April 4, 2006

Westmont baseball takes aim at potential

Warriors drop heartbreakers to division leader Leland

By Justin Petersen
Staff Writer

Westmont’s 8-7 loss at Leland on March 29 epitomized Warrior efforts this season, where fate has matched the weather.

Hopes rose when senior Matt Medeiros belted a homerun in the opening inning versus the Chargers.

Westmont (3-9, 1-8) subsequently soared to a 5-1 lead by the third, challenging the Mount Hamilton Division favorite and the Mercury News’ fifth-ranked CCS squad, Leland (10-1-1, 8-0).

Yet, when Warrior starter Kyle McDonald left the game in the fourth inning, winds changed.

“Every game Kyle has pitched for us, we have been able to hold our opponents down,” said Westmont Coach John Salberg, in his third year leading the Warriors.

Trailing 5-3, Leland scored four unanswered runs, turning the total tally to 7-5. “It’s been an incredibly tough season,” said Salberg.

“We have a great team, full of outstanding guys. I love going out to work with them everyday. It’s just disappointing that we have lost the games we have. We played real well against Leland.”

The Warriors did not surrender. Junior Kyle Belshaw lofted a two-run homer in the top of the sixth, evening the score at 7-7.

“Going in to the sixth with a tie, we thought we had a good chance,” said Westmont senior Stephen Brady. “One of their coaches got thrown out and we scored the run. We had momentum.”

A Leland assistant was ejected for arguing a call, when the umpire beckoned a Charger batter to the plate, after it appeared that the batter was hit by a pitch. The umpire ruled that the batter intentionally leaned into the pitch.

However, Leland scored a run in the bottom of the inning, despite the distractions, and Westmont did not match it.

“When we left Wednesday without the win, there was total silence on the bus ride home,” said Brady. “We played one of the better games of the year, but still came home without a win, even with two home runs and no errors. What more can we possibly do?”

Despite results in the top half of the league schedule, Salberg said Westmont is still one of the better MHAL teams, talent-wise.

With the exception of two games, Westmont has lost by an average of 1.5 runs per contest, indicating that the Warriors possess potential enough to alter the outcome on any given day. The Warriors are mathematically still eligible for the CCS playoffs.

“We would have to win something like nine of our last 12,” said Salberg. “It’s a tall order, but I am serious when I say that I think we can do it. The only teams we haven’t seen yet are Leigh and Willow Glen. We’ll take it one game at a time.”

Westmont faced Leland again March 30, dropping another heartbreaker 3-1, despite playing the likely league champs within a clutch hit or break on the bases.

“Those are big games, not only from emotional standpoint, but also playing the best team in the league,” said Salberg. “Somebody tells us how well we played after every game. We appreciate it and respect it that coaches and umpires say ‘you guys are a heck of a team.’ But we would rather be on the winning side.”

Catcher Brady leads the Warriors in batting, posting a .308 average with two doubles and six runs batted in.

Salberg said Brady and senior Kelly Peterson have provided valiant leadership for the Warriors and will be the individuals to turn things around.

“The guys haven’t quit on themselves or anybody else all year,” he said. “We’re trying to keep the game simple, and stick to fundamentals. We have to trust ourselves.”

Westmont boys’ volleyball takes 3-0 win over Pioneer

Warriors improve to 8-10 overall, 4-3 in league play

By Diego Abeloos
Sports Editor

The Warriors bumped their league record above the .500 mark, taking a 3-0 home win over the Pioneer Mustangs on March 23.

Westmont’s Keith Nyberg (1) blocks a spike with help from teammate Martin Szezepaniak (18) during a 3-0 win for the Warriors over Pioneer on March 23.

Warriors team captain Navid Zohoury led the squad with 10 kills, while Jon Ng-Parish chipped in nine kills in the win. The win was Westmont’s four straight victory in league.

“We started off the season 0-3, and we’ve won our last four games in row, which is nice,” Westmont head coach Jeff Poppinga said. “With me, it always kind of starts off slow and then we slowly start to get things going and progressing, with my kids playing better and better. Hopefully, it continues.”

For Pioneer head coach Howard Gibson, the loss, which dropped the Mustangs’ record to 2-4 in league play, proved to be an unsettling development, considering the fact that Westmont is his old alma mater.

“I went to Westmont, and you don’t want to come to your old school and not do well, even if it was 36 years ago,” said Gibson. “I expected us to play a lot better, even with the team that I have.”

To make matters worse, Gibson dealt with the loss of one of his most consistent players in junior Ryan Williams. Williams pulled a hamstring a few days prior to the team’s match-up against Westmont, and is expected to miss a couple of weeks. All told, Gibson had just two reserve players for the game.

“That hurts,” Gibson said of losing Williams, the team captain. “Anytime you lose one player that’s the glue to keep everything together. We also lost another back row player to grades, and another one to a job. So, we went from 11 players to now eight, which doesn’t help. We’re going to be in that position for a couple of weeks.”

Pioneer played Westmont close in game one, battling back from an early 12-6 deficit to get within two points of the lead at 15-13. From that point on however, Westmont took over and made quick work of the Mustangs, finishing off game one with a 10-2 run, getting an ace on service from Keith Nyberg, as well as kills from Landen Jones and Ng-Parish to take a 25-15 win.

“His passing skills are just nails,” Poppinga said of Ng-Parish, who previously spent time as a setter in both high school and club volleyball. “His defensive skills are excellent. All over the court, he can dig hard-driven balls, he can read the dinks and come in to pass the dinks. …This year, I couldn’t afford to lose him as a setter, because he’s such a great passer and hitter.”

Pioneer hung close for the early portion of game two as well, battling to a 12-8 deficit before a 6-1 run from Westmont set Pioneer back nine points at 18-9. Despite a 6-3 scoring run by the Mustangs, Westmont went on to take game two by a 25-16 score, including a 4-1 run at the end to seal the win.

Game three proved to turn out like the previous two, with Pioneer hanging close, down only two in the early going at 9-7. But Westmont managed to put the finishing touches on the win soon after with a 10-1 scoring run to take a 20-8 lead, getting a pair of ace serves from Jones, as well as a pair of kills from Martin Szczepaniak. After a modest 3-1 run by Pioneer cut the lead to 10 at 21-11, Westmont finished game three on a 4-0 scoring run for a final score of 25-11.

Gibson said the loss was a bitter pill to swallow, citing inconsistent play from his team in a game he deemed winnable.

“There was no continuity tonight,” Gibson said of his team’s play. “We work on the same drills in practice all the time, where this should be second nature to them. They know that they’re supposed to crash whenever there’s a tip, or whenever there’s a powder-puff serve, that they’re supposed to move up. …I was surprised, I really was.”