Cupertino baseball players certainly had their hitting shoes on in an April 8 game against Santa Clara in the El Camino Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League. Meanwhile, Pioneers pitcher Ben Champion baffled Bruins batters throughout the contest.
It was a combination Santa Clara could not overcome, and Cupertino scored in each of the first five innings en route to a 15-0 victory.
With eight players producing multi-hit games, the Pioneers out-hit the visiting Bruins 23-3. Anthony Pozzetti had three singles and a double to lead the hit parade.
Jacob Alexander and Champion each delivered three hits and three runs batted in, and Morgan Saenz added three hits, including two doubles, and knocked in two runs.
Daniel Kono, who had two hits, also drove in three runs. Kyle Avvakumovits, Josh Longabaugh and Michael Hyun also had two-hit days.
Champion had a perfect game going before Santa Clara finally put a runner on base after one out in the fifth inning. Champion worked six scoreless innings and improved his pitching record to 3-1. Avvakumovits pitched the seventh and maintained the shutout.
Things were a bit different two days later at Washington Park in Santa Clara. Each team had just five hits and Cupertino made four errors. The Bruins scored a run in the bottom of the seventh to win 3-2 and drop the Pioneers to 4-4 in El Camino play and 6-9 overall. Santa Clara improved to 2-6.
Fremont maintained its lead in the El Camino Division by taking a home-and-home series with Lynbrook. The Firebirds won 9-0 at Lynbrook on April 8 and 9-4 two days later at Fremont.
The wins left the Firebirds with a 7-1 record in El Camino play and 9-6 overall, one game better than Milpitas (6-2). Lynbrook was 3-4, just behind third-place Cupertino. Monta Vista split with Milpitas, winning 6-5 at home but bowing 14-0 on the Trojans’ field.
The Matadors won with three runs in the bottom of the seventh, as sophomore Surya Kumaraguru delivered the game-winning hit with a walk-off single up the middle. Kumaraguru, who started the season on the frosh-soph team, finished with two hits and two RBIs and pitched the last three innings to pick up the win.
In the De Anza Division, Homestead lost a couple of close games to Wilcox, 3-1 and 3-0, dropping to 5-5 and 8-8 overall. Wilcox improved its record to 6-3 and 13-4.
Softball
Playing in her first game since transferring to Fremont, sophomore Katie Wingrove had two hits, scored a run and pitched the distance, helping the Firebirds earn their first El Camino Division win of the season, 4-3 over visiting Palo Alto.
Junior Vanessa Ramirez had two hits and two RBIs in the win.
Fremont lost 12-0 to Milpitas two days later, dropping to 1-4 in league and 2-12 overall.
Lynbrook (0-6, 0-13) received a couple of hits from senior Rebecca Hatton, but the Vikings lost at Gunn 5-0.
Homestead used a six-run second inning to whip Monta Vista 11-1 in a De Anza Division game. Freshman Brittany Prock and junior Nikka Piazza combined to pitch a 2-hitter, while junior Noa Yakir belted her seventh home run of the season and seniors Mikaela Copley, Sara Hu and Kim Inenaga each had multi-hit games.
The Mustangs improved to 3-3 in league play and 10-9 overall, a day after dropping a 12-9 non-league slugfest against Presentation. Maggie Matzinger had four hits in the loss.