Only two days earlier, Claire Klausner was finishing up her sophomore basketball season in the first round of the CIF NorCal Division I playoffs.
On Thursday, Klausner was back in action, only this time on the softball field and with much better results.
Klausner made her season pitching debut a sparkling one with a four-hit, 14-strikeout performance in Gunn’s 7-0 nonleague victory over visiting Castilleja. It was the Titans’ first win after five losses, while the Gators fell to 0-3.
The Titans scored early in the first when Klausner got a base hit, advanced on a sacrifice bunt by Laura Kidder, and stole two bases including home. Gunn added to its lead with two more runs in the fifth, on a single by senior Nicole Grimwood followed by a double by junior Claire Collins — who reached home on a single by freshman Camille Steger.
The Titans scored four more runs in the sixth on base hits by sophomore Laura Tao and junior Taylor Aguon, a double by sophomore Casey Maltz, and an inside-the-park home run by Grimwood.
Girls lacrosse
Sacred Heart Prep went on the attack in its second game of the season, resulting in a 17-2 victory over Notre Dame-San Jose on Thursday. The Gators featured a balanced scoring attack that produced a 12-1 halftime lead.
Multiple players got in on the scoring action, led by senior Michelle Gonia with four goals and one assist, senior Julia Keller with three goals, senior Kendall Cody with three goals and one assist, senior Maddie Del Santo with two goals and one assist, freshman standout Caroline Cummings with two goals, and sophomores Isabelle Thompson, Kathleen Casey, and Melissa Holland each with one goal.
The Gators kept the ball in the attacking end, focusing on winning ground balls and forcing turnovers to maintain possession and control the game.
Elsewhere in nonleaegue action, Menlo-Atherton got three goals each from Becca Higgit, Julia Farino and Sydney Novak-Federmeyer as the Bears rolled to a 16-5 victory over host Gunn on Thursday. The Bears improved to 2-2. Lauren King scored four goals for the Titans.
Boys tennis
The undefeated Menlo-Atherton boys’ tennis team took undefeated Woodside down a notch by squeaking out a 4-3 victory in PAL Bay Division action on Thursday in Atherton. The Bears (3-0) took all the doubles, while only winning No. 4 singles where Matt Giordano posed a 6-3, 6-0 win over Sam Cronin. The top three singles matches all went to a third-set tiebreaker.
Andrew Ball produced a 6-2, 6-0 win at No. 1 singles and the Menlo boys’ tennis team swept every other match by 6-0, 6-0 scores during a 7-0 victory over visiting Pinewood in a West Bay Athletic League match on Thursday. The Knights improved to 3-0 (7-0).
In the SCVAL De Anza Division, host Gunn handed Palo Alto a 6-1 loss. Austin Leung of Paly prevented a shutout by winning at No. 1 singles, 6-2, 2-6, 7-6 (9-7).
Gunn swept the remaining singles in straight sets but had to go to three sets to win all the doubles as the tandems of Kevin Macario-Jack Kwan, Joe Atlas-Ameya Rao and Arjun Narayen-Nabil Hamade provided the rare sweep.
— Palo Alto Online Sports
— Palo Alto Online Sports
— Palo Alto Online Sports