Sports

ATHERTON—Nothing went right for Live Oak defensively in the top of the third inning and it spiraled out of control as Aragon scored five runs en route to a 10-5 win to eliminate the Acorns from the Central Coast Section playoffs.

GILROY—Gavilan College’s Samantha Nydam expected to be suiting up for the Rams for her sophomore season this fall. But when opportunity knocks, you answer.

San Lorenzo Valley loaded the bases three times against Live Oak on Wednesday, and only had one run to show for it.

Sobrato went from agony to elation back to agony all in the span of 30 seconds.

The Live Oak baseball team will open the Central Coast Section Division II playoffs on the road, traveling to San Lorenzo Valley on Wednesday.

On Thursday, the Sobrato softball team got the win it needed to qualify for the playoffs and on Saturday it was rewarded for an 18-7 season with a first-round home game.

SAN JOSE—Sobrato’s formula is simple: Win and the Bulldogs clinch at least a share of the Santa Teresa Division title and will receive the automatic berth to the Central Coast Section playoffs.

Fifty Years Ago this spring will mark the beginning of an astounding march towards Live Oak’s very first Football Championship clinched in a dramatic last game of the season mud bowl 13-0 victory over San Lorenzo High School on November, 14th, 1965.  While I was hiking last year with my good buddy and old teammate of that team Kim Moreno, we noted the 50 year anniversary would be upon us soon and that our ancient march towards that football championship in 1965 had actually begun 3 years earlier when Dr. Howard Nicholson, Superintendent of our huge rural school district, hired Darrell Guthrie as an English, Math, PE teacher and Head Football Coach. When Coach Guthrie assumed the football helm in 1963, Live Oak played in the Mission Trail Athletic league (MTAL) where the terms used to describe Live Oak Football was “the Live Oak Acorns were the perennial league doormats” winning only one league game for the entire decade of fielding a football team. Morgan Hill, then with a growing population of almost 4000, was the smallest town in the league with the football power houses of the day usually being Carmel, King City, San Lorenzo and Pacific Grove. Even our neighboring town of Gilroy, with our arch rival the Mustangs, was twice the size of Morgan Hill in those days.

GILROY—Gavilan’s historic season came to an end Saturday.

Heading into the bottom of the sixth inning, Live Oak was cruising to what seemed like an easy win.