings.

Chuck Huggins is also doing a pretty job on the mound for the Knights. He struck out 10 in six innings and threw a one-hitter as Menlo (14-0, 20-5) defeated visiting Westmoor on Friday, 6-0. Arif Virani pitched the seventh to complete the shutout.

Chris Francis had two hits and drove in three runs for the Knights, who clinched the regular-season title with a victory over South San Francisco on April 30.

Sacred Heart was looking to complete the Private Schools Athletic League season unbeaten with a win over visiting Fremont Christian on Friday at 3:30 p.m.

The Gators (12-0, 17-5) were favored to beat host King's Academy on Tuesday.

Mike Connor and Jeff Smith each had three hit as Sacred Heart collected 18 hits in a 20-2 victory over visiting Pinewood last Thursday. Cory Hatton, Spencer Lucian and Garrick Yuen each had two hits.

Lucian and Smith each drove in three runs while Pat Coffey, Hudson Smythe and Yuen each drive in two.

Sophomore Scott Cattaneo pitched a six-hit complete game for the Gators, as he has won five of six decisions.

Matt Whitlock had two hits for Pinewood (2-9, 2-11).

In other games, Menlo-Atherton scored three runs in the top of the 10th inning to beat Capuchino, 10-7, in a PAL Bay Division contest. The victory kept the Bears (7-7, 12-13) playoff hopes alive as they head into Wednesday's 3:15 p.m. game at Terra Nova. The Tigers (8-6) are in third place, a game ahead of M-A.

Clark Hagman drove in three runs and Ty Finley drive in a pair. Domenic Di Ricco and Alex Bedrosian each added three hits to the Bears' 12-hit attack.

In the SCVAL De Anza Division, Palo Alto pinned a 4-1 loss on Cupertino on Friday to maintain its hold on second place.

The Vikings (12-4, 17-8) travel to Los Altos for a 3:30 p.m. game on Wednesday before finishing the regular season with a home game against third-place Los Gatos on Friday at 3:30 p.m.

Senior Jeremy Gillan threw a two-hitter, retiring the final 19 batters he faced, in winning for the sixth time in seven decisions.

Paly senior Shane Parsons had two hits and drove in two runs while senior Russ Hagemann also had two hits and continued to play solidly at shortstop.
Boys tennis

If Palo Alto hoped to reach the CCS Division I finals on Thursday at Courtside Tennis Club in Los Gatos, it had to beat defending CCS champion and Northern California runnerup Los Gatos in Tuesday's semifinal at Palo Alto.

The Vikings (18-5) reached the semifinals with a 4-3 victory over Homestead on Friday, with doubles play being the key to the victory.

Adam Lischinsky was the lone singles victor at No. 4, beating Yang Li, 7-6, 6-4.

The top doubles team of Cameron Taylor and Nick Robin led a doubles sweep with a 6-0, 6-1 victory over Adrian Lam and Aaron Lam.

Menlo School (17-6) was to play Los Altos in Tuesday's semifinal for the right to advance to the CCS Division II championship on Thursday at Courtside.

The six-time defending Division II champion Knights defeated St. Francis, 7-0, in Friday's quarterfinals as Scott Blumenkranz, Christian Hansen, Andrew Diehl and Nicolas Joy all won their singles matches in straight sets.

The freshmen doubles team of Mark Keegan and John Williford also won in straight sets for their first varsity triumph. The two had played No. 1 and 2 singles on the JV team prior to the postseason.

The CCS division champions will advance to the Northern California tournament, set for May 21-22 at Stanford's Taube Tennis Center. Menlo is the defending champion, having defeated Los Gatos in the 2003 finals.
Softball

Menlo-Atherton pulled off one of its biggest wins of the season, beating host El Camino, 9-6 in eight innings, in a PAL Ocean Division contest.

The Bears (9-3, 11-10) pulled to within a game of the front-running Colts with two games remaining to play.

M-A overcame deficits of 4-0 and 6-3 to send the game into extra innings.

Sophomore Jessica Altman had two hits and drove in two runs for the Bears, while seniors Cameron Murfit and Megan Sugiyama and sophomore Ann Sbardallati each had two hits.

In another PAL Ocean game, Menlo (7-5, 11-9) dropped into a fourth-place tie with Woodside following a 6-4 loss to the Wildcats.

Junior Anna Wipler and sophomore Ali Lycette each had two hits for the Knights.

In the SCVAL El Camino Division, Palo Alto (4-6, 7-11) scored twice in the bottom of the seventh inning to record a 4-3 victory over second-place Fremont. Junior Kelli Fangonilo had two triples for the Vikings to make a winner out of freshman pitcher Christie Cory.
Girls lacrosse

Menlo School (10-0, 13-6) finished the regular season undefeated following a 13-3 victory over Woodside on Thursday and took the top seed into the PAL playoffs, which got underway on Tuesday.

The Knights were scheduled to meet Castilleja in the first round. Gunn and Leland played in the other semifinal. The PAL title match will be held on Saturday at 11 a.m. at Woodside High.

Katherine Walters and Erica Swanson each scored three goals for the Knights.

Gunn defeated Menlo-Atherton, 11-9, in its regular season finale. The Titans (6-4, 9-7) were led by four goals from Kate Kosco, while Jillian Bonde scored four goals for M-A.
Boys lacrosse

Menlo School hosts the first round of PAL playoffs on Wednesday at 4 p.m.

A victory would send the Knights into the championship game on Saturday at 1 p.m. at Woodside High.

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