Santa Teresa meet begins Tuesday for Bulldogs, Acorns
MORGAN HILL — The Bulldogs will enter this week’s Santa Teresa Division Finals as co-favorites to win Sobrato High School’s first league team title in track and field after beating Overfelt 89.5-46.5 Thursday.
The SHS boys are tied with Willow Glen for the best record (6-1) and point total going into today’s trials at Westmont High School. The league champion will be crowned after the final meet Thursday.
To win, the Bulldogs will need their “top performers to come through,” coach Fred Rios said in an e-mail.
Sobrato will have its biggest eggs in one basket. Multi-event stars Alan Rios, Ralph Jackson and Obi Mbonu are slated for four events apiece and will run the 4×100-meter and mile relays with Thomas Yath and Drew Glines. Rios is ranked among the top 10 in the section in the 400 and 800 meters, and Jackson is on the verge of joining him in the 400 meters and 300-meter hurdles
Mbonu will likely make the finals in the 100 and 200 meters, and teammates Winston Van Keulen and Derek Deisenroth should challenge for first in the 1,600 meters and the two mile.
Sobrato junior Austin Meldrum is the front-runner in pole vault; his personal-record height of 13 feet, 6 inches is the fifth best in the Central Coast Section this spring. Brandon Mancini will bolster Sobrato’s scoring in the event.
Steven Villarreal can double up big points for the Bulldogs in the high jump and long jump. Gabe Cheadle will do triple jump, and Joel Rueda shot put.
Rios, Jackson, Deisenroth, Van Keulen, Yath, Meldrum, Marcus Patrick and Nathon Merritt placed first in individual events Thursday at SHS.
“Overfelt was a small team, and we were fairly certain we would win,” Fred Rios said in the e-mail. “The important thing was to keep everyone healthy for this week.”
The Lady Bulldogs also defeated Overfelt 88-46 to finish 3-4.
Sobrato opened with a victory in the 400-meter relay and received first-place finishes from the following athletes: Rachel Sandberg (1,600), Marissa Benjamin (100, 200), Sarah Gilbert (800, 3,200), Rebekah Inouye (high jump), Jennifer Hinman (pole vault) and Vanessa Martinez (long jump).
The SHS and Live Oak girls have a fair chance to place in the top three this week.
Although undersized, Live Oak’s boys team will battle for several individual titles.
BOYS GOLF
Live Oak and Sobrato will have at least two golfers apiece in the field Tuesday for the Blossom Valley Athletic League Individual Tournament at Santa Teresa Golf Club in San Jose.
The 18-hole, 40-player field is scheduled to begin at noon and will feature seniors Doug Bennett and Wes Flippo of Sobrato, and senior Alex Avon and sophomore Ben Hartl of Live Oak. Reed Campbell, an SHS senior, may also compete.
Those five averaged in the low to mid 40s during nine-hole regular-season matches.
The Acorns and Bulldogs finished 3-6 in the Mount Hamilton Division.
SOFTBALL
Live Oak fell out of a tie for first place in the Mount Hamilton on Friday, losing 4-1 at Pioneer on the same afternoon Leigh beat Evergreen Valley 1-0.
The Lady Acorns remained in position to secure playoff eligibility Monday at Piedmont Hills (results were late by press time). Live Oak (6-2 league) was a game and a half behind Leigh (8-1) with four league contests remaining.
Pioneer freshman Samantha Blum held the Acorns to three hits — singles by Hailey Nelson, Katie Obbema and Didi Lopez. Jenna Robertson pushed across Priscilla Orona on a fielder’s choice in the sixth inning for Live Oak.
Obbema struck out four and allowed three walks and four hits.
Catcher Lisa Wong had a lead-off home run in the fourth, when Pioneer scored its four runs off two errors.
Santa Teresa 5, Sobrato 1
The second-place Saints snapped the Lady Bulldogs’ two-game win streak Friday in San Jose.
The Santa Teresa contest became a subplot, though, in the fourth inning when Sobrato freshman Kallie Klinger was taken to a hospital after being hit by a pitch. Klinger suffered a broken nose and possibly fractured her left cheekbone but has been cleared to return.
Freshman Jasmine Caskey subbed in for her and scored on a passed ball.
Heather Johnson batted 2 for 3 with a stolen base, Nicole Larson tripled, and Taylor Di Sibio doubled for SHS, which is 5-5 in league.
Bulldogs senior Frankie Kellett struck out one and gave up three runs on six hits and four errors in five innings.
BOYS TENNIS
Live Oak wrapped up a solid third-place finish in league with a 6-1 victory Friday over Del Mar. The Acorns’ one defeat came in a No. 2 doubles match that Alec Malakis and Mark Fisher lost in a super tie-breaker.
Live Oak’s 8-4 record was highlighted by three top-four finishes in the West Valley Division Singles/Doubles Tournament. Dylan Johnson, Bryan Freitas and the pair of Derek Johnson and Ryan Campbell advanced to semifinal matches and wound up playing in the consolation round. Johnson and Campbell ousted Willow Glen’s No. 2 doubles team to capture third place.
After losing in the semis, Freitas and Dylan Johnson ended the season on the same court; Johnson defeated Freitas in straight sets to take third.
Live Oak will be one of the favorites in the West Valley again next year, when division winner Yerba Buena and runner-up Willow Glen move to the Santa Teresa. The Acorns will have back eight varsity players.
