Mullins, Rollin toss softball, baseball teams into semi's
By Dick Sparrer
Melissa Mullins and Alex Rollin were sparkling on the diamond last week, and so were the softball and baseball teams at Los Gatos High School as they opened play in the Central Coast Section (CCS) playoffs.
Mullins tossed the girls softball team to back-to-back wins over Soquel and Notre Dame-Belmont and into the CCS semifinals this week, and Rollins earned the save in a 6-5 win over Palo Alto and the win in a 6-2 victory over North Monterey County to send the baseball team to the CCS semi's.
Mullins and company, now 22-10 for the year, will challenge Mitty (27-5) in the semi-final round of the CCS softball playoffs on May 22, 3 p.m., at San Jose PAL Stadium. The winner will take on the Monterey (18-11)-Carlmont (25-6) winner for the CCS championship on May 25, 3 p.m., at PAL.
The Gatos boys, 15-12 for the year, battle Monterey (28-4) on May 23, 7 p.m., at Buck Shaw Stadium in Santa Clara in the semifinals. The winner will meet the Valley Christian (26-7)-Santa Cruz (23-7) winner on May 25, 1 p.m., at Buck Shaw.
Mullins blanked Soquel on three hits to lead the Cats to the 2-0 win to open the softball playoffs, and she came back to scatter six hits in an 8-2 win over Notre Dame-Belmont.
Virginia Fritsch singled and tripled and Katie Ferrera had two hits to lead the offensive attack for the Cats in the win over Soquel. Kim Pugh also tripled in the win.
Mullins, whose 22-10 mound record mirrors the Gatos overall mark, never trailed as she tossed the Cats to the 8-2 win over Notre Dame.
Tara Hodge doubled and singled twice to drive home four runs to lead the Cats to the victory. Fritsch singled and tripled to plate a pair of runs and Pugh had two hits.
Gatos picked up single runs in the first and third to take the early 2-0 lead, but Notre Dame got one back in the fourth. The Wildcats rallied for three in the fifth to take control of the game, though, then blew it open with three more in the seventh.
Rollins was the bulldog on the mound for the Los Gatos baseball team last week. He came on in relief to get the save in the 6-5 win over Palo Alto and he tossed a three-hitter for the 6-2 win over North Monterey County a couple of days later.
Matt Cooke was the winning pitcher, evening his record at 2-2, and Rollin nailed down his third save of the year in the win over the Vikings.
Rollin also starred with the bat, blasting a two-run homer in a five-run Los Gatos rally in the third.
Travis Howell had two hits to knock in three runs for Los Gatos, and Chris Eagen singled and doubled. Jayson Furia added two hits for the Cats, and Alex Anderson doubled.
Paly actually took the early lead with three runs in the first, but Gatos overtook the Vikes with five in the third. The Cats added a run in the fourth to lead 6-3, but Paly chipped away with two in the bottom of the fourth to cut the lead to 6-5. That's as close as the Vikings could get, though.
Rollin tossed a three-hitter in the 6-2 win over North Monterey County. Rollin ran his mound record to 9-3 with the win.
Howell homered and singled and Eagen blasted a home run to lead the Cats offensively.
Anderson had two hits to drive in a pair of runs; Steve Sweeney had two hits and Rollin ripped a double.
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Los Gatos, California Since 1881
