Sports Briefs
Compiled by Robert Haugh & Melissa McKenzie

Westside 10-11 All Stars Fall Short in Regional Tournament. Having won seven consecutive games to claim the District 44 championship, fatigue set in for the Santa Clara Westside 10-11 All Stars as they fell 4-1 and 2-1 in the Section championship. After playing seven games in nine days they just looked tired. The boys did bring Westside their first-ever District 44 10-11 championship. Westside 10-11 All Stars team: Chris Brown, Richard Gallegos, Zack Gates, Steven Grizzle, Justin Polk, Nick Postag, Mitchell Records, Eric Scharberg, Justin Siedel, Kevin Shea, Matthew Smith, Michael Souza, Dominic Torregroza.

Santa Clara Red Sox Palomino Team Advances to Zone Tournament. The Santa Clara Red Sox reached the championship of the region tournament at Washington Park and played Los Gatos in the championship game on July 26 after press time. Win or lose, the Red Sox advance to compete in the Zone tournament in Compton, CA July 28 to August 2. Winners of the Zone tournament advance to the World Series, also held in Compton. The Red Sox opened the Region tournament with a 9-4 win over the Los Altos/Mountain View Knights, followed by a 2-1 loss to Los Gatos. The Red Sox bounced back, defeating the San Mateo Locos 6-4, the San Mateo White Sox 5-0, the Santa Cruz Seals 5-5 and Los Gatos 5-4 to force the championship game. In the 9-4 win, Steven Thompson pitched a complete game (seven innings), striking out eight and allowing six hits. Jordan Funtila recorded three RBIs and a double in that game, while Nick Morehead recorded two RBIs, two SBs and a run. Gordon Madej and Pablo Hernandez added two runs each while Casey Thompson and Alex Medlin recorded RBIs. Tyler Davis picked up the tough 2-1 loss to Los Gatos, allowing no earned runs, and only one hit while striking out five and walking one. Morehead scored the lone run thanks to Chris Gomez' single. Hernandez, C. Thompson and Gomez recorded the only hits in the pitcher's duel. Zack Malik picked up the 6-4 win over the San Mateo Locos in relief for Brandon Paolinetti. Malik recorded four Ks and allowed two hits and a walk. C. Thompson led the offense with four hits, including a double, RBI and run, while S. Thompson added two RBI on a two-run HR. Gomez, Morehead, Madej and Davis added runs while Gomez and Madej each recorded an RBI. Stats for the wins over San Mateo White Sox, Santa Cruz Seals and Los Gatos were not available as of press time.

Wilcox and Santa Clara High Players Come Home Short of Babe Ruth World Series Bid. Several Wilcox and Santa Clara High players were part of the Mountain View Babe Ruth 16U-18U team that came up short in the Pacific Northwest Regional (encompasses California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, Hawaii and Guam) championship held in Modesto. Santa Clara native Ralph Maldonado coaches the team. On July 22, Tyler Barraclough picked up the win over Utah 5-3. Joey Estrella has two RBIs and was 1-for-1 at the plate. On July 23, the team fell 6-3 to Watsonville. Barraclough had two RBI in the loss. On July 24, the MVBR team fell 10-0 to San Benito. Coach Rafael Maldonado says, "We hit the ball over the weekend very well, but nothing to show. Sometimes line drives are not good when they are hit straight to the outfielder." Including the tournament, the MVBR team was 20-4 this summer. Team members: Santa Clara High School Sean Oswald; Wilcox High School: Tyler Barraclough, Joey Bradley, Roberto Cuneo, Marcus Dibenedetto, Jack Forney, Brandon Huxtable and Marcus Maldonado.

Santa Clara Dynasty Lose to Santa Clara Broncos. The Dynasty, playing shorthanded, picked up their third loss of the year against the Santa Clara Broncos on Sunday, July 24. Starting pitcher Kyle Hatzenbuhler pitched 6.1 innings, giving up 11 hits, two homeruns and seven earned runs. Offensively, Jordan Fanara, Lou Agront, and Eric Barnes each had two hits in the 10-3 loss.

Sporting '94s are Finalists at Schwan's USA Cup. The Santa Clara Sporting '94s ended the 2011 Schwan's USA Cup as finalists after taking their one loss of the tournament to the Albion SC White Team from San Diego, the USYSA U15 Boys US National Champion finalist. Torrential rain, lightning and thunder were just some of the elements the Sporting 94 has to battle during the tournament held in Minnesota. The boys won four straight games, defeating St. Croix Team (Minnesota) 2-1, SC Waukesha Pumas (Wisconsin State Champs) 5-1, and LaRoca (Utah State Champs) 1-0 in bracket play, then easily won their semi-final match against Odyssey from Texas, but then lost 0-3 to Albion, the current US Champions from San Diego. Visit http://www.santaclarasporting.com/ for more information on Santa Clara Sporting Soccer.

Santa Clara Broncos Add New Rowing Coach. On July 22, former NCAA National Champion Elisabeth Johnson was added to the women's rowing coaching staff. Johnson, a graduate of Western Washington University, was most recently a volunteer assistant coach at St. Mary's College.

Santa Clara Native Carlos Hernandez Wins Again for Triple-A Oakland A's Affiliate Sacramento Rivercats. Hernandez pitched 5-2/3 innings; striking out four and allowing only three hits in a July 23 win vs. rival Reno. Hernandez improves to 5-3 on the season and posts a 4.55 ERA.