Photograph by George Sakkestad
Leigh's Troy Marcyes (right) accepts congratulations from his teammates after blasting a home run in CCS playoff action against Monta Vista. The Longhorns ended up losing a 7-6 heartbreaker to the Matadors.
By Dick Sparrer
The members of the Central Coast Section seeding committee must really know their stuff... at least, if the Los Gatos baseball team is any indication.
Los Gatos entered the CCS Division II playoffs seeded No. 8 in the 16-team field. And when the Wildcats played No. 9-seeded Sacred Heart Prep, they pulled out a tight 5-3 decision.
But when the Cats went up against No. 1 seeded Monterey in the tournament quarterback, they lost a 7-1 decision to drop out of postseason play.
The Wildcats finished the season just under .500 at 12-14. The losing record was the product of a seven-game losing streak late in the league season.
The skid meant that the Cats had to win on the final day of the regular season just to finish fourth in the De Anza Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League and gain an automatic CCS berth. They did, finishing the league season with a 9-9 record.
And they opened the playoffs in impressive fashion with a 5-3 win over Sacred Heart Prep in the first round.
Noah Sweeters went the distance to toss a six-hitter for the Cats in the CCS game. The senior righthander struck out 10 and walked just three in the win.
"He had a real good game," Los Gatos coach Wayne Senini said of Sweeters.
He was touched for a run in the first, but blanked the Gators for five straight frames before giving up two more in the seventh.
His teammates, meanwhile, supported with seven hits and a couple of rallies. The Cats battled back from a 1-0 deficit with three runs in the second, then added two more runs in the third to take a convincing 5-1 lead.
Sean Haley's bases-loaded double in the second was the big hit of the game.
Craig Frey and Joel Gremore walked and Brian Geddie reached on an error to load the bags, and Haley unloaded them with a two-out double down the left field line.
"That was a big hit on an 0-2 count," Senini said.
The Cats added two insurance runs in the third. Sean Senini and Court Showerman walked and Frey ripped a two-run double up the gap in the left-center.
Frey finished with two hits and Haley had the double. Senini, Geddie, Sweeters and Scott Grover added singles.
But Gatos lost 7-1 to Monterey to fall out of the players. The Cats could manage just five hits in the game--singles by Senini, Nick Cuevas, Showerman, Geddie and Sweeters--and committed six errors.
"We beat ourselves," Senini said of the Cats, who allowed five unearned runs and left 12 runners on base.
Leigh loses heartbreaker
As games go, it was a heartbreaker.
As CCS playoffs go, it was a real heartbreaker!
Leigh seemed to have things locked away when the Longhorns battled Monta Vista in the first round of the CCS Division I playoffs last week.
The Longhorns had put together three-run rallies in the first and fifth and were leading the Matadors 6-3 heading into the bottom of the seventh. Leigh was just three outs away from a victory and a berth in the CCS quarterfinals.
But Monta Vista had other ideas. The Matadors put together a four-run rally to pull out a thrilling 7-6 victory that sent the Longhorns crashing out of playoff action.
The defeat spoiled an otherwise outstanding day by senior Troy Marcyes, who drove in a pair of runs with a home and a single.
Scott Whiteford, another senior star at Leigh, came through with a two-run triple in what would be his final high school game, and Kyle Garcia ripped a pair of hits.
Leigh had gained a playoff berth by finishing fourth in the rugged Mt. Hamilton Division of the Blossom Valley Athletic League with a 6-6 record. The Longhorns ended the year 10-13 overall.
Leigh girls win
The Leigh girls' softball team enjoyed success in the first round of the CCS Division I playoffs, blanking Sequoia 4-0 on a three-hit shutout by freshman Kim Rose.
Rose ran her season record to 19-7-1, matching Leigh's season mark.
This article appeared in the Los Gatos Weekly-Times, May 22, 1996.
©1996 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved