Publication Date: Friday, May 20, 2005
PREP ROUNDUP
Gunn girls will seek
Gunn girls will seek
(May 20, 2005)honors in CCS gymnastics
Gunn baseball season ends in 7-1 setback to Leigh
in the opening round of the CCS playoffs
by Keith Peters
While defending champion St. Francis goes for yet another title, Gunn's Kaylyn Reyes and Miranda Der will be seeking individual honors at tonight's Central Coast Section gymnastics championships at Gymtowne Gymnastics in San Bruno.
Reyes and Der helped the Titans finish third in the North Varsity League finals this week. Gunn totaled 174.750 points to trail Aragon (186.300) and San Mateo (178.700).
Reyes and Der led the way as Gunn finished tied for second on the vault and third in the bars, beam and floor exercise.
Individually, Der won the beam with a fine 9.900 score and Reyes won the floor exercise with a 9.800 total.
Reyes was third on the vault (9.400), tied for third on the uneven bars (9.850) and finished fourth in the all-around at 38.150. At last year's CCS finals, Reyes scored a perfect 10.000 on the uneven bars and won the floor exercise on the way to winning all-around honors.
Der tied for second in floor exercise (9.750) and finished third in the all-around competition with a 38.300 total.
Baseball
Gunn's fine season ended with a 16-8 record following the Titans' 7-1 loss to third-seeded Leigh on Wednesday in the opening round of the CCS Division I playoffs in San Jose.
"Obviously, the season was a very special one," said Gunn coach Tim Thompson. "Nobody gave us a chance at winning the league. It was Santa Clara or maybe Monta Vista, who actually finished second ahead of Santa Clara and was returning their entire team.
"People talked about Saratoga, who had won the frosh-soph league last year as the 'sleeper.' So, in the face of those predictions . . . and then to top that off with the weather and the injuries and the guys coming out late because of soccer's success, to go out and do what we did in the fashion that we did it, by sweeping Santa Clara in the two-game set and the dramatic home run off (Carlos) Hernandez, then the 4-3 nine-inning game in the finale to clinch the championship, our playoff spot and ticket to the De Anza . . . maybe asking for one more dramatic win in CCS was a bit much.
"I have never been prouder of a team and their resolve than I was with this group of guys and I look forward to coaching most of them again next season," Thompson said.
The Titans were in the game until the bottom of the fifth when Leigh broke open a 1-1 game with six runs.
"It was a good game until the wheels came off," Thompson said of the fifth.
Gunn scored its run in the top of the fourth when sophomore Sam Zipperstein singled and stole second, and then came home on a single by sophomore Tucker Laurence.
The game was the finale for Gunn seniors Ryan McDermott, Nate Urbassik, Colin Felch, and Matt Simons.
"CCS is really unforgiving format," Thompson said. "If you have a bad inning like we did in the fifth, 99 times out of 100 you can't come back, especially in the first round against a playoff team's No. 1 (pitcher).
"We had nothing going early offensively, some guys swung at what could of been a couple of ball fours, but it wouldn't of done much as nobody backed that up with a hit or anything."
Gunn loaded the bases in the top of the sixth with its No. 4, 5 and 6 hitters coming up. Felch, however, hit a rock down the thirdbase line that the third baseman made a big-time play on, stepping on third for the force and then finishing the double play by gunning Felch down at first.
In the CCS Division III playoffs, No. 5 Sacred Heart Prep (17-10) opens play today against No. 4 St. Thomas More at Santa Clara's Washington Park at 4 p.m. Defending champion Menlo (18-12), the No. 3-seeded team, will take on No. 6 King's Academy at Washington Park, scheduled for 7 p.m.
The SHP-St. Thomas More winner will play Tuesday against the winner of No. 8 Pacific Grove and No. 1 Carmel. Also at San Jose Municipal Stadium that day, the Menlo-King's Academy winner will face the RL Stevenson-Palma winner.
Palo Alto played its Division II opener Thursday against Half Moon Bay, a contest that was moved to Paly due to inclement weather on the coast. The Vikings (15-12) took a No. 10 seed against the No. 7 Cougars.
The winner of the Paly-Half Moon Bay game will play Saturday at Washington Park, likely against No. 2 Santa Cruz.
Golf
Woodside Priory sophomore Sam Chavez qualified as an individual for the Northern California Championships after shooting a 2-under-par 69 at the CCS Championships this week at Rancho Canada West in Carmel Valley.
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