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Unedited
1985? – the file is titled 1984
Smaller basketball Okayed. The state CIF has approved the use of a smaller basketball to be used in all high school girls games next year. The new ball is also lighter as well as smaller than the boys ball. The approved ball is 28 ½ to 29 inches around, weighs 18 to 20 ounces and has narrow one-eighth inch seams.
Ron Mehuron, varsity football. Bob Nicoliason, varsity assistant football. Vic Miguel, softball and varsity football assistant. Claude Sharp, head JV football and assistants Mark Hodges, Torez and Mike DiTano. Mark Hodges, head JV baseball and assistants Mike DiTano and Rich Castillo. Karl Grubaugh, boys water polo and swimming. Pete Newell, basketball and JV softball. Charles Burks, JV basketball and softball. Don Dempwolf, soccer. Rich King, assistant soccer. Bill Dodge, baseball. Ray Hunter, girls basketball and assistant baseball. Steve Pacheco, assistant baseball. Gian Starenari, cross country. Julie Goodwin. Volleyball. Bob Gallagher, golf. Brian Wall head track and assistant Marty Kruger. Dennis Mullen, girls and boys tennis. Carol Kreppel, girls swimming and Dave Fafara, diving. Ellwanger, wrestling.
1985?
FOOTBALL Practice games: Stevenson 6-35, Valley Christian 54-13 and Marello 0-7. Practice record 1-2. League: Soquel 14-55, North Monterey 6-34, Aptos 13-0, Harbor 0-12, Watsonville 14-7 and SLV 49-7. League record 3-3 for fourth place. The 3-3 SCCAL record is the best finish in league play in more than ten years. Season record 4-5.
Final league standings: North Monterey 5-1; Soquel 5-1; Harbor 4-2; Santa Cruz 3-3; Aptos 2-4; Watsonville 2-4 and SLV 0-6.
From the Sentinel. Santa Cruz Eyes An Up Year. Coach Ron Mehuron likes having 16 returning seniors, an experience offensive line and a solid group of linebackers. But there are things that temper his optimism. Like a roster with only 29 players, a shortage of running backs and an overall lack of depth. The offensive line returns virtually intact from last year. Tom Henderson and Noel Howe are the tackles, Art Danner and Rob Henry are the guards and Shawn Butts is the center. “Most of these guys have been together for a few years, so they should be that much better. They’re not particularly large, but I think they’re strong and quick all the way across. They will spend a fair amount of time opening holes for Jim Courtright, the Cards leading rusher. Jim has trimmed down and he is stronger. We are expecting a better performance from him. Speedy Kevin Hodges is a great kid, but he is a small type runner at 5-8, 155 and has to show he can break tackles,” said Mehuron. Quarterbacks are last years starter senior Rob Morris, juniors Chris Lovato and Terry Heintzen. One of them will probably double as a runner. Wide receivers are Keith Hodges, Gordon Robinson and Wade Wallace. Tight ends are Phil Jack and Sean Hawkins. The defense is anchored by a strong group of linebackers: Henry, Jack Wallace and Courtright. Back up linebackers are Bytheal Ratliff and Sean Hawkins. The linebackers are stronger and more physical than last year. Pat Dunn will start at free safety. Morris, Lovato, Joe Bersamin and Noah De La Cruz will round out the defensive backfield. Defensive linemen include Howe, Jim Mustain, Danner, Butts, Henderson, Virgil Cornelison and Doug Biddle. Mehuron sees the biggest problem is lack of depth. “We are strong one deep, but we lack proven backups at most positions. If we can stay fundamentally sound and get the kids to play to their potential, I’ll be a happy coach.”
From the Trident. The Cards began the season a winner defeating Soquel 7-0 in the League Jamboree. The game marked by the tragic injury to Mike Leimbach, which seemed to dampen the teams spirits and made winning their least concern. A pass from Rob Morris to Keith Hodges was good for a touchdown. In the second game against once powerhouse Aptos, ended in a defensive 0-0 tie. The bright spots for the Cards were Rob Morris and Jim Courtright, both helped stabilize the offensive attack.
The yearbook. Cards finish strong. The season for the Cardinal football team was like a roller coaster ride. They started off the season with a good note in the jamboree, coming in second. Going into league their record was one win and two losses. When Santa Cruz dropped three straight in league, it looked like it might be a long season. But Santa Cruz turned things completely around, winning their last three games to post a 3-3 record in league, and a 4-5 overall record.
Rest from the Sentinel. Santa Cruz Gets Run Over By Stevenson 35-6. SC gave Robert Louis Stevenson a tough game for three quarters. SC trailed 14-0 at half and cut the margin to 14-6 in the third quarter, when outside linebacker Jim Courtright stole the ball from a Stevenson runner and went 95 yards for a touchdown. “We did have a number of decent drives that bogged down. But the defense broke down. Our pursuit angles weren’t good and we got poor tackling. Fundamentals hurt us today,” said Coach Ron Mehuron. Courtright, who played both offense and defense was the Cards leading rusher with 17 carries for 68 yards. The Cards virtually had no aerial attack. Last years starting quarterback was replaced by junior Terry Henitzen with 4:39 left in the game.
Santa Cruz Scalps Valley Christian 54-13. SC tailback Jim Courtright pounded the mid-section of the defense for 202 rugged yards and quarterback Rob Morris delivered the knockout punch with three passing and two rushing touchdowns. Valley Christian beat Mitty of San Jose 13-3 two weeks ago. Courtright finished the game on the bench as subs were inserted. But after running the ball 28 times, kicking off nine times and converting 4 of 6 extra points, he needed a rest. Or did he? “No my legs are fine. My elbows hurt,” said Courtright, whose shuffling style of running frustrated Warrior tacklers all evening. “The line opened up good holes. We were fired up all week and we came fired up tonight. We didn’t let up all game,” said Courtright. Whether slamming into the line or finding a cut-back lane around end, Courtright bounced off, bowled over or carried would-be tacklers. “They hit hard. But I found that if I hit them at an angle I could keep my legs going and get away,” said Courtright. The Cards went three and punt in their first possession. However, the next eight times the Card offense took the field, touchdowns were at the end of each series. Drives of 52, 49, 80, 83, 50, 56, 77and 16 yards ended in the end zone. A 23 yard drive ended at the two at the final horn. Morris, quarterbacked the first two and two-thirds quarters, spread the points around. A 23 yard pass to Sean Hawkins, a play action fake right with a rollout left that finished with a delicate pass just inside the end zone flag started the rout. Morris completed three of his six pass attempts and all were for TD’s. He tossed a 27 yarder to Kevin Hodges half way through the second quarter for a 13-0 lead. Valley scored to make it 13-7. Morris came right back, engineering an 11 play drive that consumed five minutes. Morris hit Hodges again for 18 yards and then ran across the two point conversion. Courtright ran for 380 yards and Morris rushed for 70 yards in 10 carries.
Cards Change Of Part. Courtright Puts Heart Into Work. The book on Jim Courtright is he holds onto his grades, 3.62 GPA, as well as the football. It was last Spring and Jim Courtright knew what he had to do. First was to improve his time in the 40 yard dash from a slow 5.3 to at least 4.9 seconds and he needed to get stronger. “Jim told us he wanted to play tailback and we told him what he’d have to do to play it,” said Coach Ron Mehuron. Last season, he realized his weakness as far as having the stamina it takes to play tailback and he worked all through Spring on it. Hours on hours of weightlifting and running were to follow. Baseball one of his favorite sports had to take a back seat to tedium and pain. Fifteen fewer pounds, but more muscle. The rugged 5-10, 180 pound Courtright was a plodding fullback last season as a junior. In one season, he was supposed to go full circle, from a crasher to more of a dasher. Spot the hole, hit it quickly and bolt through. Jim has a realistic outlook, knowing full well that for college scouts, he has neither eye catching speed nor size to get a college scholarship. (he is more likely to be a walk on somewhere). So he works to get the most out of his God-given ability. “It’s not fun at all. I try not to get down, but I still have to get down on myself to do it,” said Courtright. Coach Mehuron was his work out partner. Mehuron is willing to let Courtright work into the position, learning the necessary footwork, how to read blocks and where they holes are supposed to be. Part of the reason is Mehuron likes Courtright’s work habits, intelligence a 3.6 student, willingness to learn and a winning never say die attitude. “We’ve won with him before,” said Mehuron, referring to Courtrights sophomore season, when the frosh-soph were 7-1. Two games into the season, Courtright is the second leading rusher in the SCCAL with 270 yards for a 5.9 yard per carry average, just eight yards behind the top rusher. “I can always do better. I’ll never quit trying, because I’ll never be at 100 percent in sports. There’s always someone better than you. Some people say you’ve done the best you can do. I always say that I can do better,” said Courtright.
Marello Cools Off Santa Cruz …Again. After hitting pay dirt eight times last week, this week the Cards were shut out 7-0. Last year the Panthers shut out SC 14-0 after the Cards had won their previous game 29-6. Twice in the fourth quarter SC was inside the Marello 20 yard line, but costly penalties and the inability to convert fourth down plays stopped the drives. A mishandled punt by SC set up the only score of the night. A punt bounced off the chest of the punt returner on the SC 18 yard line and was recovered by Marello. On a pass into the end zone, the SC defender slipped on the infield dirt at Harvey West Park and the receiver was all alone to catch the 18 yard pass for a TD. Bad hands and bobbled balls plagued the SC receivers, while the offensive line failed to pick up their blocks and open holes. Courtright carried 25 times for 96 yards, earned most of his yards the hard way, plowing into a solid wall of defenders. Wade Wallace was the top SC receiver. SC out gained Marello 188 to 97.
Soquel Continues Its Dominance Of Santa Cruz. Soquel Overwhelms SC 54-14 despite an outstanding game by Wade Wallace. After Soquel held a 14-0 lead, Wallace caught a short end zone pass to cut the deficit to 14-7. SC was willing to try anything this night, so Wallace on an option pass to Keith Hodges got the Cards down to the Soquel 30, but an interception stopped the drive. The Card defense held Soquel scoreless in the third quarter. SC’s final score came on a 20 yard touchdown pass to Wallace, earning him this weeks MVP award. At this time Jim
Courtright is the league leading rusher with 453 yards in 91 carries.
Condors Start Slow, But Finish With Flurry. Cards Overcome In Second Half By NMC 34-6. North Monterey County led only 6-0 at halftime, but scored 21 points in the first seven and a half minutes of the third quarter. SC finally got on the scoreboard with six second left in the game, when new quarterback Terry Heintzen tossed a 31 yard TD pass to Sean Hawkins. Up until that point, the Card offense had been Courtright, who gained 139 yards on 30 crunching carries. The Condors are now 6-0 and ranked fourth in CCS Division II.
Defense Too Tough For Aptos for a 13-0 win for the Cards. SC was pumped up for the game. The defense played their best game of the year, stopping the run as well as the pass. Aptos’ quarterback was stifled throughout the game as SC kept him under heavy pressure. He threw three interceptions, and got sacked two times. The Cards defense also had two good goal line stands, causing a fumble on one and good gang tackling on the other. With three minutes left in the game, Aptos was pounding on the door of SC’s end zone for the umpteenth time. A heavy rush on the quarterback by Rob Henry caused the quarterback to throw off balance and cornerback Keith Hodges intercepted and ran it back 40 yards to the Aptos 40 yard line. A unnecessary roughness call put the ball on the 25 and another 15 yard penalty set the table for the Cards. Terry Heintzen hit Sean Hawkins at the five for a first down. Jim Courtright ran it in. Then he made the extra point to put the Cards ahead 7-0. Late in the fourth quarter Aptos threw another interception that Noah De La Cruz picked off an ran to the Aptos ten. On the second play with 36 seconds left, Courtright ran it in from seven yards out. MVP’s for the game were the Card defense and Terry Heintzen, who kept his poise after being rattled a couple of times early in the game. Courtright, the leagues leading rusher came into the game with 592 yards, led all runners with 93 yards on 30 carries. Heintzen completed 5 of 13 passes for 99 yards and one interception. Statistically, both defenses played well. SC limited the Mariners to just four first downs and 93 yards of totals offense. Rob Henry was the most visible member of the Card defense. Coach Ron Mehuron said, “We have begun to see that we can play well as long as we play as a team. We played a tough first half against North Monterey last week. After that, the setbacks during a game don’t seem to bother us as much.”
Harbor Survives Upset Bid By Cards. Santa Cruz battles on even terms for three quarters before Pirates pull it out. Santa Cruz Wears Down In Fourth Quarter. After battling to a 0-0 tie through three quarters. SC lost to Harbor 12-0. SC on the opening kickoff drove to mid field before punting. Harbor proceeded to drive to the Cards five yard line, when Harbor fumbled into the end zone and Phillip Jack recovered. On the next sequence, Harbor drove to the five again, when Sean Hawkins batted the ball away. Harbor attempted a field goal and missed. With two minutes left in the half, Jim Courtright, who had 135 yards rushing on the night, ran for 40 yards to cross the goal line, but a penalty nullified the score.
Pre-game write up for the Santa Cruz vs. Watsonville game in the Sentinel. The two schools started playing one another in 1905, to a 0-0 tie and tonight renew the longest running match up in the state. Watsonville has a 35-29 lead in the series with nine ties. Both teams have 1-3 league records.
Santa Cruz Hangs On Against Cats. Courtright and Defense Lead To Homecoming Win. Led by the running of Jim Courtright and a strong and stingy defense, the Cards downed Watsonville 14-7 at homecoming. SC took control at the opening gun, when Chris Lovato hit Keith Hodges with a 25 yard pass to the Wildcat 39 yard line. Courtright took it in from there and the extra point was good. SC had two first quarter possessions in Watsonville territory brought on by a fumble recovery by Noah De La Cruz at the Wildcat 26 and Wade Wallace’s blocked punt that went out of bounds on the Wildcat’s 16, but were unable to score. Keith Hodges opened the second half with an interception, but no score resulted. In the third quarter, two plays after Phillip Jack recovered a fumble on the Wildcat 13, Courtright scored his second touchdown of the game on a 8 yard run around left end. The Cards were changing from their football spikes into their dancing shoes a little early Friday night. It may have been their homecoming game, but there are still 48 minutes in a football game. With a 14-0 lead and six minutes left in the game, the Cards heard some tunes and saw dozens of pretty girls antsy to two-step. SC appeared to sit back and watch the fourth quarter tick away. Watsonville cut the lead in half, 14-7 with 5:39 remaining, but the Cards snapped their collective minds back to the matter at hand. Courtright ran for 119 yards on 26 carries and wrapped up the rushing title with 939 yards gained with one game to go.
Courtright Runs Over SLV 49-7. He Gains 218 yards. But Misses Record By Eight Yards. Just about everyone at SCHS wanted Jim Courtright to run and run and never stop. “Yards, yards, yards,” the Cards chanted between plays from the sideline. Courtright entered the game with 939 yards rushing for the season and needed 226 to break Glenn Hill’s school single season record of 1165 in 1982. The SCCAL record belongs to Charlie Smith, who ran for 1213 in 1979 at Harbor. It was not to be. Despite a brilliant game of 218 yards, four touchdowns, seven PAT’s and 31 points. Quarterback Chris Lovato found time to team up with Wade Wallace for two touchdowns of 34 and 15 yards. “We weren’t trying to run up the score. We just wanted to give Jim the ball. He gave so much to this team,” said coach Mehuron. Courtright said, “I’m the happiest I’ve ever been. This was my best game. I couldn’t have done it with out the offensive line.”
Courtright Finally Gets School Record. Film of Game Shows Error Was Made. The Sentinel borrowed the game tape from Coach Mehuron and viewed the tape of the game twice and found that Courtright had carried the ball 35 times for 235 yards to set the school single season rushing record of 1176 yards.
From Trident. Last years quarterback Rob Morris started the first four games. Terry Heintzen took over the controls as quarterback in the fifth game and did a good job towards the end of the year. When Terry got hurt, Chris Lovato took over. He did good as well, winning our homecoming game and the SLV game, which was the last game. Jim Courtright had an exceptional year. The Cards’ defense come on very strong towards the end of the year, holding the last three teams to only fourteen points. The Cards finished with a 3-3 SCCAL record, the best finish in league play in more than ten years.
Some recognition of players by Johnny Johnson. Wade Wallace seemed to come up with big plays either on offense were he played wide receiver where he had 30 catches for six touchdowns or defense as a linebacker. Rob Henry a linebacker was the teams best defensive player. Phillip Jack was superb as a linebacker. Jim Courtright who broke the school rushing record.
Sentinel All County team: Offensive Player of the Year, Jim Courtright. Offense: senior running back, 5-10, 175, Jim Courtright; senior guard, 6-0, 190 Rob Henry.
Honorable mention: Art Danner, Noah De La Cruz, Noel Howe, Phillip Jack, Wade Wallace.
FROSH-SOPH FOOTBALL Practice games: Stevenson 15-14, Valley Christian 7-18, Marello 21-12. Practice record 2-1. League: Soquel 22-32, Watsonville 0-20. League record 0-6. Season record 2-7.
Yearbook. Team members were Steve Golsh, David Chase, Scotty Roberson, Leonard Ruth, Richard Holm, John Nield, Darryl Ratliff, Geoffrey Rashe, Danny Cooper Richard Guerrero, Jeff Newmann, Booth Wainscoat, Peter Maestas. Charlie Ruiz, Peter Discoe, James Holliday, Gonio Martinez, Darren Palmer, Scott Lowe, Joel Griggs, Matt Zwerling, Ramon Cornejo, Mike Stange, Robert Porter, Andrew Danner, Bobby Huckaby, Hugo Cornejo and Mike Nevin.
Head coach Claude Sharp and assistant coaches Mark Hodges, Mike DiTano and Torrez.
All JV material from the Trident.
In the season opening JV Jamboree, the Cards lost to Soquel 7-0 in the first game and lost to North Monterey 16-0 in the second game. The outstanding player for SC at the Jamboree was quarterback Chris Lovato. The defense played much better than the offense.
In the win against Stevenson, the Cards were down 7-14 with three minutes to play. Quarterback David Chase hit Darryl Ratliff with a five yard touchdown pass to tie the score and John Nield run in a two point conversion for the 15-14 victory.
Our frosh-soph football team started fast this year and seemed headed for a fine season, until league started. After a 2-1 preseason, the JV’s started league with high hopes, but they went 0-6 in league for a overall record of 2-7. Twice the offense scored over twenty points. The offense was more than respectable and was led by Darryl Ratliff, David Chase, Mike Keller, James Holliday, and company. But because they were usually behind, Santa Cruz was forced to pass. With Ratliff, we had a weapon, but when he was doubled-teamed we were in trouble. Quarterback David Chase was often seen scrambling away from pressure, caused by offensive line breakdowns.
On Defense, Ratliff, Keller and Nevin contributed in the secondary, while Scott Robertson, James Holliday, and Gonio Martinez helped as the line backing core. On the line, Booth Wainscoat and Peter Maestas rushed the opposing quarterbacks.
Soquel Running Too Much For Cards. Despite a fine offensive output by SC, the JV’s were defeated 22-32 by Soquel. Soquel scored first. Darryl Ratliff got the Cards going grabbing a deflected pass and he juked, jived and sprinted his way into the end zone for a 60 yard touchdown to make the score 6-7. At the beginning of the second quarter, Luis Reese recovered a fumble, giving SC excellent field position. Mike Keller grabbed a screen pass from David Chase at midfield, got two excellent blocks and raced down the sideline to put SC ahead 12-7. Chase hit Robert LaPointe for the two point conversion to make it 14-7. Soquel scored to make it 14-13 at halftime. SC went into the locker room having played one of its best halves of the season. Soquel scored to make the score 14-20. On the kick off SC let the ball roll dead on the two yard line and Soquel recovered as it is a free ball and scored again. Ratliff caught another short pass, cut back and used his speed to go 90 yards for a touchdown. Jon Neal bullied his way in for a two point conversion to close the score to 22-26. Soquel scored again to make the final 22-32 score. Highlights for SC were David Chase’s three TD passes, two to Ratliff, this weeks MVP in a losing effort.
Watsonville Shuts Out Cards 20-0 on a dark and gloomy Homecoming night. Watsonville opened the game with two touchdowns in the first quarter to take a 12-0 lead. SC made a goal line stand to start the second quarter. Darryl Ratliff caught a pass to the SC 20 and then the Cards drove to midfield, but that was it. In the second half Mike Keller intercepted a pass and Ratliff intercepted a pass on the Card two yard line. With seven minutes left in the game Watsonville scored their last points.
November. Led by the pin point passing of David Chase and a strong defense, SC beat Marello 21-12. Mike Keller got SC going with a 60 yard touchdown run. Following the kick off, the SC defense was gang-tackling effectively and forced Marello into errors. One of these errors was cashed in by Darryl Raliff, whose interception and return put the ball on the five yard line. Mike Nevin ran a sweep for a touchdown to put SC ahead 13-0. Strong defense forced a punt and with seconds left in the first half, SC had the ball on the Marello 30. A combination of Chase and Ratliff is becoming a big play tandem. These two hooked up for a 25 yard touchdown pass, but a penalty nullified the play to leave the score 13-0. A 98 yard kick off return made the score 13-6. Marello intercepted a pass and completed two passes for first downs to put the ball on the SC nine yard line. A four yard touchdown run made the score 13-12, as the Cards blocked the extra point kick. From midfield Chase and the SC offense got rolling. Chase hit Robert La Pointe for a 20 gain, to the Marello 38. Chase hit La Pointe again on the five and La Pointe broke tackles and retained his balance into the end zone. Chase again went to La Pointe for the two point conversion to put SC up 21-12. The SC defense took over and sacked the Marello quarterback twice to end the game.
Darryl Ratliff a freshman was voted the JV most valuable player. Ratliff played wide receiver and defensive back. He scored eight touchdowns, six of which covered more than 40 yards and the other two were over 80 yards. Ratliff was the class of the league, using his cat like quickness to leave opposing defenses look like statues. He also used his quickness on defense intercepting four passes. Other athletes receiving recognition were David Chase, quarterback; James Holiday running back/defensive back; Scott Roberson, linebacker; Mike Nevin, running back/defensive back; Jon Neal, fullback/defensive lineman. Others mentioned in the article were Gonio Martinez, Mike Keller and Peter Maestas.
CROSS COUNTRY
Yearbook. The cross country team has done a good job this year. They have given the teams they played a run for their money. The boys’ team did an outstanding job going to the league, regional finals and taking third place overall. After the league and regional finals, the boys went to CCS for the first time in the history of Santa Cruz High.
The girls’ team went out this year with incredible spirit taking fourth overall in league and the regionals. Lynette Mungai made it to CCS where she did a great job.
The most valuable player goes to Brandy Smith and Lynette Mungai. Sportsmanship awards went to Pat Sullivan and Nichole Burdette.
Sentinel November 9. NMC Boys, Girls League Champs. (North Monterey took all five divisions, which includes the girls and boys junior varsity and boys frosh-soph.
The scoring for the boys was North Monterey 41, Harbor 51, SC 81 (this is all the scoring available in the article. No names other than Mungai mentioned either.)
(There was no scoring figures for the girls) Lynette Mungai missed taking second place by 2.3 seconds. Lynette’s time was 20:24.7 for third place.
North Monterey runners took first places in the three other races: boys junior varsity, girls junior varsity and boys frosh-soph and also took all three team titles.
All league runners are eligible for the CCS Region IV Championship on Wednesday at Crystal Springs in Belmont. The top four teams and the top ten percent of individuals in the field are to qualify for the CCS Championships on November 20.
Trident from November. Cross Country Improved From Last Year. New coach Gian Starenari feels the league title isn’t to big a goal for his boys team of Brandy Smith, Pat Sullivan, Bill Bennett, Eric Hilger, Victor Penero, Vincent Penero, Brad Norton, Matt Williams, James Locks and Roland Von der Mule. The star running is Brandy Smith who took first place in the first two meets with Soquel and North Monterey. The rest of the team was close behind. This is the first year in a long time SC has fielded a full girls team. They are Lynette Mungai, Carlena Wallace, Samatha Conn, Nichole Burdett, Melanie Cruz and Rena Arrell. Veteran runner Lynette Mungai took first place in two of the three meets she competed in. Lynette, “Wishes more people would come out for the team, but thinks the team will do well this season.”
Sentinel September 28. SC boys rolled over Soquel 18-40. Brandon Smith took first place in the 2.5 mile course with a time of 13:56.
Soquel girls downed SC 23-32. Lynette Mungai took first in 17:15.
In the boys frosh-soph competition Soquel defeated SC.
Sentinel October 5. North County Runs Streak to 30 Straight. Brandon Smith ran the 2.1 mile course at UCSC to take first place in 11:37, the best time of the season for any runner and one of the top ten of all time ever over the UCSC course for SC competition. SC had an upset in mind, but lost 26-31. Coach Gian Starinieri said, “We should have beaten them.” The Cards made it close despite the fact the their number two man Eric Hilger was running with a high fever and number five man Matt Williams was injured and unavailable for duty. Hilger gave it his best shot, but faded to a tenth place finish.
The girls ran an incomplete race, but Lynette Mungai took first place in 14:53.
October 12. In another close meet against a top foe, SC also lost to Watsonville 26-31. (no other information)
Lynette Mungai took first place in the girls competition in 21:05.
October 14. At the fourteenth Annual Aptos Invitational meet, Bill Bennett took ninth place in 13:52.
October 19. SC slipped past SLV 27-29. All five Cardinals equaled or beat their season bests, led by Brandon Smith with a first place time of 11:38. SC upped its record to 2-3, same as the girls.
The girls topped SLV 26-29. Lynette Mungai won her four straight race in 14:47 as SC raised its record to 2-3.
In the boys junior varsity race SC and SLV both ran incomplete. James Lock took first place in 13:00.
October 26. SC topped Aptos 20-39 at the 2.1 mile course at UCSC. Brandon Smith took first in 11:39 and Vince Panero finished second as SC even its record to 3-3 in league.
In the girls, Aptos remains unbeaten with a 25-34 victory over SC. SC sophomore Lynette Mungai won for her fifth straight league meet in 14:23, after losing to the best runner in the area in her first meet. SC fell to 2-4 in league.
GIRLS TENNIS CHAMPIONS FOR SECOND YEAR IN A ROW.
Practice matches: Notre Dame 7-0, Salinas 5-2, Carmel 3-4, RLS 4-3, North Salinas 7-0, Monte Vista of Cupertino 6-1. Practice record 5-1. League: Aptos 6-1, 5-2. Nothing of other league teams. League record 10-0 for the championship. CCS playoffs: Oceana 7-0, Gunn 0-7. Final record according to the Sentinel 16-4.
Yearbook. Won the first round of CCS. which has never been done before by either girls’ or boys’ teams. (When SC was in the North Coast Section, before CCS was formed, the boys teams regularly played in the section meet and did well.)
For the girls tennis team, season went rather well. Once again the girls’ team was coached by Denny Mullen, and as usual he did a fantastic job. The overall record was 16 wins and 4 losses, yet in league they dominated with 10 wins and no losses. For the second year in a row the girls were league champions. Last year, they tied for first with Aptos yet this year they clearly dominated the Mariners.
This year’s varsity team included the top four singles players in order of the ladder one to four, Jenny Newman, Gloria Zwerling, Mara Meyberg and Sharon Kilmartin. Playing doubles were the teams of Amy Rinaldi and Hilary Hultzen; Stephanie Kwan and Jennifer Mullen; Liz Bertrand and Jane Wolfe. Substituting for the varsity team were freshman Lizzie Christensen and Becky Fomasi. The junior varsity team included Hilary Gillette, Grace Coulson, Sarah Alpert, Sabrina Hall and Naomi Goldfrank. The highlights of the season were beating Aptos twice, and winning first round of CCS against Oceana 7-0, which has never been done before by either girls’ or boys’ teams. Overall, it was a great season!
Varsity players won and loss records with wins first and losses next.
Jenny Newman 15/5; Gloria Zwerling 12/8; Mara Meyberg 12/8; Sharon Kilmartin 15/5; Hilary Hultzen 17/3; Amy Rinaldi 18/2; Jennifer Mullen 17/3; Stephanie Kwam 17/3; Liz Bertrand 17/3 and Jane Wolfe 16/4.
Rest the Sentinel.
Nov. 7. Santa Cruz Wraps Up Net Title. In a match that was suspended because of darkness, when continued ended with a 5-2 SC win, ending the season with SC going a undefeated 10-0 in league followed by Aptos at 8-2. “Our goal is always to win league, even though we didn’t know how good a team we had when we started the season. I thought the kids were capable of playing really well and I think what they’ve done is improve throughout the season,” coach Dennis Mullen.
SC started the season with five returning players and four new players on its varsity team. “The thing that’s really exciting for me is that this team is really young,” said Coach Mullen. Number three singles player Mara Meyberg and number three doubles player Liz Bertrand will graduate.
SC led 3-1, when play was suspended and needed only one more win to lock up the title. Gloria Zwerling won her match 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 in the number two singles match, to clinch the title right away. The icing on the cake was provided by the number three doubles team of Bertrand and Jane Wolfe, who won 6-1, 6-4. Number one Card, Jenny Newman lost her match 6-3, 3-6, 5-7.
SC, which tied with Aptos last year for the SCCAL title will take a 15-3 record into the CCS team tournament at Las Palmas Tennis Center in Sunnyvale.
Nov. 14. Easy Win For Santa Cruz. Getting past the first round of the CCS team play wasn’t too hard for SC. SC blasted North Peninsula league champion Ocean, 7-0, but will go up against second seeded Gunn next. “I thought we would win, but I didn’t think it would be this easy,” said coach Mullen. Against Ocean, SC failed to lose a set and lost only 14 games. In number one singles, Jenny Newman blasted her opponent 6-0, 6-0.
Nov. 15. Cardinals Shut Out In CCS. For the second straight year a SCCAL team ran into Gunn in the second round of CCS and with the same result, a 7-0 loss, but last year it was Aptos losing. “They really surprised me. I didn’t think they would be that good,” said Coach Mullen of the second seeded Santa Clara Valley Athletic League champions. ‘I don’t think we’re really that bad a team as the score indicates,” Mullen. In singles matches, the Cards failed to win a set and won only eight games among them. In doubles competition SC has lost, but eight times all season in 60 matches, three of those coming from Gunn. Jenny Newman went down 1-6, 2-6. The best match of the day was in the number one doubles were Amy Rinaldi and Hilary Hultzen gave a good account of themselves losing 5-7, 5-7.
The Cards end the season 16-4, but they have the nucleus of the team back next year, losing number three singles player Mara Meyberg and number three doubles player Liz Bertand to graduation.
Nov. 20. At the CCS girls singles and doubles championships, sophomore Jenny Newman lost in the first round of singles 0-6, 2-6. “The score doesn’t tell how well she played,” coach Mullen. As the SCCAL singles champion, she was the only player from the league to qualify for CCS singles. Newman, who was 15-5 during the dual-match season was unseeded.
In the first round of doubles play, freshman Hilary Hultzen and sophomore Amy Rinaldi lost in three sets 6-3, 3-6, 3-6. Hultzen and Rinaldi are two of eight starting players, who will return next year, while most of the other doubles players were upper classmen. Mullen said, “They are still some of the better kids from here. I am really happy with this year of this team winning the SCCAL title.
Sept. 14. SC Rolls blasting Notre Dame 7-0 in the season opener. Jenny Newman got the Cards off to a flying start with a 6-0, 6-1 victory in the number one singles. SC never looked back, losing only 14 games on the afternoon.
Sept. 19. SC Tops Salinas 5-2. SC’s win over Salinas marked only the second time SC has topped the Cowboys. SC won all three of the three set matches. The best of the bunch was a 2-6, 6-4, 7-5 come-from-behind victory by Gloria Zwerling in the number two singles. Three year varsity player, Stephanie Kwan suffered her first loss ever in high school competition. Kwan, a junior, was unbeaten in a combined 25 singles and doubles matches at SC.
Oct. 7. Cardinals clipped. SC won all three doubles matches, but Carmel won all four singles matches to win 4-3. SC is 3-3 on the season.
Oct. 16. SC Nets Victory over RLS 4-3 to up its record to 7-3. SC lost the first three singles matches, but Sharon Kilmartin won the number four singles match 6-3, 6-1.and SC swept the three doubles matches for the win. Coach Mullen, “Sharon played real well.” Liz Betrand and Stephanie Kwan clinched the win for SC with a 6-3, 2-6, 6-4 win at number two doubles after the two teams split the first six matches .
Oct/ 18. New Look, Another Win. Playing with a shuffled lineup didn’t seem to bother SC as it racked up its eighth victory of the season with a 7-0 win over North Salinas. Gloria Zwerling play number one singles and won in straight sets and from there SC breezed to up their record to 8-3.
Oct. 21. Santa Cruz Alone At Top. SC took over sole possession of first place with a convincing 6-1 win over Aptos, who had been tied with SC with 5-0 records. Sophomore Jenny Newman swept last years league champion in straight sets 6-1, 6-3. Of the six wins by SC all were in straight sets. SC is now 10-3.
Oct. 28. Santa Cruz Nets Victory. SC defeated Monta Vista of Cupertino 6-1, by winning three singles matches and three doubles matches. SC is now 13-3 on the season. Jenny Newman, SC’s number one player breezed winning in straight sets 6-0, 6-0.
At the SCCAL individual singles and double championships, sophomore Jenny Newman won the singles championship and Hilary Hultzen and Amy Rinaldi were finalist in the double competition.
BOYS WATER POLO
From the yearbook. This year’s water polo team had a very disappointing season, It all started when our pool fell apart in the first week of the season. After that we all had to travel every night to Harbor High and practice under the lights. The Varsity team lacked the experience it needed to become a contender while the real talent was left to waste away at the J V level. The Varsity had only three seniors, Cary Smith, Nick Mitchell and David Morris, while the rest were swimming for their first year. Nick Mitchell is in his third year as goalie. Jim Herbert, Britt Hoberg, Mark Drovac, Jim Murphy and David Meyberg were all juniors and look forward to a better team next year.
The JV team had a lot of talent that will be assets to next years varsity. Real fish of the team were Jon Melton and Billy Hackbarth, who look forward to terrorizing the Varsity league next year. Other JV players looking forward to playing with the big boys are David Mellon, Isaac Camner, Robert Camacho is the goalie, Chris Shumate, Jason Allison and Alex Curotto. Congratulations to everyone who made it through the rough year and I hope we have as many people out next year that were out this year. Coach Karl Grubaugh.
Britt Hoberg was chosen the teams best player and David Morris got the sportsmanship award. For the JV team Bill Hackbarth won the MVP award. Eric Ulwelling won the sportsmanship award.
Sentinel. Sept. 27. Soquel 20, SC 3. Soquel’s pressing defense was too much for the Cards. Soquel led 12-0 at halftime. In the frosh-soph game SC won 17-7. John Melton score seven goals.
Oct. 18. Watsonville 11, SC 8.
Oct. 25. Harbor 15, SC 3.
Nov. 1. Aptos 11, SC 3. SC is in last place at 0-7. Frosh-soph, SC won 7-2, to improve its record to 5-2.
Nov. 8. SC picked up its first victory of the season, defeating Watsonville 9-4. Sophomores Billy Hackbarth scored four goals and John Melton scored two goals, in their first varsity action. Bret Hoberg added three.
Nov. 11. At the SCCAL championship tournament, Harbor beat SC 17-3. Aptos then beat SC 14-9 to eliminate the Cards. In the first round of play, SC beat Watsonville 13-9.
Trident November. For the varsity
Britt Hoberg won the award for being the best player
David Morris won the sportsmanship award.
Bill Hackbarth was voted team MVP
For the JV, Eric Ulwelling won the sportsmanship award
Nov. 19. Bill Hackbarth was selected second team ALL SCCAL water polo. Honorable mention: Jim Murphy.
GIRLS’ SWIMMING came in fourth at the league meet, but lost only one dual meet.
The JV’s took fourth.
In the league diving competition, the three varsity divers, Renee Alvado, Jennifer House and Molly Courtright took third, fifth and sixth places all qualifying for the CCS meet. The team is coached by Carol Kreppel and diving coach Dave Fafara.
The girl’s swimming team had an extremely victorious season. They managed to win every meet including over our rival team Harbor High, except for a loss to Live Oak, Some of our outstanding swimmers were once again Heidi Whiting, and Katy Rautanen, an exchange student from Finland. Some extraordinary achievements were made by the following seniors: Janice Rosebraugh, Jan Le Ber, Vicki Corley and Tara Dellamora. Hopefully, next year’s team will be as prosperous as this one proved to be.
Sentinel Nov. 10. Live Oak wins SCCAL swim title for second consecutive year. Live Oak had 313 points, Soquel 204, Harbor 172.
Suzy Wickum finished second in 100 freestyle in 59.89 and third in 200 freestyle in 2:11.06. Carrie Kreppel was third in the 100 breaststroke in 1:20.56. Sister Traci finished third in the 200 individual medley in 2:30.79. Jennifer Houser qualified for CCS in diving. SC star Heidi Whiting was not able to compete due to illness.
Sentinel Nov. 12 Prep Swimming Statistics, by event, place, name and time.
200 Freestyle
2 Whiting 2:10.09
3 Wickum 2:10.74
200 Individual Medley
2 Whiting 2:27.61
4 T. Kreppel 2:30.79
50 Freestyle
3 T. Kreppel 26.96
5 Wickum 27.19
Diving
2 Houser 172.65
100 Butterfly
4 C. Kreppel 1:08.71
100 Freestyle
1 T. Kreppel 59.43
3 Wickum 59.72
50 Freestyle
1 Whiting 5:54.63
100 Baclstroke
2 Whiting 1:07.73
4 T. Kreppel 1:11.10
100 Breaststroke
2 C. Kreppel 1:30.56
5 McPherson 1:22.58
ALL SCCAL Rennee Alvado, Jennifer House and Molly Courtright all divers.
VOLLEYBALL League games: Aptos, two wins; Soquel, two losses; SLV, two wins; Watsonville, two wins; North Monterey, two wins and Harbor, Loss, Win. League record 9-3 tied for second place.
Yearbook. Cards Play Volleyball. This was a victorious season for the Cardinal varsity as they proved to the league that they were indeed a strong power, not to be overlooked. Past season records for Santa Cruz volleyball have resulted in third or fourth place SCCAL finishes. But improvement this year, led the Cards to a second place tie with the Soquel Knights. Although Santa Cruz was denied a spot in the CCS playoffs this year (due to defeat in both matches against the Knights), the Cards power was proven in their triumph over league champion Harbor High. Led by the outstanding play of all-league honored Donna Beronia, a senior middle-hitter, and Amy Ball, a junior setter. The Cardinals downed the Pirates in two games, displaying the best match of the season and showed enthusiasm and skill from which future victorious seasons will be foreshadowed. The other contributors to the Santa Cruz squad’s power are senior hitter, Laura Thompson, junior outside hitter Angie Work and Jana Burr, sophomores Lauren Freeman and Mindy Hawkins, and freshman setter Molly Ball
Sentinel. Sept. 26 In the league opener, SC dropped Aptos with a quick 15-3, 15-6 win. SC won the JV match 15-4, 15-2.
Sept. 28. Soquel downed SC 15-13, 15-8. SC is 1-1 in league.
Oct. 3. SC stopped SLV 15-10, 15-13.
Oct. 10. SC blasts Watsonville 15-6, 15-0.
Oct. 12. SC beat North Monterey 16-14, 8-15, 15-6 led by the hitting of Amy Ball. Harbor is unbeaten at 5-0, followed by SC and Soquel tied for second at 4-1.
Oct. 17. SC came out and won the first game against Harbor 18-16, but lost the next two 4-15, 12-15. Going into the big game with Harbor the Cards were tied with Soquel for second place with 4-1 records. Harbor is 5-0. Harbor got off to a quick 4-0 led. SC score twice, then Angie Work then took over, served six consecutive serves to bring the score to 8-4.
Harbor scored some, then Jana Burr got in three serves. During the three games, there were some good rallies. With Angie Work getting three more serves in to make it 14-9 SC. With the score 15-15, Amy Ball served and SC got two quick points to win the first game 17-15. Harbor shook it off and took the second game 15-4. In the third game Harbor got off to a 4-0 lead, but SC tied it up 8-8 and then Harbor sailed on to the win. SC played an exceptional game, considering there was practically no one there to support them.
Oct. 19. SC raised its league record to 5-2 with a 15-0, 15-12 win over Aptos.
Oct. 24. Soquel, 7-1 downs SC, 5-3 in three games, 15-12, 13-15, 15-13.
Oct. 26 SC raised its league record to 6-3 with a 15-11, 15-12 win over SLV. In JV action SC downed SLV 15-9, 15-10.
Nov. 2. SC beat Watsonville 15-7, 15-11, to climb into third place with a 7-3 record.
Nov. 7. SC beat North Monterey 15-12, 14-16, 15-8.
Nov. 9. SC handed Harbor its first league loss in two years, spoiling the Pirates bid for a second straight unbeaten SCCAL season, in two games, 16-14, 15-13. “It wasn’t any big upset for us. We felt we were capable of beating them,” said coach Julie Godwin, who credited the play of Amy Ball and Donna Beronia as instrumental to the victory for SC.
Harbor won the league with a 11-1 record. SC and Soquel tied for second with 9-3 records, but Soquel defeated SC twice in league play and will get the leagues second seed at the CCS Division II playoffs. Harbor is the top seeded team in the playoffs and will get a first game bye. Soquel was seeded fourth.
Sentinel. Nov. 19. Donna Beronia and Amy Ball were selected first team ALL SCCAL.
J V VOLLEYBALL The junior varsity team showed skill which is bound to make outstanding varsity players in the seasons to come. They tied for first place with Harbor High. Team members were juniors Jeanette Scala and Tina Short, sophomores Kristen Johnson, Annissa Ratliff, Kora McNaughton and Theresa Blickenstaff. Also instrumental in the SC JV victories were Jodi Thuringer and Tammy King.
BASKETBALL CO-CHAMPIONS with Aptos
Practice games missing. Dads Club Tournament:
Practice games: Palma 51-55, Los Gatos 50-57. Carmel Tournament: Carmel 54-51, Alisal 43-77, Carmel 52-60, Monterey 40-54. Practice record 4-8 from yearbook.
League: Soquel 24-28, 57-40; North Monterey 51-50, 60-47; Aptos 52-57, 65-53; Marello 71-62 OT, 68-53; Watsonville 61-44, 66-46; SLV 40-41, 66-46; Harbor 64-54, 64-61in OT. League record 11-3 co-champions. SCCAL playoff, Aptos 47-51. CCS Division II playoffs: North Salinas 37-62. Season record 15-13.
Yearbook. SC had a 3-8 preseason record, but the Cards won 10 of their last 11 league games to win the SCCAL championship with a 11-3 record. The Cards success was due to an all around team effort.
Sentinel preseason write up on November 25. Sporting a team with quickness and “decent” depth at most positions, Coach Pete Newell hopes to improve on last years season, when the team missed the league playoffs. Newell a firm believer in pressure defense and controlled offense, may find this teams makeup to his liking. With five returning seniors combined with underclassmen, who experience a winning season at the JV level finishing second to Watsonville, the Cards should be ready. “If we stay healthy, we will compete,” said Newell, who is waiting for the preseason results before mapping his league strategy. “We’ll open it up early, but may become more conservative during the league season,” said Newell, who says he will let the teams defensive tempo dictate the offense.” The Cards are led by 6-4 senior Mike Poll, a three year starter, under the basket. Poll should get help from senior Kevin Grindy and 6-2 junior Johnny Johnson. Quick Rod Whitley should see much action up front for SC. The backcourt tandem of senior Foti Mellis and junior Ed Marcum is expected to supply defensive pressure along with the teams only sophomore Sean Harrell, seeing considerable playing time. Others added to the team were Joel Domhoff, Dylan Lease and Jesus Escobar.
Nov. 30. In the season opener Palma defeated SC 55-51. Palma led 45-29 after three quarters and had to hang on against a fourth quarter comeback by the Cards, who outscored the Chieftains 22-10 over the final eight minutes. SC led 13-6 entering into the second quarter, but fell behind 21-29 at halftime. Palma out scored SC 16-8 in the third quarter. Mike Poll paced the Cards with a game high 23 points, but no one else scored in double figures.
Dec. 2. Los Gatos defeats SC 57-50. SC is 0-2 this season, but Card coach Pete Newell isn’t bothered by it. “We played two good games on the road against two good teams. December is not for wining as much as for improving. We improved in both games. We did some things reasonably well tonight. We shot well, 21 of 39 shots for 54 percent and we were only out rebounded by a much taller team 21-20,” said Coach Newell. At the end of the third quarter, SC trailed 38-40. SC never got within two points again. Mike Poll was the Cards leading scorer with 15 points.
Dec. 14. At the Carmel tournament, SC defeated Carmel 54-51. Led by Mike Poll and Johnny Johnson, each of whom scored 15 points. Carmel went into the final quarter leading 48-43. The Cards then limited Carmel to just three points in the last eight minutes, while scoring 11 themselves, to come away with the victory.
Dec. 20. Cards Look Sick, that’s because most of their players were. Not unexpectedly, Alisal capitalized on the Cards having only seven players in uniform and not all of them were healthy, to came away with a 77-43 victory. “ The game was on the schedule, so we had to play it. We spent last week end in close quarters at the Carmel Tournament and somebody got the flu and passed it on to the others. It sure was an exercise in futility. The Trojans wasted no time in taking advantage of the situation, going ahead 24-6 at the end of the first quarter. Only guard Kevin Grindy was able to score and his six points came on three field goals, one of them at the buzzer. Alisal took a 40-17 lead to the locker room at halftime. Kevin Grindy was the leading scorer for the Cards with 12 points.
Dec. 23. Even though three starters and some key reserves had the flu, SC kept fighting to the end, trimming the deficit from 33 to eight to lose to Carmel 52-60. “I felt honored to be their coach because of the tremendous effort they gave in the second half,” said coach Newell. The Cards trailed by 26 points at half time and 14-47 early in the third quarter, but then outscored Carmel in the final 14 minutes by a 39-12 margin. Foti Mellis dished out ten assists. Senior Kevin Grindy and sophomore Sean Harrell tallied 14 and 19 points respectively.
Dec. 30. Monterey had a 16-6 surge in the third quarter to beat the Cards 54-40. SC led by Sean Harrell’s 16 points and five assists, while teammate Mike Poll contributed ten points, five assists and ten rebounds. The Cards fought back with a 17-12 edge in the fourth quarter, but they had too much ground to make up and came up short. Coach Newell, “December is behind us and now we’ll concentrate on getting ready for the league season.”
Jan. 4. Ripley might never believe it, but neither team set out to deliberately stall the ball as Soquel outscored SC 28-24. Patience was the key word. Both teams were in a zone defense, and neither ball club wanted to take a bad shot. It was a case of either take the good shot or no shot. “Nobody intentionally slowed it down.” said new Soquel coach Dave Paul (a formers SC athlete), whose Knights posted what is regarded around the league as a very surprising triumph. SC was without Johnny Johnson with pneumonia and Joel Domnoff, knee, added to the Cards desire to play with patience. “I was happy with our shot selection and as far as I’m concerned, I’ll take a 28-24 win anytime,” Soquel Coach Dave Paul. With four minutes to go, Soquel held a four point lead and then, “We went into a delay motion offense. Other than that, both teams were trying to attack the basket patiently,” said Paul. Sean Harrell tallied ten points to lead all SC scorers.
Jan. 6. All’s Well, For Once; Cardinals Come Back to Win over North Monterey 51-50. In the last 1:10 of the game, the Cards played like they had been together for years, when in fact, they have been so wracked with illnesses and injuries they barely recognize each other on the court. The Cards stormed back from a 28-40 third quarter deficit to win. SC’s teamwork surfaced with the Cards holding a 49-48 lead. At that point, Mike Poll, who finished the game with 27 points and 13 rebounds, saved the ball as it was going out of bounds at mid court. He fired a pass to Kevin Grindy at the baseline and Grindy in turn fed Johnny Johnson for a lay up and a 51-48 lead. North County scored at 0:51, then got the ball back with 30 seconds left. The Condors ran the clock down to 15 seconds and called timeout. “At that point, we knew they were going to go to one of two guys for the shot.” Poll and Foti Mellis had to deny those guys the ball. The ball handler had to be pressured. We forced them to take a bad shot and all that was left was for Johnson to clear the board, “ said Newell. It worked just like that. Johnson pulled down the rebound with three seconds left and threw the ball down the length of the court to run the clock out.
Johnson contributed nine points and four rebounds, despite missing the last three weeks of practice and game time, because of pneumonia. He played the entire fourth quarter. Poll kept the Cards in the game the first half by scoring 14 of his team’s 20 points. He scored the Cards first six point of the second half, before the Condors changed from a zone to a man to man defense. North County appeared to have everything under control with a 40-28 lead in the third quarter. But the Condors hot hand turned cold and they went the next six minutes with out hitting a field goal. Coach Newell, “Our defense began to assert itself late in the third period. We had much better pressure on the ball and on their shots. We started rebounding better.” The Cards shot 72 percent from the line on a 13 for 16 attempts. SC won the battle of the boards 28-17. Eddie Marcum had a game high six assists. Both teams are now 1-1 in league play.
Jan. 9. Mariner Puts Life Back Into Offense. Late Free Throws Beat Cards The Cards had Aptos’ top scorer buried as deep as one can be. He had been shut out in the first half. But much to the Cards dismay, he rose from the dead and with 16 second half points to lead his team to a 57-52 victory. Aptos went to the free throw line eight times in the last three minutes and scored eight times. For the game Aptos was 11 of 12 from the line. “We played well enough to win. it’s a long season and I think we can play with anyone in the league,” Coach Newell. Aptos roared to a 37-26 lead midway into the third quarter. SC came back from that deficit to take the lead at 4:10 left in the game. With three minutes left, SC had a chance to extended the lead, but missed three of the four bonus opportunities they had. In all, SC shot a meager 8 of 15 from the line. Mike Poll tied the score 47-47. Aptos regained the lead two and a half minutes later and hung on to the lead for the win. Poll was the high point man for the game with 18 and grabbed seven rebounds. Johnny Johnson pulled down 10 rebounds and Sean Harrell had six assists.
Jan. 11. It took overtime for Santa Cruz to defeat Marello 71-62. Starting the game with only six players, Marello finished it with just four, forcing SC into overtime before faltering when they lost their fifth man on fouls. Marello opened a 51-42 lead with 5:46 left in the game. Then, with three minutes left, Eddie Marcum sank a shot from the top of the key to give SC their first lead 53-52. With 50 seconds left, Marello held a 58-55 lead, when Mike Poll hit an inside basket it 58-57. With four seconds to go, Poll hit one of two free throws to send the game into overtime. SC won a close battle of the boards 43-40. Johnny Johnson picked off 16 rebounds and Poll had 11. Four Cards scored in double figures: Poll 16, Sean Harrell 14, Johnson 13 and Grindy 10. Marcum dished out five assists.
Jan. 13. Cards take Watsonville 61-44. Leading 27-17 at halftime, the Cards outscored Watsonville 14-5 in the third quarter to lock up the game as they coasted to a 17 point win. Mike Poll led the Cards with 16 points.
Jan. 16. SLV 41, SC 40. Even though Bob Kelly only scored one point, it was a big one as his free throw with 42 seconds remaining lifted the Cougars to victory. The shot gave SLV a 41-38 lead. In the fourth quarter, the Valley held a 12 point lead before SC made its patented last quarter comeback and almost snatched a victory. Statistics told the story as SC was 4 for 11 from the free throw line for the game, but also 0 for four in the decisive fourth quarter and a mere 1 for 7 in the second half. Eddie Marcum hit two free throws with 20 seconds left to bring SC within 41-40. SLV turned the ball over with 12 seconds to go. SC took a last second shot that was off the mark and that was the game.
Jan. 20. Harbor Loses SCCAL Lead And Star Player in an upset loss to feisty SC 64-54 at Fehliman Gym. Not only did Harbor lose a share of the league lead, but its star forward with a cracked rib. He was forced from the game with two seconds left in the third quarter. The score at that point was SC 46-42. Harbor coach Mike Gruber, “You can’t take anything away from SC. They beat us in all phases of the game. They did a great job on the boards. It was the best I ever saw a SC team shoot,” SC out rebounded Harbor 35-19 and shot 51 percent from the field, 25 of 49. It was like a mad rush at the start of the game, as both teams were using full court pressure; Harbors in a zone and SC defending man to man. Both teams made the press work with a number of turnovers and easy baskets. On the flip side of the full court pressure, both teams gave up fast break lay ups in a flurry of action. The first quarter ended with Harbor up 21-17. The half time score was tied 33-33.
SC began to control the game early in the third quarter. After controlling the tip, SC didn’t take a shot for a minute and a half. “We started to control the tempo at that point. I think that set the stage for the second half. As the night wore on, we played better half court defense. They weren’t getting more than one shot at a time. On offense, we explored, looking for a break down in their defense and tried to take advantage of it,” Coach Newell. The score read 46-42 at the end of the third quarter. SC had the momentum going and rolled to victory mainly on the strength of Johnny Johnson and Mike Poll’s board work. Johnson grabbed 14 rebounds and Poll snared 12. Harbor is now 5-2 and SC 4-3 in league. Poll led the scoring with 23 points. Dylan Lease came off the bench to score eight big points, on a 4 for 4 outing.
Jan. 23.Cards Stacking The Deck. SC’s Defense Gets Tough With Soquel to win 57-40. The rest of the SCCAL had better beware, as the Cards are on a roll and gaining confidence along with momentum. Plus, they’re defense is played the old fashion way, nose on the numbers, hell-bent-for-leather-man-to-man defense. And they’re not picking their men up at half court either. Its full court pressure. You make a mistake, we take the ball, is their message. SC has won four of its last five games, improving its league record to 5-3. “They out hustled us and out boarded us tonight,: remarked Soquel coach Dave Paul, former Card player. To go along with their hard nosed team defense, a balanced offensive attack has emerged for SC. Three minutes and 20 seconds into the game, all five Card starters had scored as SC mounted a 13-2 lead. SC had all 12 players in the game before halftime. The Knights closed it to 15-11 at the end of the first quarter, but that was as close as they would get to the fast breaking Cards.
“It was a big victory for us. First, we didn’t suffer a letdown after our win against Harbor. Second, we beat a team that beat us in the league opener. Our defense is improving considerably. Other teams are having trouble running their motion. On top of that, if one of our guys makes a mistake, its being covered by other guys dropping off of their man,” Newell said. Sophomore Sean Harrell played a key role in the victory. He was the games leading scorer with 13 and played hustling, heads up defense. He was also around the basket enough to tip in a couple of errant shots by his teammates. Junior Johnny Johnson was his usual tower of strength under the boards. He started a number of fast breaks, after grabbing a defensive rebound. The first two field goals of the game were made by Johnson after offensive rebounds. He grabbed three rebounds in the first minute and ended the night with a game high eight. Mike Poll had seven rebounds. Poll and Johnson each scored ten points.
Santa Cruz 60, North Monterey 47. Mike Poll scored 18 points, a dozen of which came in the first half, to spark SC’s victory. Poll was 9 of 16 from the floor. As a team SC was 25 of 54 for a 46 percent average. Johnny Johnson added 17 points and grabbed a career high 26 rebounds as SC won the battle of the boards by an overwhelming 52-16 margin. Poll hauled down 12 rebounds. Johnson also contributed four assists for a well rounded game. Kevin Grindy shut down a NMC player with a 15 point a game average. Sean Harrell was 7 of 9 from the floor and scored 12 of his points in the second half. SC opened up a 11 point lead late in the third quarter and stayed there until 4:30 left to go, when NMC cut the lead to five points, but the Cards put on another spurt.
Jan. 30. Cards Deck Aptos. SC Knocks Off Number One Mariners 65-53. It looked like another episode of the Road Runner and Wil E. Coyote at Fehliman Gym. The big, bad Aptos played the role of the frustrated coyote and the smaller Cards played the role of the swift and sure bird. In the end, the Cards were wearing a smug smile and the Mariners were left gasping for breath. It was the fourth league win in a row for the steamrolling Cards, who moved to 7-3 and into a second place tie with Harbor. Aptos is still in first at 8-2. “As the season progresses, our defense and rebounding continue to improve. We’re learning more and more about ourselves every game. The transition game is getting better too even though we missed a lot of lay ups off the break,” Coach Newell.
Neither team was shy about looking to run. The game began like a day at the races. Rebound, a half court pass, a couple of dribbles and a shot was the pattern of the first quarter. Not many points were scored, but necks in the crowd were getting a heavy workout twisting from side to side as players ran up and down the court. Aptos had one lead during the night at 23-22 in the second quarter, but by halftime SC had moved on top 30-27. Still the Cards knew it was no time to relax and didn’t sit on their lead. They kept attacking and didn’t sit back and let things happen. SC played man to man defense the entire night, giving Aptos trouble setting up an offense.
For the Cards offensively, they picked the Aptos zone apart, eventually forcing Aptos to go man to man. The change in defense was to no avail. Aptos Coach Warmerdam, “They move the ball better against a zone than anyone. If we’re going to get burned, we might as well get burned playing man. Now people see why we can’t play man.” SC was up 58-46 with three minutes left to play, but Aptos wasn’t out of the game yet, because the twin pillars of the SC front court, Mike Poll with 17 points and eight rebounds and Johnny Johnson with ten rebounds and 12 points had both fouled out within a minute of each other. The Cards slowed the pace of the game and eased to the win. SC out rebounded Aptos 38-27. SC shot 46 percent from the field on 29 of 63 shots. Sean Harrell chipped in 12 points, but more importantly slowed down high scoring Jones and held him to a quiet 12 points.
Feb. 1. Santa Cruz 68, Marello 53. The game was nearly over before it started with the first quarter score telling the story: Cards 23, Panthers 2. SC cruised the rest of the way, eventually playing all 14 players on its roster and all of them scored. Johnson had 16 points, Poll 12 and Harrell 10. SC has now won six of its last seven league games.
Feb. 3. Santa Cruz 66, Watsonville 46. The Cards who were 4-10 in preseason and 1-2 in league on January 3, continued their torrid streak. “We still have a long way to go,” said Coach Newell. The Cards have won six straight and eight out of its last nine games, now are 12-11 overall and 9-3 in league. Watsonville, which is winless in league trailed 17-24 at halftime, before the Cards finally began to pull away in the third quarter. Johnson scored 11 of his game and season high 23 points in the third period to key the charge. Sophomore Harrell added 13 points and Poll 11. SC was red hot hitting 27 of 46 from the field for 59 percent.
Feb. 6. SC Gets A Share Of Lead; Cards Defeat SLV For Eighth Win In Row. With a 66-46 win the Cards moved into a first place tie with Aptos and can lock up at least a share of its first league championship since 1969 with a win over Harbor and guarantees themselves a berth in the CCS playoff for the first time since 1980. SC’s 20 point victory also avenges a one point loss the Cards suffered to SLV earlier in the season, a loss which is now costing them sole possession of first place. SC started only two regular starters, seniors Mike Poll and Kevin Grindy, which is what coach Newell does every year, by starting an all senior team in the last home game. With 3:34 remaining in the first period and the Cards down 4-9, the other three regular starters juniors Johnson, Eddie Marcum and sophomore Harrell entered the game. That move signaled the beginning of the end for the Cougars. Turnovers enabled Grindy to convert three consecutive jumpers that gave SC its first lead 10-8 with two minutes remaining in the opening period. SC’s full court zone press forced five turnovers that SC was able to covert into easy lay ups to give the home team a 20-15 lead entering the second quarter.
“Our defense creates many opportunities for our transition game, creating a lot of lay ups,” Newell said. SC held a 29-21 lead at halftime. In the second half, the Cards put on a token full court man to man press that forced SLV to run time off the clock. Meanwhile, SC’s offense continued to operate effectively, pounding the ball down inside to its two big men Johnson and Poll. Poll scored 18 of his game high 24 points in the second half, while Johnson tallied 11 of his 15 points over the same period. “Early in the season we were content to be ahead in the fourth quarter, but since then we try to keep the pressure on and build on our lead,,” Newell said. Poll was 9 of 16 from the floor and 6 of 6 from the line, plus a game high 13 rebounds. The victory left SC unbeaten at home.
Feb. 10. Cardinals Fly Past Pirates In OT to win 64-61. Mike Poll scored six points in overtime, leading SC to their eighth consecutive SCCAL victory and a share of the league crown. The Cards started their streak to the title on January 19th, when they beat Harbor 64-54 at home. In this title deciding game before a vocal, standing room only crowd, the Cards got a piece of the league title for the first time in 15 years. Friday nights skirmish, which had all the enthusiasm of post season play, wasn’t decided until Eddie Marcum converted the second of two fouls shots with three seconds to play in the extra period.
Through the tie breaker system of the SCCAL, SC receives the top seed and will not have to play until the last night of the playoffs, which puts them into the CCS tournament automatically as the two playoff finalist are guaranteed admittance. SC Coach Pete Newell, who spent the first half of the season assembling the pieces of his Cardinal puzzle, converged the elements correctly Friday night to earn his first SCCAL title after an 11 year chase as coach at the school. “It was truly a team victory, as has each win during the streak. We have gotten quality time from the players. The pieces have been there all year. The players are willing to surrender their egos for the good of the team and play within a role,” Newell said.
An important cog in the Card machine made an early exit. Forward Johnny Johnson, who averages more than 11 points and 11 rebounds a game, went to the bench midway through the first quarter after picking up his third foul. Newell countered this potentially dangerous situation by inserting junior Dylan Lease, who scored 12 points and pulled down four rebounds in relief. “The play that Lease gave us was very important. He gave us the stability we needed. He scored and played strong defense,” coach Newell. Scrambling defensive play and reckless disregard for personal safety contributed to a fever pitch, which characterized the contest and contributed to 40 turnovers, 20 by each team.
Both teams had an opportunity to win the game in regulation, The Cards had the ball with less than a minute to play. Johnson, who played the entire fourth quarter and most of the overtime with four fouls, took the ball to the hoop and was fouled, but he missed both shots when both hit iron and Harbor had the ball with 30 seconds to go. Harbor ran the clock down and with five seconds remaining and the ball in the hands of the leagues top scorer, the ball was tipped out of his hands to bring overtime.
Poll scored 21 points. Sean Harrell grabbed six offensive rebounds and scored 15 points. Marcum dished off seven assists with uncanny accuracy. With approximately 30 seconds to play in overtime, Marcum and most of the Cards did not hear Newell plea for a timeout. Marcum drove to the key and flipped a pass to Johnson for a lay up and the lead 61-59, which SC never relinquished. Newell, with a basketball net hung ludicrously around his neck, smiled in the post game locker room and said, “I was trying to get the timeout. Fortunately they didn’t hear me. Marcum threw great passes all night.”
Pre-Playoff write-ups about the team in the Sentinel, February 12, 1985.
Starters know Roles And Fill Them, Too. The key to the late-season surge by the Santa Cruz High boys’ basketball team has been its over-all team balance. Better yet, the players not only know their roles, they’re filling them, too. “There’s not a starter who can’t shoot,” said 6-foot-t senior Mike Poll, the Cardinals’ power forward who is averaging 16.2 points and 8.4 rebounds a game. “And we’re always a great rebounding team with Johnny (Johnson) out there. He’s the best rebounder in the league.” Johnson, like his team, has emerged at the top with a flourish. Only a junior and in his first year of varsity competition, the 6-foot-4 center is on an all-league pace (along with Poll) averaging 11.8 points and 11.0 rebounds per game. Earlier this year, he pulled down 26 rebounds in one game. Using his extra-long arms, Johnson has been able to control the boards against taller opponents and is acquiring a delicate shot-blocking touch inside as well. He can fire the outlet pass to a teammate or put it on the floor and score coast-to-coast with equal success. “He may be quiet to everybody else,” said Harbor Coach Mike Gruber, “but not to the coaches in the rest of the league who know what kind of a factor he is when he’s on the floor.”
“Johnny just plays,” said Santa Cruz Coach Pete Newell. “For God-given talent, he’s right there at the top.” Johnson’s talents have allowed Poll the freedom to showcase his own this season. A three-year varsity starter, Poll is asked to do more for the Cardinals than any other player and his consistency has been a stabilizing force for the Cardinals through thick and thin.
If an opposing team begins to sag in defensively on Poll and Johnson, the Cardinals often turn to the only other senior starter on the squad, forward Kevin Grindy. Shorter than most forwards at 5 feet 10 inches, Grindy’s strengths are his deadly outside jumper from the baseline and his tenacious defense. The best defensive player on the team, Grindy usually draws the opposition’s biggest scoring threat, like Harbor’s Jeffty Connelly or Aptos’ Warren Holt, even though he’s giving up six or seven inches in height to each. “You want players like Kevin Grindy on the court in tough situations because you know they’re going to produce,” said Newell.
The starting backcourt of junior Eddy Marcum and sophomore Kevin Harrell is another team strength. Marcum is the point guard who runs the offense and directs the fast break. With his crisp, accurate passes, it’s no wonder Marcum leads the Cardinals in assists. Like Marcum, Harrell is a good outside shooter–especially from the top of the key–and talented enough himself to play point. One of, if not the quickest, player on the team, Harrell is another defensive standout who draws the opponent’s scoring guard. He can fly on the break and penetrate inside as well and has an 8.8-point average to prove it. “Together, at the defensive end, they’ve provided the guard play that has challenged our front line,” said Newell. “They are a constant aggravation to the opponent.” And a constant joy to coach, he added. “It’s an enjoyable experience every day,” said Newell. “The winning is fun, being able to turn the season around has been fun, too, but the whole experience with these kids has been a treasure.”
Maybe the Cardinals are ready to find the gold at the end of the rainbow.
Feb. 12. It’s No Secret Now: Santa Cruz is Number One.
The fact that Santa Cruz high is the boys’ basketball co-champion of the SCCAL really shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone. After all, the Cardinals have had the potential to be the best all along. The big difference these days is that Santa Cruz Coach Pete Newell and his high-flying Cardinals are finally playing like it. The secret is out. Right now Santa Cruz is No. 1.
“It may be a surprise to the other teams,“ said three-year varsity player Foti Mellis, “but it’s not to us.” The Cardinals are–and have been for the last month—the hottest team in the county. And for all intents and purposes, they’re getting hotter. “They’re winning,” said Harbor Coach Mike Gruber, “that’s the most obvious thing.”
Last Friday the Cardinals defeated the Pirates 64-61 in overtime to earn a share of the league championship with Aptos, both teams finishing with 11-3 records. The title was the first for Santa Cruz since the glory years of 1968-69. The win over Harbor marked the eighth straight SCCAL victory for Santa Cruz, which has been beating opponents by an average of better than 13 points a game over that span.
“They’re tough,” said Aptos Coach Bill Warmerdam. “God they’re tough. I just don’t see any weaknesses in them. They should have been undefeated this season.” It certainly was easy to overlook Santa Cruz in the preseason. After all, the Cardinals began league play with a 3-8 record. Then they lost two of their first three SCCAL games, including a 28-24 setback to Soquel in their opener. Not exactly a strong start out of the gate, to say the least. Suddenly, however, Santa Cruz turned it around, and the Cardinals are 10-1 since beating Marello Prep in overtime on Jan.10. “This is the most fun I’ve had,” said starting forward Mike Poll, another three-year varsity player. “You look forward to every game, because we know we can win every game.”
The future hasn’t always been that bright for the youth-dominated team, which boasts two sophomores and seven juniors on its roster. In mid-December the Cardinals finished second in the Carmel Tournament and appeared ready to take off. Then things turned bleak. Eight players came down with the flu and one of them–starting center Johnny Johnson–developed pneumonia. “The real turning point of our season came during that period,” said Newell, whose shorthanded team lost its following game 77-43 to Alisal. The next time out, the Cardinals were down 47-14 in the third quarter to Carmel before a furious rally cut the losing margin to 60-52. “We never had a chance of winning, but we played so hard and so well in the last 10 minutes that the effort set a standard for the rest of the season,” said Newell. Things always look darkest before the dawn, and for Santa Cruz, the sun began to rise slowly as the players began trickling back into the lineup. After the loss to Soquel, the Cardinals got the big boost when Johnson got the doctor’s OK to return to action.
The turnaround was complete when Santa Cruz beat Harbor 64-54 at home on Jan. 18. The Cardinals haven’t lost since. Since then, Santa Cruz is averaging 63.5 points a game on offense and 50.0 points on defense. Year in and year out, Santa Cruz has always been one of the best, if not the best, defensive teams in the league. That tradition, which stresses a tight, man-to-man, has continued this season. What has made the big difference is the emergence of a high-powered Cardinals offense able to score points in bunches.
Santa Cruz, which has in the past been known for a slow and deliberate, show-it-down-and-set-it-up offensive strategy, is suddenly breaking loose with a vengeance and lighting up the scoreboard like a Christmas tree. Instead of crouching on the sidelines yelling “No, no, no” when the Cardinals start to run, this year Newell is screaming “Go, go, go.” “Its really always been there,” said Newell of the Santa Cruz running game, “but it’s come out due to the fact that this team rebounds better than the others.”
The Cardinals are far from being one-dimensional on offense. They know how to execute when they have to. Santa Cruz can run it up, but it can still slow it down, too. “ Tempo is the key to success,” said Newell. “You have to be able to play at different levels: fast, medium and slow. This team owes a lot of its success to the fact that it can play all three.” The Cardinals aren’t afraid to shoot, either. If the break is there, fine. If it’s not, Santa Cruz has shown amazing maturity for a young team in its refusal to force the issue, choosing to work the ball for an open shot and take it when it is presented.” Still, the heart and soul of the team is its defense, which dictates what the Cardinals do–and don’t do– on offense. ‘“The pressing, the man-to-man and the transition stuff get us going,” said Mellis. “We have the best defense in the league. When we play defense, teams start to worry.”
What has been worrying opponents the most is the Santa Cruz press, which is offered up in three full-court (man-to-man, zone, and trapping) and two half-court (helping man, strong on the ball and tight man, going after steals and denying passes) varieties. “Being a man-to-man coach myself,” said Gruber, “I appreciate what they do.” What they have done so far is hold opponents to an average 51.4 points this season. For the record, Soquel leads the SCCAL in the category with 47.5, but the Knights play a much slower game than the Cardinals and that cuts down on overall scoring opportunities by opponents. Another thing worth mentioning is that Santa Cruz–believe it or not–actually has a zone defense in its repertoire as well. “We’ve just never used it this year,” said Mellis. Now that the Cardinals have got their head of steam up, they’re not about to slow down. We’ve always been developing and we continue to improve,” said Newell. “I really believe that out best basketball is still ahead of us.”
Feb. 17. Mariners Subdue Santa Cruz In Boys SCCAL Playoff Final 51-47. For SC the spirit was willing, but the body was not, “We lost because I did not have them prepared to play,” said Coach Pete Newell, whose Cards appeared about as flat as a team can expect to be coming of an eight day layoff. “Blame it on the coach. We just did not execute. It all goes back to preparation. Don’t blame it on the prolonged inactivity,” said Newell. Even though the Cards shot 26 percent from the floor in the second half and hit only two of 12 attempts in the fourth quarter, they somehow managed to claw their way back into contention in the waning moments. Trailing 44-33 with 4:08 remaining, SC began a march to the free throw line that saw the Cards connect on 12 of 13 from that point and draw to within 48-47 with nine seconds left on a bucket by Kevin Grindy, the starting forwards only points of the night. As SC worked to get position underneath, Card center Johnson fouled his Aptos counterpart. He hit his first free throw, but missed the second. Aptos grabbed the rebound and was fouled. They canned both shots to seal the victory. Aptos shot much better than SC, but it all came down to the Mariners’ inability to handle the Cards full court press, which Newell turned on with 5:30 left in the game. The strategy immediately began producing Aptos turnovers and frustration fouls by the Mariners that put SC at the free throw line. Aptos managed to get off only seven shots in the fourth quarter and scored only one field goal once SC applied the pressure. So why did SC wait so long? “We were sluggish. The tempo wasn’t even fast and we were tired. We had just lost that fine edge of competitiveness,” Newell said. The Aptos defense controlled the inside and effectively took SC’s All League and All County players Mike Poll and Johnny Johnson out of the game. Poll scored 10 points, five of them in the first quarter, before fouling out, while Johnson finished with only four points. That left it up to guards Sean Harrell and Eddie Marcum, who responded with 17 and 14 points respectively, but they could not carry the entire offense themselves. The victory gives Aptos the leagues top seed in the CCS Division II South playoffs. SC receives the SCCAL’s second seed. Aptos takes a 21-9 record into the CCS playoffs and SC is now 14-12 overall.
Tall Vikes Too Much For Cards. With a number one ranking among CCS Division II South teams and a front line that includes a pair of 6-9 and 6-8 giants, North Salinas is definitely intimidating, The underdog Cards had to be feeling the pressure even before the opening tip. The final score was a one sided North Salinas victory 62-37, was almost anticlimactic. Maybe the surprising four corners offense that Card coach Pete Newell pulled out of his bag of tricks might have worked. No one can say. Because almost every time SC got the ball in the first quarter, it ended up turning it over. “We turned the ball over so many times in the first quarter, we never really gave ourselves a chance,” Newell said. The Cards turned the ball over 11 times in the opening period and 26 for the game. It wasn’t as if North Salinas came out and blew SC off the court. They didn’t score their first basket until well over four minutes into the game and connected on but three out of 10 shots in the first quarter. The trouble was SC was unable to do any better, hitting only one of nine shots. “By turning the ball over so many times as we did, not only were we hurting ourselves, but we were giving them that many more opportunities to score,” said Newell.
North Salinas led only 7-3 at the end of the first period. SC was struggling to find its long lost offense and only by fighting tooth and nail under the boards prevented NS from running away with it. Led by Poll and Johnson, the Cards stayed in the game and thanks to a three point play by guard Sean Harrell, trailed only 21-15 at half time. “When you play a team with the reputation and the firepower of NS, your concentration tends to become divided. As soon as that happens, you take yourself out of your normal rhythm,” Newell said. The Cards winners in nine of their last ten games were anything, but normal in the first half, committing 15 turnovers and shooting 21 percent from the floor shooting 4 for 19. And as everyone in the Alisal gym knew too well, the Vikings were a time bomb waiting to explode.
NS outscored SC 22-12 in the third quarter and the Vikes were never threatened after that. Poll and Johnson topped SC with 15 and 12 points respectively. “We played hard. We gave it all we had and you can’t ask for more then that,” said Poll who had to leave the game late in the fourth quarter after taking an elbow to the head. Overall SC shot 30 percent from the field, hitting 14 of 46 attempts. The Vikes out rebounded SC 38-29. SC ends the season with a 15-13 record. North Salinas has a 24-2 record and will play Gilroy for the CCS Division II South tile Thursday at Hartnell. The winner will play Saturday at Independence High in San Jose for the CCS Division II championship.
Feb. 17. This guy stands Out In The Crowd; Johnson A Big Reason Cards Are Flying. Story on February 17 in the Sentinel. The shot goes up, it’s not a high percentage shot, because it’s taken against a vaunted SC defense. The basketball bounces off the rim and backboard, it’s a miss. There is a mob of players under the basket, arms stretching skyward waiting for the ball, which vanishes into the mob. A split second later, two long arms wrapped with wristbands rise high above the crowd with the ball firmly sandwiched between the hands. The elbows are cocked and the ball instantly is rifled to a teammate near mid court. In basketball parlance, it’s called an outlet pass. The outlet pass begins the fast break. The arms belong to All Santa Cruz County and All SCCAL center Johnny Johnson. For SC co-champions of the SCCAL. Johnson’s play this season has been one of the keys to the team’s success. As opposed to years past, this edition of the Cards is encouraged to run the break and more often than not, the break starts with Johnson. “These kids can run,” Coach Newell has reiterated throughout the season. On a team that emphasizes we-ball instead of me-ball, Johnson is dependent on his teammates for the success of the outlet, because when Johnson jumps and twists his body to position himself to make a the pass he is not 100 percent sure that anyone is going to be there to receive it. He doesn’t look before he leaps and that may be the split second advantage that makes SC’s break work. “Coach Newell wants the pass to go out near the foul line, but I can get it out farther than that,” said the 6-4, 195 Johnson. “A couple of times this year, I was able to get it out to near mid-court to Kevin Grindy. Everybody worries about what I’m going to do if I turn to make the pass and no one is there. I’ll be left hanging in the air. I depend on Kevin, Eddie Marcum or Sean Harrrell being there.”
This basketball season didn’t start out as successfully as the Cards fast break for Johnson. He was forced to sit out the first three games of the season. Three weeks after he finally made it into the lineup, he was sidelined again, this time with pneumonia. Considering the Cardinals 0-7 record with him not in uniform, it’s easy to see the impact Johnson has on the Cards success. In December, a healthy Johnson was voted the Most Valuable Player of the Carmel Tournament.
Johnson hopes to start at fullback for the Cards football team this Fall. “Johnny’s not a horse on the football field, he’s a stallion. In the eleven years that I have been here, he is the best athlete I’ve seen. Recruiters are going to be knocking down his door to get him to play for them,” Newell said. Newell has seen a change in Johnson. “I’ve witnessed Johnny turn around in development as a human being. There is a lot to love directed at him from different parts of the campus. Watching Johnny grow has been a reaffirmation for me of why I’m involved in teaching and athletics,” Coach Newell. Johnson averaged 11.8 points a game and 11.1 rebounds a game in league.
The career of Johnny Johnson of Santa Cruz is just beginning. Perhaps the best is yet to come. (It did come as Johnny started at San Jose State in football and played one year of basketball in his junior year, when the team needed players. He was All Pro for the New York Jets in the NFL. It has been said the Johnny could be a pro in any sport that he wanted.)
Sentinel area high school boys statistics as of February 17, 1985. SC players by place in order, name, games played, total points scored, high game scoring and average points per game.
Individual scoring
PL NAME GP TP HI AVG
7 Poll 23 372 27 16.2
13 Johnson 18 213 23 11.8
Individual rebounding
PL NAME GP TR HI AVG
5 Johnson 18 199 26 11.1
9 Poll 23 193 13 8.4
For the Sentinel ALL COUNTY squad, the first team included Johnny Johnson and Mike Poll, The second team included Eddie Marcum and Sean Harrell, who also was declared Sophomore Of The Year. Coach Pete Newell was named the Coach of the Year.
Johnson was called by his coach as our most talented player. Johnson, a junior center, averaged 11.8 points and 11.1 rebounds.
Mike Poll according to his coach has been our most consistent player. Poll, a senior forward, averaged 16.2 points and 8.4 rebounds.
Sean Harrell, the Sophomore of the Year is our most dynamic player according to his coach. Harrell a sophomore guard averaged 8.8 points a game.
Senior Ed Marcum “understood and fulfilled the role of point guard. He’s a natural. He does things that don/t show up in the stats,” from Coach Newell.
Johnny Johnson and Mike Poll were selected five man first team ALL SCCAL and Sean Harrell and Ed Marcum to the second five. Coach Pete Newell was chosen Coach of the Year.
JV BASKETBALL Harbor 59-58.28-54,
Harbor lost for the first time this season 58-59 in overtime, when Darryl Ratliff hit a shot in the closing seconds. Ratliff finished with 27 points. Harbor is 6-1 in league and 16-1 overall.
Trident February 15. Harbor downed SC 54-28 and won the league championship outright with a 13-1 record and their only loss was to Santa Cruz. Aptos was 12-2 for second and SC 11-3 for third. Overall Harbor was 23-1. SC went to Harbor hoping to force a three way tie for first place and trailed by only two points at halftime 25-23. Unfortunately, SC could manage only four points in the second half.
To start the league season, SC beat Soquel and North Monterey, before losing to Aptos. A six game win streak followed before another loss to Aptos and three more victories came before the end of the season loss to Harbor. The team was led by a number of players. Besides Ratliff, forward/guard Ballan Tuck, centers Jack Sylvan and Brian Kingdom and guards Levi Barnes and Tom Morioni. Off the bench were center Jason Deese, guards Alex Curotto and Billy Mellis and forwards Rich Mark and Colin Anderson. Coach Charles Burks led the team well.
GIRLS BASKETBALL Practice games: Menlo Atherton 32-31, Gilroy 39-43. Santa Cruz Cardinal Classic: first round, St. Francis of Mt. View 35-42,
League: Soquel 48-46, 49-48; North Monterey 57-65, 47-59; Aptos 38-46, 40-53; Watsonville 48-51, 42-63; SLV 56-38, 56-59 in overtime; Harbor 31-52, 35-69. League record 3-9. Overall record 5-13.
Sentinel. Oct. 7. Ray Hunter, Santa Cruz high’s girls basketball coach at the inception of the program in the early 70’s until his “retirement following the 1982 season has been rehired for the position. Duane Garner was the Cards coach last season, but resigned earlier this year to coach the UCSC women’s basketball team. In his first term with the Cards, Hunters teams won 126 games and lost 32. They also won five league championships and finished third in the CCS in 1977.
Sentinel. Nov. 25. Ray Hunter is back after a two year hiatus, at the helm of SC. And those who remember Hunter’s previous tenure will be treated to more of that full court, full speed, pressing defense, that Hunter’s teams will play. Hunter, who took the job because a coach was needed, is pleased to be coaching again. “I love coaching basketball,” said Hunter. Reinstalling his system has slowed down progress in practice, but Hunter likes the athletic abilities he has seen. “We have ten girls who will play a lot and they will all helps us.” Seniors Shannon Kinney a 5-8 forward, Anne Hill a 5-8 forward and Ronda Lyons a wing are to be counted on to supply experience and leadership. Hunter who runs a 1-4 offense, a point, two wings and two post players is expecting strong support from junior Amy Ball at point or wing and sophomore forward, post Kristy Netto. Kristie is a good inside player. She’s just now learning what she can do,” said Hunter. With six seniors, five juniors and two sophomores on the roster the Cards have depth. With Hunter coaching Santa Cruz has intensity. And that should put the Cards in the playoff picture.
Sentinel. Dec. 2. Santa Cruz Girls Welcome Back Coach. Pressing Defense Keys Cardinal’s Win Over Defending CCS Division II Champion. SC’s multi-press defense pitched a third quarter shutout to turn around its season opener. Though sputtering on offense, they welcomed Coach Ray Hunter back, after his sitting out the last two seasons, back into action with a 32-31 victory over Menlo Atherton, the defending CCS Division II champion. “We used three different kinds of presses, man to man, zone and half court trap. We mixed them up,” said Hunter, who was referring to the zones his team used, but might as well have been talking about Menlo Atherton, who scored only seven points in the second half. SC ran off nine unanswered points in the third quarter to turn a 14-11 half time deficit into a six point lead. “We’re not in the best of condition yet.
People got tired,” Hunter said. But not until after SC got most of their ten steals in the third quarter. Hunter was pleased with the play of Kristy Netto, who scored ten points and grabbed nine rebounds and four or five rejections of shots on defense. “Our defense was a little better than I thought it would be at this time. The timing and coordination is not there for everyone. But people were reacting to situations very well.” Tanya Pridemore scored nine points, while Trish Wright and Shannon Kinney each had five rebounds. Rhonda Lyons hit a key shot, when the game was close early. “It’s a nice way to start the season,” Hunter said.
Sentinel. Dec. 5. Santa Cruz Saddled With First Loss. Hot Streak Allowed Gilroy To Catch And Pass Cardinals In Fourth Quarter. A quick and physical Gilroy team broke open a tight game midway through the fourth quarter and handed SC its first defeat 43-39. Gilroy scored nine unanswered points to go from a 37-34 deficit to a six point advantage, which the Cards were unable to overcome. A back and forth third quarter, spiced by plenty of action under both boards, got SC in foul trouble and ultimately may have played a major role in the loss. While only Tanya Pridemore fouled out, several other Cards, notably Anne Hill, were on the verge of fouling out in the last quarter. “We got in foul trouble and they’re a good club. Our shooting was a little better than in the opener and we reacted better. We’re going to have ups and downs. Hill claimed high point honors, sinking six field goals for 12 points. The solidly built Hill also was the top SC rebounded, pulling down seven. The game had two decidedly different looks: the first half appeared to be an early season game, while the second half both teams played a much more sure handed contest. The halftime score was 16-14 in favor of SC. A fifteen point third quarter, in which the lead changed hands four times and he score was tied six times, picked up the pace considerably. Hill pumped in eight points in the period, while Macken got six of her eight points. Wing Shannon Kinney added 11 points on four field goals and three free throws.
Sentinel. Dec. 12. No Rave Reviews On Opening Night. Santa Cruz, SLV Lose First Round Games of the Santa Cruz High Cardinal Classic at Fehlman gym. Playing at the same time on adjacent courts both SC and SLV lost. SC lost to St. Francis of Mt. View 42-35. It took nearly two minutes before St. Francis scored and they stayed ahead the rest of the way. St. Francis led at the quarter 14-6 and 20-15 at halftime. Shannon Kinney scored all of SC’s 6 points in the first quarter and ended up with 12 points. St. Francis won the third period 16-10 and Tanya Pridemore had four of the points and Anne Hill had the other six. SC outscored the Lancers 10-6 in the final period. Hill and Kinney both scored 12 points.
Sentinel. Jan. 4. SC 48, Soquel 46. With only 1:15 to go, Soquel held a 46-40 lead and seemed on the verge of an upset victory, but then SC stole the ball twice and finished the game with eight consecutive points. Rhonda Lyons hit a pair of free throws to tie the game late in the fourth quarter and Ann Hill then put the Cards ahead to stay. Shannon Kinney picked off 11 rebounds and Hill had six.
Jan. 6. North Monterey 65, SC 57. Shannon Kinney scored a season high 31 points, but to no avail as North Monterey put the game away in the fourth quarter. After trying for seven years to beat SC, the Condors finally did it with a fourth quarter 23-13 edge to come back for the win.
Jan. 9. Aptos 46, SC 38. The game was tied 19-19 at halftime, but Aptos began pulling away in the third quarter to outscore SC 27-19 in the second half. Shannon Kinney led all scorers with 19 point and added 13 rebounds. SC dropped to 1-2 in league and 2-8 overall. SC had 25 turnovers.
Jan. 13. Watsonville 51, SC 48. SC led 29-26 at halftime, but suffered through a cold shooting third quarter, scoring just five points, while Watsonville put 11 on the board for a 37-33 lead entering the fourth quarter. “We just couldn’t hit in the third quarter. We had 82 shot in the game and that’s more than enough to win, but we only made 22. We also couldn‘t stop their top scorer, who had half of their points,” Coach Hunter said. SC is 1-3 in league.
Jan. 16. SC 56, SLV 38. Shannon Kinney, The Sentinels All County Junior of the Year last season, scored 24 points and grabbed nine rebounds as the Cards snapped a three game losing streak. “She did a good job again as usual. Nobody can stop her. She’s going to get her points, 16 point average regardless,” said coach Hunter. The SC defense completely shut down SLV’s top scorer, holding her scoreless.
Jan. 20. Rolling Along. Harbor Decks Cards To Remain Unbeaten beating the Cards 57-31. Despite a full court man to man press by SC, whose record dropped to 2-5, Harbor took a 14-2 first quarter lead and coasted the rest of the way. Harbor out rebounded the Cards 38-20. Harbor also came out in a tough man to man full court press, causing SC to frequently turn the ball over. SC had only nine first half points and five of them came on the free throw line. Despite trailing 30-9 at halftime, the Cards didn’t give up. Shannon Kinney scored eight of her game high 21 points in the third quarter. Harbor took full advantage of SC’s inexperienced defense, pounding the ball down low for easy shots.
Jan. 23. Santa Cruz 49, Soquel 48. Diana Macken’s free throw with five seconds left lifted SC to its dramatic victory. Soquel battled back from a 28-30 third quarter deficit in the fourth period to tie the game with just 10 second remaining. Shannon Kinney led SC with 23 points, including 19 in the second half and teammate Tanya Pridemore tallied ten points.
Jan. 27. North Monterey 59, SC 47. SC learned that two quarters of high quality effort aren’t enough as they rallied in the second half to no avail. “We played them even in the second half, actually outscored them by six points in the second half,” noted Coach Ray Hunter, whose club wasted a 22 point performance by Shannon Kinney. Kinney was accurate from the field with seven field goals and was also 8 for 13 from the free throw line. Her scoring was evenly distributed throughout the game. Kinney also led the team with nine rebounds.
Jan. 30. Lets Get Physical. Mariners Win By TKO In Match With Cards. In a foul marred free for all, Aptos cruised by SC 53-40. At times the game more closely resembled football with the number of players picking themselves up off the floor. The Mariners were called for 23 personal fouls and SC for 15 more. The outcome was never in doubt, as Aptos ran off to an early lead it never relinquished. The bright spot for SC was the play of Shannon Kinney, who led all scorers with 26 points and was the class of the SC offense. Other than that SC was just outgunned.
Feb. 3. Watsonville 63, SC 42. Watsonville is tied with SLV and Aptos for second place with 6-4 records. Watsonville shot 42 percent from the floor. Shannon Kinney scored a team high 21 points on four field goals and 13 of 19 from the line. Watsonville coach Haney, “We had two girls all over her and she still scored 21. We fouled her a lot. She’s a heck of a player, right up there with the best in the league. She is hard to control.”
Feb. 6. SLV 59, SC 56 in overtime. SLV blew a 12-0 lead, then was forced to battle back from adversity to take the game into overtime. With 30 seconds left in regulation, SLV hit a bucket to tie the score 52-52. Once in overtime SLV outscored SC 7-4. It marked the first time SLV has defeated SC in girls basketball. The officiating was tight. There were 47 fouls called in the game. SC went to the line 37 times and SLV went 26 times. “No one got to play,” exclaimed SLV Coach Gary Grellmann (former SC athlete) SC was ahead 40-34 at the end of the third quarter. Shannon Kinney was the big gun for SC with 25 points.
Feb. 10. Harbor 69, SC 35. Harbor finished league play undefeated at 12-0. ( no mention of SC play)
Sentinel area high school girls statistics as of February 17, 1985. SC players by place in order, name, games played, total points scored, high game scoring and average points per game. Includes all regular season games.
Individual scoring
PL NAME GP TP HI AVG
2 Kinney 19 344 31 18.1
Individual rebounds
PL NAME GP TR HI AVG
8 Kinney 19 186 14 9.8
Only one Cardinal made the ALL SCCAL thirteen member team: Senior forward at 5-8 Shannon Kinney.
GIRLS JUNIOR VARSITY Gilroy 38, SC 28. Harbor 24-14.
WRESTLING
Trident February 15. Wrestlers Ready For Tournament. Coming off and up and down season, the team goes into the SCCAL tournament as and underdog. North Monterey and Soquel are the teams to beat. Leading the Cards attack in the upper weights are Jim Mustain, Shawn Butts and Phillip Jacks. Middleweights are Noah DeLaCruz, Steve Ball and Chris Lovato. Lightweights are Mike Ronzano, Rob Porter and brothers Cari and Conrad Alvarez. The potential for upset is there and the Cards should have no trouble getting psyched up.
BOYS SOCCER Practice games: RLS 5-1, Seaside 5-3, Monterey 5-1, Live Oak 1-3. Practice record 3-1. League: North Monterey 3-2, 2-0; Watsonville 2-3, 1-1; Aptos 2-2, 3-0; Soquel 1-2, 1-5; Harbor 2-1, 1-3; SLV 2-0, 1-1; Marello 5-0, 2-1. League record 7-4-3 for fourth place. Season record 10-5-3.
Sentinel Dec 7. SC And SLV Both Remain Undefeated. SC won for the second time in two non-league outings, as five players broke into the scoring column in a 5-3 victory over Seaside. SC held a 3-0 lead at halftime on goals by Miguel Valencia, Arturo Cerna and Eduardo Cerna, but during the first 12 minutes of the second half, Seaside out scored SC 3-1 to pull to within a goal. Paco Cerna scored one minute later it give SC a 5-3 lead and the two teams spent the remaining 28 minutes battling to a standoff. Coach Don Dempewolf said he had most of his starters out of the game during the first part of the second half to give them a rest. But when they got back in, things settled down and we took charge again. Left halfback Jorge Sierra did an excellent job. He’s an excellent passer. He also played a very good game of defense in midfield.
Sentinel Feb. 10. SLV and SC tied 1-1. SC scored first midway through the opening half, when Carl Jacobson booted one in. With 25 minutes left in the second half SLV scored. SC ended the league season 7-4-3.
Coach Dempewolf, “The Cards were a bit off their usual scoring pace and finished fourth in the SCCAL, thus missing the CCS playoffs for the first time in five years. In spite of the low finish, I feel this was a very fine team with a great deal of potential to be a winner next year. The Cards were led ably by co-captains Bob Adams and Jim Courtright. Halfbacks Bob and David Adams and Jorge Sierra anchored the midfield and provided stability and leadership to a young team. Defenders Pat Sullivan, Kurt Hodges, Jim Ulwelling and Jim Courtright continued to improve throughout the season as did Keeper Luis Marquez and forwards Eric Rosebraugh, Arturo Cerna, Ed Reyes and Miguel Valencia. Karl Jacobson came on strong in late season and played very well. If not for an early season let down (a lack of quality practices during Christmas vacation) this team would have been much more competitive in SCCAL. Commitment is the key to the success of next years team.”
The Cards outscored their practice opponents 16 to 8, league opponents 28 to 21 and for the whole season 44 to 29.
Stats for players:
Single game high score by a player — David Adams, Jorge Sierra and Arturo Cerna two each
Pre-season total scoring — Arturo Cerna 5
League season total scoring — David Adams 8
Overall season scoring — David Adams 8
Stats for the team:
Highest game score — Marello 5-0
Shut outs — four
Consecutive wins — four
Consecutive losses — two
Individual scoring by name, practice games, league games and total scoring.
PR LEA TOTALS
David Adams 2 8 10
Miguel Valencia 2 5 7
Arturo Cerna 5 2 7
Jorge Sierra 2 2 4
Rich Zavala 0 4 4
Eduardo Reyes 1 2 3
Eric Rosebraugh 0 3 3
Karl Jacobson 0 2 2
Bob Adams 1 0 1
Tony Pacheco 1 0 1
Paco Cerna 1 0 1
Totals 15 28 43
ALL SCCAL selections were all halfbacks: senior Bob Adams and juniors David Adams and Jorge Sierra. Honorable mention were Pat Sullivan, Luis Marquez, Kurt Hodges and Miguel Valencia.
Team members were Roland Von Der Muhl, David Adams, Pat Sullivan, Brandy Smith, Bob Adams, Jim Ulwelling, Kurt Hodges, Eric Rosebraugh, Eddie Reeves, Rich Zavala, Luis Marquez, Jim Courtright and Jorge Sierra. Coach Don Dempewolf.
FROSH-SOPH SOCCER Practice games: RLS 5-1, Seaside 2-0, Monterey 5-0, Live Oak 0-1. Practice record 3-1. League: North Monterey 10-1, 8-0; Watsonville 1-5, 1-3; Aptos 4-1, 4-1; Soquel 5-3, 3-1; Harbor 7-2, 4-1; SLV 4-0, canceled due to rain. League record 9-2 for second place. Ties the school record for the most wins in a season. Season record 12-3
Coach Dempewolf, “The team coached once again by Richard King had another outstanding season finishing a strong second in the SCCAL. Their 12-3 season record makes them the top winning team since 1978 (also coached by Rich King) when they won 12 games also. The Cards are led in scoring by Lindsay Thompson, who set the school single game scoring record when he netted 6 against North Monterey. This team was made up of many talented sophomores and freshman who will move to the varsity level next season. Hopefully these talented players will continue to play soccer at SC and contribute to the success of our program.
This team outscored their opponents by a big margin. In practice games, 12 to 2; in league 51 to 18 and for the whole season 63 to 20.
Stats for players:
Single game high score by a player — Lindsay Thompson 6
Pre-season total scoring — Thompson 5
League season total scoring — Thompson 13
Overall season scoring — Thompson 18
Stats for the team:
Highest game — North Monterey 10-1
Shut Outs — 4
Consecutive wins — 5
Consecutive losses — 1
Individual scoring
PR LEA TOTALS
Lindsay Thompson 5 13 18
Paco Cerna 0 12 12
Tony Pacheco 0 8 8
Frank Vargas 2 5 7
Carlos Carillio 2 4 6
Ageo Garcia 0 4 4
Dan Kern 1 1 2
Robert Camacho 0 1 1
Tracy Scala 0 1 1
Tim Lara 1 0 1
Darien Houpt 1 0 1
Totals 12 49 61
Other team members were Andrew Danner, Dan Stanford, Carlos Ruiz, Dan Thorpe, David Machado, Paco Cerna, Rolando Ruiz, Scott Lowe, Tom Criswell, Keith Wipke and Brian Kimura. Coach Richard King.
BASEBALL Practice games: North Salinas 8-12, Hill 9-0, Alisal 7-1, Hollister 8-5, Salinas 8-7, Saratoga 6-1, Fremont 2-4, Silver Creek 6-7. San Jose Lions Tournament: Monta Vista of Mountain View 2-4, Homestead 9-8, Mt, Pleasant 2-1, Palo Alto 2-13. Tournament record 2-2. Practice record 7-5. League: Aptos 8-11, 19-14; Harbor 0-6, 0-13; Soquel 1-2 (8 innings), 5-2; Watsonville 5-9, 4-5; North Monterey 6-1, 5-3; SLV 5-0, 7-3; Marello 11-2, 8-4. League record 8-6. Final league standings; Harbor 13-1, Soquel 11-3, SC 8-6, Watsonville 8-6, SLV 8-6, Aptos 5-9, North Monterey 2-12 and Marello 1-13.
CCS playoffs: Valley Christian 4-2, Palma 6-4, (quarterfinals) South San Francisco 4-1, (semi-finals) Bellarmine 4-8. Playoff record 3-1. (one of the SC players claimed the public school title for SC as the three other schools in the semi-finals were private schools Bellarmine, Serra and Robert Louis Stevenson). Over all record 18-12. After April 1, record was 13-4.
Returning seniors: Kevin Grindy in his fourth year as a starter. Bobby Adams and Rob Morris as third year starters. Kevin Hodges, Keith Hodges and Bob Pinkham as second year part time starters. Returning juniors: Bytheal Ratliff third year on varsity, second as a starter. Don Keathley second year on varsity, first as a starter. Up from the JV’s: Richie Fernandez, Kurt Hodges, Sean Harrell, David Adams, Brad Young, Sean Hawkins and Jesus Escobar. New to the team were juniors Joel Domhoff, Sean Gahan, and Ballan Tuck.
North Salinas defeated the Cards 12-8. Down 5-0, the Cards scored four runs in the top of the fourth helped by two errors and three walks. But the Vikings came back with four of their own in the bottom half of the inning and added a run an inning for the next two. The Cards made a come back attempt in the seventh scoring four runs. Keith Hodges drove in three runs and David Adams, Rob Morris and Richie Fernandez each drove in one. The Cards had three errors. Lineup: Kevin Hodges CF/P, 3-0, walk; Bob Adams C, 2-0, run, two walks; Gahan SS, 3-1, two runs, walk; Young 1B, 3-0, run, walk; David Adams RF, 3-1, run, walk; Morris P/3B, 2-0, two runs, two walks; Pinkham LF, 4-1, run; Keith Hodges 2B, 3-1, double, walk; Fernandez DH, 3-1, sacrifice; Kurt Hodges CF, defense and Kingdom 3B, 0-0. Pitching stats by innings pitched, hits, earned runs, base on balls and strike outs.
INN H ER BB SO
Morris 2 5 6 4 0 loss
Hawkins 3 8 2 0 1
Kev Hodges 1 1 1 1 0
SC 9, Hill 0. The Cards scored in the first, when Gahan walked, stole second and scored on Fernandez’ single. In the third inning, the Cards sent 12 batters to the plate scoring seven runs on three hits. They tacked on the ninth run in the sixth, when Gahan singled and scored on Keith Hodges sacrifice fly. All three Card pitchers, Kevin Hodges, Sean Hawkins and Kevin Grindy looked good giving up only four hits, one walk and no runs. RBI’s: Fernandez and Pinkham two each and one each for the three brothers Kevin Hodges, Keith Hodges and Kurt Hodges. Stolen bases were Gahan, Fernandez and Keith Hodges. Cards had three errors. Lineup: Kevin Hodges P/CF, 4-1, run; Bob Adams C, 3-0, two walks; Gahan SS, 3-2, three runs, walk; Fernandez RF, 4-1, run; Pinkham LF, 2-1, run, walk; Keith Hodges 2B, 2-1, run, walk, sacrifice; Morris 3B, 3-0, run; Young 1B, 1-0, run, two walks; Ratliff PH, 1-0; Keathley C, 1-0; David Adams LF, 0-0, walk and Hawkins P, 1-0.
INN H ER BB SO
Kev Hodges 3 1 0 1 3 win
Hawkins 3 2 0 0 0 save
Grindy 1 1 0 0 1
SC 7, Alisal 1. The Cards jumped out to a 5-0 lead after two innings and never looked back. Sean Gahan keyed a two run first with an RBI triple and Brad Young’s RBI double highlighted a three run second inning. Centerfielder Kurt Hodges made a nice running catch and Rob Morris had a couple of good plays at third base. “The Cards had two errors, but overall the defense has been doing its job.” Gahan and Fernandez each had two RBI’s, Bob Adams and Brad Young one apiece. Lineup: Kevin Hodges P/CF, 2-0, two runs, two walks; Bob Adams C, 3-1, run, walk, steal; Gahan SS/3B, 2-1, triple, run, steal, sacrifice; Fernandez RF, 2-1, hit by pitch; Pinkham LF, 3-0; Keith Hodges 2B, 3-0, walk; Morris 3B, 3-1, run; Young 1B, 2-2, double, two runs; Keathley C, 1-0; Grindy SS/P, 0-0, walk and Hawkins P, 0-0.
INN H ER BB SO
Kev Hodges 3 1 0 1 2 win
Grindy 2 0 0 0 1 save
Hawkins 2 2 0 0 1
Cards Say They’re Ready For League Play To Begin. SC Knocks off previously unbeaten Saratoga 6-1 on Saturday and Salinas 8-7 on Friday. “The way we played today, we’re ready. Things are definitely looking up. We are real pleased.” SC is now 4-1on the season after winning twice this weekend. SC had its bats working in both games. They came up with 11 hits against Salinas and ten against Saratoga. In Fridays game against Salinas, the Cards trailed the entire game, before rallying for four runs in the top of the fifth inning. The key blow was a two run single by Jesus Escobar. Keith Hodges, who was 3 for 3 with three RBI’s, one driven in with a double.. Others with RBI’s were Escobar two, Grindy and Pinkham one each. Bytheal Ratliff earned the victory in relief of starter Sean Hawkins, while Rob Morris was credited with the save. The Cards had three errors. Lineup against Salinas: Kevin Hodges CF, 3-0, hit by pitch; Bob Adams 1B/C, 4-1, run,; Gahan 3B, 3-1, run, steal, walk; Fernandez RF, 4-1, run; Grindy SS, 3-1, two runs, steal; Young DH, 3-1, walk; Keathley C, 2-2, run; Pinkham LF, 3-0, steal, run; Keith Hodges 2B, 3-3, run; Escobar 1B, 1-1, two RBI’s; Kurt Hodges, CF, 0-0.
Under innings, 2.2 means two and two-thirds innings.
INN H ER BB SO
Hawkins 2.2 5 5 4 2
B. Ratliff 2.2 1 0 0 3 win
Morris .2 1 0 0 0 save
More on the Saratoga game.
Kevin Grindy in his first start of the season after getting a late start from basketball, held Saratoga scoreless on one hit for the win. He pitched the first four innings in a very efficient manner facing only one batter over the minimum. Rob Morris pitched the last three innings giving up one run on two hits for a save. The Cardinals looked solid defensively, committing one error, which was wiped out with a double play. “Everything was good. It was the best overall game we’ve played. We looked very competitive today.” SC took control of the game in the fifth inning on a two run double by Grindy to give the Cards a 3-0 lead. SC added three more runs in the sixth. Keith Hodges, Sean Gahan and Rob Morris each had a pair of hits. Grindy and Bob Adams drove in two runs and Keith Hodges and Fernandez drove in one apiece. Lineup: Kurt Hodges CF, 3-0, walk, steal; Escobar RF, 2-0, run, walk; Gahan SS/3B, 3-2, run, steal; Grindy P/SS, 3-1, steal, double; Morris 3B/P, 2-2, run, walk; Young DH, 3-1, run; Keith Hodges 2B, 3-2, run steal; Ratliff, 1B, 2-0; Bob Adams C, 3-1 and Fernandez PH, 1-1, run, steal.
SC 8, Hollister 5. Kevin Grindy went three innings, but was not as sharp as he was against Saratoga. Sean Hawins relieved and held the Balers to one run in two innings, before turning it over to Rob Morris, who pitched the last two innings getting them three up, three down for the win. RBI’s were Fernandez four, Morris two and Gahan and Bob Adams one each. Cards had two errors. Lineup: Kurt Hodges CF, 2-0; Keith Hodges 2B, 2-0, two runs, two walks; Gahan DH, 3-2, two runs, two walks, Grindy P/3B, 2-1, two runs, two walks; Fernandez RF, 3-1, run, walk, double; Morris 3B/P, 2-2, double, walk; Keathley C, 2-1, double; Kevin Hodges LF, 3-0; Harrell SS, 2-0, walk; Bob Adams C, 1-0, walk; David Adams CF, 2-1, run, steal; Pinkham LF, 0-0 and Hawkins P, 0-0, walk.
INN H ER BB SO
Grindy 3 5 3 3 1
Hawkins 2 2 1 0 0
Morris 2 0 0 0 2 winner
SC 2, Fremont of Sunnyvale 4. Fremont scored only one earned run as the Cards had both of their errors in Fremont‘s three run fourth inning.. SC scored in the sixth inning, when Grindy led off with a single, went to third on Morris’ single and then Morris stole second. Pinch hitter David Adams singled them both in. Sean Harrell just recently out from basketball came through with two hits along with Bob Adams. Bob Adams had two stolen bases, Harrell, Gahan and Kevin Hodges each had one. Lineup: Harrell SS, 4-2; Bob Adams C, 4-2; Gahan 3B, 4-0; Fernandez RF, 2-0, walk; Grindy 2b, 3-1; Morris DH/P, 3-1; Kurt Hodges CF, defense; Young 1B, 2-0; Kevin Hodges LF/RF, 3-1; Ratliff P/ 1B, 2-0; Keathley PH, 1-0 and Pinkham LF, 0-0.
INN H ER BB SO
Ratliff 3 4 1 0 3 loss
Hawkins 2 3 0 1 0
Morris 1 0 0 1 2
Aptos Get Last Laugh In Comedy Of Errors in the league opener at Aptos. Seven run fifth inning lifts Mariners past Cards 11-8. Aptos went up 2-0 in the first inning on a home run. The Cards came back in the third and scored seven runs on four hits and four errors. Aptos came back and scored two runs in the fourth, both unearned. SC scored a single run in the fifth. Morris went in to pitch the fifth for the Cards with four run lead. Unfortunately he was left in to twist in the wind as Aptos scored seven times on six hits, a walk and an error. Ratliff came in and got the two outs needed to get out of the inning and then pitched a three up and three down last inning. Brothers Bob and David Adams each had two hits. SC slips to a 5-3 record, while Aptos move up to 3-4. Cards had three errors. RBI’s were David Adams two and Grindy, Gahan, Morris one each. The Cards had three errors. Lineup: Bob Adams C, 3-2, run, sacrifice; Grindy P/2B, 4-1, run; Gahan 3B, 4-1, run; Fernandez LF, 4-1, run, steal; Morris DH/P, 4-0, run; David Adams RF, 4-2, run; Young 1B, 3-0; Kurt Hodges CF, 3-1, run; Harrell SS, 3-0, run; Kevin Hodges PH, 1-0.
INN H ER BB SO
Grindy 4 5 3 2 2
Morris .1 6 5 1 0 loss
Ratliff 1.2 0 0 0 0
Harbor’ Big Sixth Clips SC 6-0. Six run explosion keeps Bucs on top. One hit is enough when the pitching is right. The hitting came late for Harbor, which got two of its five hits in the six run sixth inning and SC, which fueled the Pirate rally with two errors in the frame, never could get the bat on the ball. The Harbor pitcher was over powering with his curve ball. Fernandez’ line drive to left was the Cards only hit, though they did walk eight times, three of them in the seventh, Coach, “The last inning we went out and made the pitcher throw the ball over the plate. That’s the way you’re supposed to play baseball. We’re back on the way up. If we would have played Aptos this good a game, we would have won.” Grindy started on the mound and went three innings facing ten batters, one over the limit. He had thrown four innings two days before. The one error the Cards made fueled the big Harbor rally. It would have been the second out and two batters later would have been the third out instead of the second. Any way one run would have scored, which would have been enough. Lineup: Harrell SS, 2-0, walk; Grindy P/1B, 2-0, walk; Bob Adams C, 2-0, walk; Gahan 3B, 3-0; David Adams RF, 3-0, walk; Morris DH/P, 2-0, walk; Fernandez LF, 1-1, sacrifice, walk; Keith Hodges 2B, 2-0, walk; Kurt Hodges CF, 1-0, walk; Kevin Hodges CF, 0-0 and Keathley PH, 1-0.
INN H ER BB SO
Grindy 3 2 0 0 2
Ratliff 2.1 1 1 1 0 loss
Morris 1.2 2 0 2 1
SC 6, Silver Creek 7. (Bob Adams and Grindy fourth year players and Fernandez were left home to allow others to play and so the coach couldn’t decide to put them in the game.) The Cards scored four runs the first inning and one each in the fifth and sixth innings. In both innings they left the bases loaded. ( Keith Hodges hit a triple, but was called out by the base umpire for missing first base. The umpire never saw the action at first, just reacted to the Silver Creek coaches claim. The next batter singled, which would have scored a run) Morris, David Adams, Ratliff and Domhoff each drove in a run. The Cards committed six errors. Both pitchers, Kevin Hodges and Sean Hawkins pitched well. Lineup: Pinkham LF, 5-2, two runs; Keith Hodges 2B, 1-1, steal, sacrifice, walk; Gahan 3B, 3-1; Morris SS, 3-1, two runs, triple, two walks; David Adams RF, 2-0, run, walk; Keathley C, 3-2, run, double, walk; Ratliff 1B, 2-0, two walks; Domhoff CF, 4-0; Kevin Hodges P/RF, 4-2; Tuck 2B, 0-0, sacrifice; Kingdom 3B, 0-0, walk; Hawkins P, 0-0 and Young C, 0-0.
INN H ER BB SO
Kev Hodges 3 5 3 2 2 loss
Hawkins 3 2 1 0 3
Verduzco Too Hot For Ice Cold Cards. Soquel wins in eighth inning 2-1 in a well pitched, good defensive game by both teams. None of the runs in the game were earned. Soquel had five hits and the Cards one hit. Kevin Grindy went the distance for the Cards giving up five hits, no earned runs, walked three and struck out 11. “He pitched like we’ve been expecting him to pitch all year.” Of Grindy’s 11 strike outs, he had four in a row and seven out of nine. The type of game that should be rewarded with a win. The Cards run came in the fifth inning, when Keathley walked, Pinkham replaced him as a runner, stole second, went to third on a ground out and scored on a wild pitch. Cards had two errors. Lineup: Bob Adams 1B, 3-1, steal; Grindy P, 2-0, walk; Fernandez LF, 3-0; Morris DH, 2-0, hit by pitch; Kurt Hodges CF, defense; David Adams RF, 2-0, sacrifice; Keathley C, 2-0, walk; Gahan 3B, 3-0; Keith Hodges 2B, 3-0; Harrell SS, 3-0; Pinkhan, PR, steal, run and Kevin Hodges PR, 0-0.
At this point in the season the Sentinel put out baseball stats for county players. In the top twenty for the Cards were Sean Gahan hitting .361 and 5 RBI’s. Richie Fernandez hit .333 and 16 RBI’s. In the top five for pitching were Bytheal Ratliff record 2-3, 21 innings, 14 hits, ERA 1.42. Kevin Grindy 2-1, 31 innings, 23 hits, ERA 1.58.
Four run outbursts in the third and fifth innings lifted Watsonville past SC 9-5. The Cards one of the preseason favorites have now lost their first four league games. Fernandez had two RBI’s and Grindy, Keathley and Kurt Hodges each had one. The Cards had four errors.
Lineup: Bob Adams 1B, 4-1; Harrell SS, 3-0; Grindy 2B/SS, 3-2, three runs, walk; Keathley C, 4-2, double; Fernandez LF, 3-1, double, sacrifice; Morris DH/3B, 1-0, run, two walks; David Adams RF, 1-0, sacrifice; Kurt Hodges CF, 3-2, run, two steals; Ratliff P, 0-0; Keith Hodges 2B, 1-0; Hawkins P, 0-0; Kevin Hodges P, 1-1 and Domhoff RF, 1-0.
INN H ER BB SO
Ratliff 2.2 3 0 2 1 loss
Morris .2 2 0 1 0
Hawkins 1 2 2 2 0
Kev Hodges 1.2 3 2 1 0
In the first game of the San Jose Lions Club Tournament the Cards continued their losing streak, going down to Monta Vista of Cupertino 2-4. Lineup changes failed to put the skids on the Cards current losing streak, which stretched to six games. Card record is 5-7. Taking advantage of the opportunity, Bytheal Ratliff, Ballan Tuck a transfer student and Brad Young who played earlier in the year each had a pair of hits to nail down starting roles for at least two more games. “They did a good job, so they’ll be playing.” Monta Vista scored three runs in the top of the first on three hits and a pair of SC errors. The Cards out hit Monta Vista 9-4, but made 4 errors to none. The Cards scored two runs in the second inning on four hits. Ratliff and Young drove in runs. Lineup: Kurt Hodges CF, 4-0; Morris 3B, 2-1, walk; Grindy SS, 3-1,walk; Keathley DH, 3-0; Fernandez RF, 3-1, run; Escobar LF, 3-0, up from JV; Ratliff 1B, 2-2, double, walk, run; Tuck 2B, 3-2; Young C, 3-2; Pinkham PR, 0-0; Bob Adams PH, 0-0, walk.
INN H ER BB SO
D, Adams 3 5 1 2 0 loss
Kev Hodges 3.1 1 0 4 2
Hawkins .2 0 0 1 0
Cards break the ice, beat Homestead 9-8 in the tournament second game. The Cards had a seven run second inning on three walks, an error, two doubles and two singles. The two doubles, which drove in runs, were by Brad Young and Jesus Escobar, who up to now have had limited playing time. Two more scores came in the top of the sixth, when Rob Morris’ home run over the leftfield fence drove in Escobar to put the Cards up 9-2. With two outs and the bases loaded in the sixth inning, Hawkins replaced starter Bytheal Ratliff, to strike out the next batter to end the inning. Ratliff, who had pitched well, had given up only one earned run. In the seventh inning with two outs and two runners on an error prolonged the inning that should have been over. With a runner on base Grindy came in and struck out the third out for the save. Ratliff earned a well deserved win. “Bytheal has been a real bright light for us.” He also had a pair of hits at the plate for the second straight game. Eight players had RBI’s: Morris two and the rest one, Grindy, Fernandez, Keathley, Ratliff, Tuck, Young and Escobar. The Cards had five errors. Lineup: Harrell SS, 3-0, run, walk; Morris 3B, 3-1, two runs, walk, HR; Grindy 1B/P, 3-0, run, walk; Fernandez RF, 4-1, run; Keathley C, 4-0; Ratliff P/1B, 3-2, run, walk; Tuck 2B, 4-1; Young DH, 3-1, double, run; Escobar LF, 3-2, two runs, double; Hawkins P, 0-0 and Pinkham PR, 0-0, steal, run.
INN H ER BB SO
Ratliff 5.2 5 1 2 3 Winner
Hawkins 1 2 0 1 1
Grindy .1 1 0 0 2 Save
SC 2, Mt. Pleasant 1. A recent six game losing streak is a distant memory now for SC, which won its second straight with a rally in the bottom of the seventh. “We feel a little better and the guys are playing well. We feel we have our best team on the field now.” Kevin Grindy pitched a complete game victory, striking out eight, walking one, while giving up four hits. The Cards had only three base runners until the seventh, when Rob Morris led off the frame by jumping on the first pitch for his second home run in as many games. Grindy then walked, took third on a misplayed pickoff attempt and scored on a single by Bytheal Ratliff. That hit extended a red hot, three game hitting streak during which Ratliff has gone 5 for 6. The Cards committed two errors. Lineup: Harrell SS, 3-0; Morris 3B, 3-1, run; Grindy P, 2-0, run, walk; Keathley C, 1-0; Fernandez LF, 1-0, walk; Young DH/C, 2-0; Kurt Hodges CF, defense; David Adams RF, 1-0, hit by pitch; Tuck 2B, 1-0, sacrifice and Escobar CF, 1-0.
Palo Alto 13, SC 2. In their fourth game of the San Jose Lions Tournament, SC’s performance wasn’t one to write home about: four hits, six errors and seven unearned runs allowed. “We’re forgetting this game, That’s what the coach told his team. “A new season starts Monday.” Nevertheless, there were some high points to the tournament for SC, especially the play of Bytheal Ratliff, who hit .625 (5 for 8), three RBI’s, including the game winner over Mt. Pleasant in the semifinals, while posting a 1.23 earned run average. “He had a hell of a tournament.” What offense SC did have was supplied by Richie Fernandez, who homered in the second inning. He ripped another shot to deep left field later that was caught. “He was the only guy who consistently hit the ball hard for us today.” Don Keathley had the other RBI. Lineup: Harrell SS, 2-0; Morris 3B, 2-0; Grindy 1B, 2-1; Ratliff DH, 2-0; Fernandez RF, 2-1; Tuck 2B, 1-0; Escobar LF, 2-0; Young C, 1-1; Kurt Hodges CF, 2-0, walk; Keith Hodges 2B, 2-0; Pinkham LF, 1-0; Bob Adams 1B, 1-0; Kevin Hodges P, 1-0; Domhoff RF, 1-0; Kingdom 3B, 1-0; Gahan SS, 1-1; Keathley C, 2-0 and Hawkins P, 0-0.
INN H ER BB SO
Hawkins 1.1 2 5 3 2 loss
D. Adams 2.2 4 0 2 1
Kev Hodges 3 3 1 3 3
SC 6, North Monterey County 1. Kevin Grindy pitched a complete game four hitter allowing no earned runs, walked one and struck out three all in 75 pitches. He had four innings of putting down the side in order. Grindy, Keathley and Harrell hit triples and Keathley also doubled. RBI’s: Fernandez and Tuck two each and Keathley one. Cards had two errors. Lineup: Bob Adams DH, 3-0, hit by pitch; Grindy P, 4-1, run, triple; Fernandez RF, 4-2, run; Ratliff 1b, 3-0; Keathley C, 4-2, run, double, triple; Gahan 3B, 3-3, two runs, two steals; Escobar LF, 3-0; Tuck 2B, 3-2, Harrell SS, 3-1, triple, run and David Adams PH, 0-0, walk.
Iron Man Grindy Hurls One Hitter Against Cougars. After SC pitcher Kevin Grindy threw only 75 pitches in a 6-1 complete game win over North Monterey County Tuesday, the coach knew exactly who would start the next game against SLV, Kevin Grindy. So how did Grindy do? Even better. The senior right-hander with it seems, a rubber arm hurled a 5-0 one hitter, while striking out six and walking only one and throwing only 75 pitches again. The last five innings, he faced only three batters an inning. For the compete game, he faced only two batters over the minimum required. “His arm was fine. Earlier in the year his arm was tired and he couldn’t pitch a full game. Normally he would go from three to five innings. He was very effective today, but that doesn’t mean we’re going to pitch him two games a week the rest of the way,” Grindy had good control and kept the Cougars off balance with his curve ball. Grindy aided his own cause with a three run homer in the third inning. Cards had three errors. Lineup: Bob Adams DH, 3-1, run, walk; Grindy P, 4-3, run, home run, three RBI; Gahan 3B, 3-0, walk; Fernandez RF, 3-0; Keathley C, 2-1, run, walk, double; Ratliff 1B, 3-0; Tuck 2B, 3-1, hit by pitch, walk; Escobar LF, 2-1, run, walk and Harrell SS, 3-1, run.
SC 11, Marello 2. The rains came a few minutes too late for Marello, as the Panthers were first deluged by SC for seven innings. Rain began falling a few minutes after the game ended, but before the skies opened, the Cards belted out ten hits. Starter Bytheal Ratliff, who went six innings surrendered only two hits in his six innings on the mound. Ratliff was extremely effective, coming up with a four pitch fifth inning and a six pitch fourth inning. “He looked real good.“ Ratliff has won his last two games. Sean Hawkins pitched the last inning putting the side down in order.
A seven run fifth inning was the big moment as SC broke open a 4-2 game. Richie Fernandez started the ball rolling with a triple, Don Keathley hit a ground ball and Fernandez was safe at the plate. Ratliff and Ballan Tuck then drove in runs with singles. In between Gahan walked and Escobar hit a sacrifice fly to drive in a run. Bob Adams singled, went to third on and error and scored on a pass ball to completed the rally. The Cards also scored one run in the first inning and three in the second. Richie Fernandez had a big day at the plate going 3 for 4, tripled, drove in three runs, stole and scored a run. . RBI’s: Fernandez three and the rest one, Bob Adams, Grindy, Keathley, Ratliff, Tuck and Escobar. Cards had three errors. Adams had a double and Fernandez a triple. Lineup: Harrell SS, 3-1, two runs, steal; Bob Adams DH, 3-2, two runs, double, walk; Kurt Hodges LF, defense; Grindy 1B/2B, 3-0, two runs; Fernandez RF, 4-3, triple, run, steal, three RBI; Keathley C, 3-0, run; Ratliff P/1B, 3-1, run, walk; Gahan 3B, 2-0, run; Tuck 2B, 3-1, run; Escobar LF, 2-1, sacrifice fly; Hawkins P, 1-0; Kingdom 3B, 0-0; Young C, 1-0; Morris SS, 1-1; Pinkham LF, 0-0, walk and Domhoff RF, 1-0.
INN H ER BB SO
Ratliff 6 2 1 3 3 win
Hawkins 1 0 0 1 2
Wild Santa Cruz Win Over Aptos 19-14. SC sent 30 batters to the plate in the first three innings, collected 14 hits and 15 runs. For the game the Cards ended with 19 runs on 18 hits. “It was nice to get all those runs. We sure needed them” Aptos scored in the top of the first, when the Mariners took advantage of two SC errors. It was the only lead they had all day. Aptos Coach Paul Barrington, “Your looking at two very young teams. Each team has only one senior starting. Until the youngsters get some playing time, they’ll make mistakes.” Bob Adams started the ball rolling for SC in the bottom of the first with a sharp single up the middle. Sean Gahan lined a double to right center to drive in the first of his four RBI’s. Kevin Grindy singled to right to score Gahan. Clean up hitter Rich Fernandez singled to put runners on first and second. SC’s fifth consecutive hit came in the form of a bunt single by Don Keathley to load the bases with no one out. Bytheal Ratliff sent a screaming line drive to right that was caught, but Grindy scored after the catch. This brought in a reliever who gave up back to back singles to Ballan Tuck and Jesus Escobar to score Fernandez and Keathley. Kurt Hodges walked to load the bases, Lead off man Bob Adams strolled to the plate for the second time in the inning and negotiated a walk to force in a run. Hodges ended up stealing home and Gahan drove in the eighth run with a fielders choice.
Card assistant Ray Hunter, “We hit the ball really well. It’s been a long time since we’ve had that many hits.” In the second inning SC scored four more runs on five hits for a 12-1 lead. Out of the six innings the Cards were at bat the fifth inning was the only one they did not score in. After the run in the first, Aptos scored five in the third, one in the four, three in the fifth and four in the seventh. Grindy got 20 outs, but needed an out from Ratliff to finish off the game. (The two games Grindy pitched last week probably had an effect today) Doubles: Gahan, Fenandez and Escobar. Steals were Kurt Hodges two, Gahan and Escobar one each. RBI’s: Gahan four, Tuck three, two each for Keathley, Escobar and Kurt Hodges, one each for Adams, Grindy and Ratliff. Cards had five errors. Lineup: Bob Adams DH, 3-1, run, two walks; Harrell SS, defense; Gahan 3B, 6-2, run, double, steal, 4 RBI; Grindy P/1B, 6-2, two runs; Fernandez RF, 5-4, three runs, double; Keathley C, 3-3, two runs, sacrifice; Ratliff 1B/P, 2-0, run, sacrifice, walk; Tuck 2B, 5-3, three runs, sacrifice, double; Escobar LF, 3-2, three runs, double, steal, two walks; Kurt Hodges CF, 2-1, three walks, two runs, two steals; Kevin Hodges PR, 0-0, run and David Adams PH, 0-0, walk.
INN H ER BB SO
Grindy 6.2 13 9 3 6
Ratliff .1 1 0 1 1
Just Rollin Along. Not much going wrong for Harbor these days. The Pirates remain undefeated in league with a 8-0 record. SC became their eighth victory 13-0. The Cards loaded the bases in the first inning, but fine defensive plays by Harbor did not allow a score. The Cards had the bases loaded in the fifth with one out, but a double play put an end to it. Harbor is the class of the league. Cards had six errors. Lineup: Bob Adams DH, 3-2; Harrell SS, defense; Gahan 3B, 3-1, Grindy 1B/SS, 2-1, walk; Fernandez RF, 2-0; Keathley C, 2-0; Tuck 2B, 3-1; Ratliff P, 1-1, double; Kevin Hodges LF, 3-0; Kurt Hodges CF, 2-1; Pinkham CF, 1-0; Morris P/3B, 1-1, double; David Adams RF, 1-0; Escobar 1B, 1-0 and Hawkins P, 0-0.
INN H ER BB SO
Ratliff 2.2 11 5 1 2
Morris 2.1 2 1 2 1
Hawkins 1 0 0 1 0
Grindy Does Job, Gets Win This Time. Santa Cruz slips past Soquel 5-2. Friday night marked the second time this baseball season Kevin Grindy subdued the Knights bats. In the first game the Cards could only score one run, this time they were able to score a few more. Soquel coach Mitch Meyers said, “Grindy had our number tonight.” “We were glad to get Fetty tonight,” Grindy said, “Pat is so hard to get any runs off of, it seems like it’s always a duel when he’s pitching.” Grindy worked most of the evening with a lead of only one or two runs. It wasn’t until the bottom of the sixth that the Cards proved him with a cushion by scoring their final two runs for a 5-1 lead. Before the game, Grindy wasn’t sure how his game on the hill was going to turn out. “When I was warming up, I couldn’t get the ball over the plate, but once the game began, so did the outs.
Coach Ray Hunter has taught me what we call a ‘slurve,’ a slow curve. (usually, a slurve is a combination slider-curve). “That was my out pitch tonight. It’s a good strike three pitch.” Grindy also threw an effective, sharp breaking slider that he picked up last year after watching Aptos’ Bryan Holt. Grindy’s line was four hits, one earned run, four walks and six strike outs.
Soquel scored in the top of the first inning and the Cards came right back and scored, when Bobby Adams walked, took second on a wild pitch, moved to third on Sean Gahan’s fly ball to right and scored on Rich Fernandez’ sacrifice fly. In the third inning Grindy doubled and scored on Fernandez’ single. In the fourth Kurt Hodges was hit by a pitch, stole second, moved to third on a ground out and scored on a wild pitch. With two outs in the sixth inning Adams got to second on an error, and stole third. Gahan walked and stole second. Grindy hit a ball to right field that was misplayed for two more Card runs.
Grindy and Fernandez each had two RBI’s. Cards committed five errors. Lineup: Bob Adams DH, 3-0, two runs, steal; Kevin Hodges LF, defense; Gahan 3B, 2-0, run, two walks, Grindy P, 3-2, run, walk, two RBI; Fernandez RF, 3-1; sacrifice fly, steal, two RBI; Keathley C, 3-1; Tuck 2B, 3-1; Ratliff 1B, 2-0, walk; Harrell SS, 1-0, hit by pitch; Morris PH, 1-0 and Kurt Hodges CF, 1-0, run, walk, hit by pitch, two steals.
Watsonville 5, SC 4. SC took advantage of five Watsonville errors, but still came up short. The setback all but knocked SC out of a possible CCS playoff spot. SC is 5-6, while Soquel and Watsonville are tied for second place at 7-3. SC pitcher Kevin Grindy struck out three batters in the first inning, but not before Watsonville scored two unearned runs, thanks to a two out infield error, the only Card error of the game. The Cards scored in the fourth when Tuck reached base on an error and scored on Ratliff’s double. Watsonville led 3-1 at the end of the fourth inning and Rob Morris replaced Grindy on the mound. The Cards tied the score 4-4 in the fifth when Kurt Hodges and Bob Adams both reached base on errors. Kurt scored on Gahan’s double and Adams scored on a ground out. Watsonville came right back and scored the winning run in the next inning. Lineup: Bob Adams DH, 4-0, run; Kevin Hodges LF, defense; Gahan 3B, 4-1, run, double, RBI; Grindy P/SS, 4-1; Fernandez RF, 3-0, walk; Keathley C, 4-0; Tuck 2B, 3-1, run; Ratliff 1B, 3-1, double, RBI; Harrell SS, 2-0; Morris P, 1-0; Kurt Hodges CF, 2-0, run and David Adams PH, 1-0.
INN H ER BB SO
Grindy 4 5 2 1 3
Morris 3 1 1 4 3 loss
SC 5, North Monterey 3. Both team put all their eggs in one basket, but SC had the bigger load thanks to a five run second inning that put the Cards in front to stay. North County fought back with three runs in the top of the fourth inning, before Rob Morris came in to relieve Bytheal Ratliff with the bases loaded and shut the door with an inning ending strikeout. Fernandez led off the second with a single, Grindy singled him to third and Ratliff drove him home with a single. Keathley singled them up a base and David Adams hit into a fielder choice to score Grindy. Harrell singled home Keathley. Bob Adams was safe on an error sending Harrell to third. Harrell scored on the other end of a double steal with Adams. Gahan singled home Adams. Cards played good defense with just one error. Lineup; Bob Adams DH, 3-0, run, steal, walk; Kurt Hodges CF, defense; Gahan 3B, 4-1, RBI; Tuck 2B, 3-1; Fernandez LF, 3-2, run; Grindy 1B/SS, 3-2, run; Ratliff P/1B, 3-1; Keathley C, 3-1, run; David Adams RF, 2-0, hit by pitch; Harrell SS, 1-1, run and Morris P, 1-0, walk.
INN H ER BB SO
Ratliff 3.2 4 2 2 3 win
Morris 3.1 2 0 2 3 save
SC 7, SLV 3. The Cardinals, who have now won seven of their last nine league games, broke a 3-3 tie with four runs in the sixth inning. With one out, Keathley was hit by a pitch, Tuck and Harrell singled to load the bases. Kurt Hodges singled home Keathley and Tuck. Gahan singled in Harrell and Hodges scored later on a balk. The Cards scored in the first inning, when lead off hitter Bob Adams reached base, when his strike out got away from the catcher, stole second was sacrifice to third by Gahan and driven in by Grindy. Keathley the lead off hitter in the second doubled and score on Kurt Hodges single to put the Cards up 2-0. In the fifth Bob Adams led off with a single and was sacrificed to second and scored on Grindy’s single to go 2 for 3. Kurt Hodges had three RBI’s, Grindy two and Gahan one.
Pitcher Kevin Grindy steadiness on the mound was the big factor in the game. He pitched a complete game giving up seven hits, two earned runs, walked three and struck out six. The more steady defense in this game made just two errors. Lineup: Bob Adams DH, 4-2, two runs, steal; Kevin Hodges LF, defense; Gahan 3b, 1-1, three sacrifices, RBI; Grindy P, 3-2, two RBI, walk; Fernandez RF, 3-1, steal; Ratliff 1B, 3-1; Keathley C, 2-2, two runs, double, hit by pitch; Tuck 2B, 3-1, run; Harrell SS, 3-1, run; Kurt Hodges CF, 3-2, run, three RBI; David Adams PR, 0-0 and Keith Hodges PR, 0-0.
SC 8, Marello 4. Kevin Grindy only threw one and one-third innings, but it was in relief and he was letter perfect. He came into the game in the bottom of the sixth after Marello had scored twice to cut the Card lead to 6-4. The Panthers had the tying run at the plate with one out, but Grindy got out of the inning on a ground out and a strike out. Grindy set the side down in order in the seventh, two went down on strikes, to preserve the win. Starter Bytheal Ratliff went three innings giving up seven hits and two earned runs for the win. Rob Morris pitched two and one-third innings in relief.
Marello coach Brian Sinnott said, “Grindy did a heck of a job. But the big thing was none of their pitchers walked anyone. I think that was the big thing. They didn’t give us anything and that definitely made a big difference. It always does.” Grindy hurt the Panthers with his bat as well. He was 2 for 3 with a pair of RBI’s. Ratliff had two singles and three RBI’s. Fernandez had a pair of doubles. Fernandez’ the Cards right fielder biggest contribution was ending a Panther uprising after they had already scored twice and had five consecutive hits, by throwing a strike to the plate to cut down the runner trying to score for the third out. Cards had three errors. Lineup: Bob Adams C, 3-1, two runs, steal, walk; Gahan 3B, 3-1, two runs, steal, walk, double, RBI; Grindy 1B/SS/P, 3-2, run, steal, two RBI; Fernandez RF, 3-2, two runs, two doubles, steal, walk; Keathley DH, 3-0, walk; Keith Hodges 2b, defense; Ratliff P/1B, 4-1, three RBI; Morris SS/P, 4-0, steal; Kurt Hodges CF, 3-0, hit by pitch, run, two steals; Kevin Hodges LF, 2-0 and David Adams LF, 2-0.
INN H ER BB SO
Ratliff 3 7 2 0 1 win
Morris 2.1 3 2 0 4
Grindy 1.2 0 0 0 3 save
Surprise! Santa Cruz May Get Spot In CCS Playoffs. At the start of the SCCAL season there were a whole lot of teams playing better baseball then SC, which lost its first four games. But by the end of the season only Harbor was hotter than SC, which won eight of its last 10 games. Harbor won nine of its last 10. And, it appears, an apparent never say die attitude has paid off for the Cardinals. SC finished the SCCAL season in a three way tie for third place with Watsonville and SLV and as the result of a complicated SCCAL tie breaker system, has a shot at landing a spot in the CCS playoffs via an at large berth. The berths will be handed out today by the CCS after it goes through a complicated point system of its own in which 12 third place teams through out the section will be selected to round out the 32 team field. The top two teams in each of the CCS’s 12 leagues receive automatic berths. “We’ve had sort of an up and down year. It’d be nice to say at least we got to CCS. We’re on an upward swing now and I’d like to be able to phone everybody Sunday night and tell them to bring all their stuff to practice Monday”
The first criteria for being selected as the SCCAL’s team for at large consideration is the head to head competition. But because no team swept both of the other two third place teams, SCCAL commissioner Charles R, Smith said, he went to the second tie breaker, which involves using a point system wherein a team receives eight points for beating first place Harbor, seven for beating second place Soquel and so on down to one point for beating eighth place Marello.
When the numbers were added up, SC had 26, Watsonville 25 and SLV 24. In the CCS point system, SC also had the best number 23, while Watsonville had 21. However, that didn’t touch off a celebration as the SC coach said, “I’ve never seen a team with less than 25 CCS points make the playoff.” But he surely wouldn’t mind having his team be the first one to do so. “We’ve got momentum going right now (the Cards have won 10 of their last 13 games) and we’ve got ace pitcher Kevin Grindy ready to go on Tuesday.”
Watsonville Coach irate his team left out since they beat SC twice. He was not satisfied with the ruling by the commissioner. (He has some validity in his argument, but if Watsonville would have been the league representative sent to the CCS playoff committee meeting, they would not have made the playoffs as SC barely made it and Watsonville had less points then SC. Watsonville would have been the SCCAL representative with no place to go as they only had 21 points, which was less then the score SC had to luckily get into the tournament) A protest was made to the league Board of Managers, which turned down the protest by a vote of 7-1. SC just made it into the CCS playoffs, too. The Cardinals and Willow Glen tied for the last spot in the 32 team field, each school had 23 points in the CCS system and a coin flip gave the berth to SC.
Biggest Win of Season For Cards: CCS Coin Flip. SC thought their season was over, for all intents and purposes, when they lost their second game to Watsonville on April 30. The defeat left SC two and a half games behind second place Watsonville and Soquel, with just three left to play. They thought they were playing for personal pride after that game. But during the next eleven days, SC won all three of their games, while Watsonville lost three of four to leave both teams and SLV tied for third. From coach, “I didn’t think we had a chance at all three weeks ago. Things like this happen. You think you’re completely out of it, but you hang in there and end up making it. It was really important that the guys never gave up, no matter what it looked like.” The Cards will play Valley Christian of San Jose, champion of the CSAL with a 14-1 league record and 18-1 for the season. The Cards are on a roll of their own. They have won nine of their last ten games and 10 of their last 13. “We finally got everything going after the Easter break. We talked about our bad start (the Cards were 5-7 at one point) and we said we’d start the season over.”
First round of CCS. SC 4, Valley Christian of San Jose 2.
Scare Survived, Cards Move On. It was an agonizing moment for more than just SC pitcher Kevin Grindy, who was on the ground holding his left shoulder in pain, in the bottom of the fifth inning Tuesday at PAL stadium. It was an agonizing for all the Card players and fans. At the time SC held a 2-1 lead over Valley Christian, but with two outs and runners on first and third. Grindy caught a foul pop near the third baseline, but the ball fooled him and he had fallen on his back making the play. “I felt my left shoulder pop out, but after a second or two it went back in place,” said Grindy. Slowly, Grindy got up and walked to the mound, then shut the door on the Valley Christian rally. Coach, “I was worried and added the third baseman might have had an easier play than Grindy. No matter, Grindy is our ace. If he can touch it, he can catch it.” By the time the game was over, SC was a 4-2 winner and on its way to the second round game against Palma at El Estero Park in Monterey.
The combination of Grindy on the hill and first baseman Bytheal Ratliff at the plate was a winning one for SC. Ratliff clubbed a fifth inning solo home run that staked SC to a 2-0 lead, then added the game winning hit in the sixth with a RBI single to right. “Ratliff just ripped the ball.” SC assistant coach Ray Hunter wasn’t surprised by the output of Ratliff. “Bytheal and right fielder Rich Fernandez have been hitting the ball right on the nose the last six to eight game.” Fernandez reached base all four times he went to the plate. In the first inning, he drove in the Cards first run on a fielders choice that scored Bobby Adams, who had opened the game with a single up the middle. Fernandez scored the game winning run on Ratliff’s single in the sixth after being hit by a pitch and driven to third by Don Keathley’s single. He also singled in the seventh and reached base on an error in the fourth inning.
Both pitchers went all the way and allowed only four hits. But the Valley Christian pitcher allowed eight walks and two of them scored in the sixth inning to put the Cards ahead. Grindy’s slider had the Warrior batters befuddled throughout the game. The pitch would come in looking like a belt high fast ball, then break to the outside. “That’s right where I want it,” said Grindy, who struck out nine and walked two. RBI’s Ratliff two and one each for Adams and Fernandez. Cards had two errors. Lineup: Bob Adams DH, 3-1, walk, run; Kevin Hodges LF, defense; Gahan 3B, 3-0, walk; Grindy P, 3-0, walk; Fernandez RF, 3-1, run, hit by pitch, steal; Keathley C, 4-1; Ratliff 1B, 3-2, home run, hit by pitch; Morris SS, 2-0, steal, run, two walks; Tuck 2b, 4-0 and Kurt Hodges CF, 2-0, walk.
Other locals scores in the first round: Harbor 8, North Salinas 2. Palma 3, Soquel 2.
Good Fortune Continues for Santa Cruz. Nobody is having any trouble convincing the Cards coach that his team is a team of destiny. “Everything is breaking our way. We’re a cinch for the championship,” he added with a laugh. The championship of CCS, that is. If there is a luckier high school baseball team around it would be hard to find. After the Valley Christian game a CCS representative told the coach that Half Moon Bay had finished with 27 points and should have received the berth that went to the Cardinals. The trouble was they mailed their petition rather than delivering it in person. It arrived a day late and the seeding had already been made. The CCS commissioner said, “schools had been informed three times to get their petitions in. This type of situation is not rare. It almost seems to happen in every sport every year.” The only question now, it seems, is what can the Cards do for an encore?
Two articles on the Palma game.
Team of Destiny Santa Cruz wins another in CCS beating Palma, the Mission Trail Athletic League co-champions 6-4. If the SC Cardinals seem to be walking around these days with glazed looks on their faces, pinching themselves a lot and wearing silly, ear to ear grins, it can be explained. But don’t make any loud noises. The Cardinals, it seems, are living a baseball dream. How else can one explain what has happened to them over the last nine days? And SC, which defeated the Palm Chieftains 6-4 at El Estero Park, in the second round of the CCS playoffs, show absolutely no signs of waking up. “Are we a team of destiny?” Cardinal winning pitcher Kevin Grindy asked. “Yeah, it’s really beginning to look that way.”
As long as Grindy and teammate Bytheal Ratliff are around, what SC looks like is destined for its CCS record sixth appearance in the CCS Final Four. All the Cardinals need to reach that plateau is one more victory over South San Francisco in Tuesday night’s quarterfinals at 8 at San Jose Municipal Stadium.
Game information.
Grindy struck out a season high 11 batters in pitching his second complete game victory in four days, while Ratliff banged out three hits, one a two run line drive homer in the first inning to put SC off and running. Adams opened the game by getting hit by a pitch, went to second on Morris’ sacrifice and scored on Fernandez’ single. Then Ratliff hit a rope over the 360 foot mark in center to drive in Fernandez. Grindy tripled and scored on Gahan’s ground out. Ratliff’s homer was only his second of the season. The first game in the playoff was his first. This on made it two home runs in one week. So far in the tournament he is hitting .667 and driven in three runs. “I was just swinging like I normally do,” said Ratliff, whose insertion into the starting line up midway through the season coincided with Santa Cruz’ surge. “I’ve just been going out there and relaxing, taking it as it comes,” said Ratliff, who has been one of the hottest hitters of late for the Cards. “We never expected to jump out to a lead like that,” Grindy said. “It was really special. That put us in the driver’s seat. It’s something you dream of.” In the third inning Fernandez led off the inning reaching base on a error, went to second on Ratliff’s single, advanced to third on a force play at second and scored on a wild pitch. In the fifth, Grindy led off with a single, was sacrificed to second by Gahan, went to third on Tuck’s single and scored on Keathley’s sacrifice fly to center to put the Cards up 6-3. The victory was the fifth straight and twelfth in the last fifteen games for SC, which opened the SCCAL season with four losses. At the time, it looked as if the Cardinals were headed for the SCCAL cellar, not the CCS playoffs. “We thought at the beginning of the year that we had a really good team and that we were going to have a chance at it.. Now we’re finally playing like we expected to all along.” With all turmoil mentioned previously, “We feel luck to be here at all.” Grindy, who was pitching a back to back start for the third time this season, almost ignored his fast ball altogether as he had the Chieftains swinging wildly at curves and sliders. “Maybe I threw 10 fastballs in the whole game,” said Grindy, one of only two seniors, the other is Bob Adams, who started the game for the Cards. “ In high school a breaking pitch is the hardest pitch to hit.” Grindy said he had watched Palma’s first round 3-2 victory over Soquel on local cable television replay Wednesday night and noticed that most, if not all, of the Chieftains’ hits in the game came on fastballs. “Once in awhile I’d sneak a fastball in on them, but never anything good enough for them to hit,” Grindy said, “I knew I had to pitch a good game to get past them. We were hoping I would go four or maybe even five innings at the most. I don’t think anyone expected me to go all the way.” Especially after the first inning, when Grindy walked the first batter he faced on four pitches, then walked the second man as well. He then struck out the next three men in the heart of the Palma order to protect the Card 4-0 lead. But it was far from over. Grindy may have escaped the first inning, but he couldn’t get out of a jam in the second. A lead off error opened the way for a three run inning, to make the score 5-3. “The kids hung in there, though. The game tightened up and they didn’t panic. It’s not like it was a cakewalk out there for us.” Palma had base runners on every inning, finally mounted a threat in the bottom of the seventh. The lead off batter singled, next batter struck out, third batter field out to center, next batter walked and Grindy tried a pick off, the throw was bad and the first batter scored. Grindy worked on the best Palma hitter and struck him out swinging on a round house curve to end the game. “When guys get on base, he just gets tougher, They still have to touch home plate, you know.” As for the starter for the next game it appears as if Ratliff or Rob Morris well get the nod. “Grindy can only take so much. It’s really hard to pitch three games in a row.” Ironically, while Grindy was expected to be able to pitch against Palma, there was consideration of not letting him bat due to a left shoulder injury suffered Tuesday, when he fell while catching a pop up. Grindy underwent therapy from former Card Rod Fleming Wednesday, Thursday and Friday morning and was penciled into the lineup 15 minutes before game time. Besides his pitching, he hit a triple and a single and scored both times. It’s a good thing he was in the batting order. That’s the way it’s been going these days for SC. “We don’t worry about who we play.” It’s one game at a time. We pick up all our equipment each time like it is going to be our last.” Cards had four errors. Lineup: Bob Adams DH, 2-0, run, hit by pitch, walk; Kurt Hodges CF, defense; Morris LF/SS, 4-0; Fernandez RF, 3-1, two runs, walk, RBI; Ratliff 1B, 4-3, home run, run, two RBI; Grindy P, 4-2, two runs, triple; Gahan 3B, 3-0, sacrifice, RBI; Tuck 2B, 2-2, walk; Keathley C, 1-1, hit by pitch, sacrifice fly, RBI; Harrell SS, 1-0; Kevin Hodges LF, 2-0 and David Adams PR, 0-0.
Grindy was named the County Boys Athlete of the Week by the Sentinel.
Other locals second round scores: Robert Louis Stevenson 9, Harbor 5.
Pre-game write ups before the quarterfinal game against South San Francisco.
Cardinals Show They Can Play. SC One Win From CCS Final Four.
Cards Prove Their Point–They Belong In Playoffs. “As far as the team is concerned, they’re as good as the rest of the teams.”
Back handed compliments get old fast. And the SC Cardinals must be tired of being called the Team of Destiny or Cinderella Team of the CCS baseball playoffs. It’s like saying they don’t have any business being in the playoffs or that they are not good enough to be a playoff team. Tell that to Valley Christian, the CSAL champion or Palma High of Salinas co-champions of the MTAL, both who have lost to the Cards. Apparently, SC is good enough to belong in tonight’s third round game against South San Francisco . “When you lose a few in a row, everybody says you can’t play.,” says the Card coach, whose team went through a six game losing streak, yet is the only team from Santa Cruz County still alive with a 17-10 record. Surprise, Harbor the dominate champion of SCCAL went out in the second round. Soquel, SCCAL runner up was eliminated in their first game. Then there’s poor little SC, which could do no better than tie with Watsonville and SLV for third place. (Information on how the Cards made it into the playoffs have been given above) Sometimes blind luck can be better than a blind draw. But now a win over South San Francisco would advance the Cards to the CCS Final Four and another win on Friday would put them into the finals, where they have gone in 1968, 1969 and 1976. “They say, ’Here you are, but you guys shouldn’t be here,’ As far as the team is concerned, we’re as good as the rest of the teams. We felt at the beginning of the season we had a shot at the league championship. It just took us a while to get untracked.” The Cards went 5-7 at the start of the season. “We were in practically every game except a few that we lost. It’s not that we got ripped every game. But the kids thought, ‘Geez, we can’t win or The coach screwed up bad.” Then after having a few days off after playing in the San Jose Lions Tournament during Easter vacation week, the coach told the Cardinals, “We’re starting a new season.” And they’ve gone 12-3 since. “Throw out the top half of the season and our record is not that bad.” Several players have played key roles in the Cards development are junior outfielder Richie Fernandez, who has come almost out of nowhere to be the clutch RBI man in the lineup; sophomore second baseman Ballan Tuck a transfer student was one of five basketball players who came out late from basketball, but has hit .415 since the Easter break; Senior designated hitter in his fourth varsity baseball season, Bobby Adams, who has started at catcher, first base and the outfield has been a steadying influence. He has participate in seven CCS tournaments in soccer and baseball; Junior pitcher, first baseman Bytheal Ratliff, who has started for three years and is to start on the mound tonight, has been hitting the ball harder than anyone lately getting two home runs in the tournament. But without durable four year starter Kevin Grindy, “We wouldn’t be in the position we’re in. He was also the work horse of the league season as well.” All Grindy has done is pitch in 10 of 14 league games, going 9-1, hit .379 and pitched two complete game wins in the playoffs. No wonder the coach says, “I feel Grindy is the Most Valuable Player in our area, in terms of what he’s done for the team. He’s got a lot of guts, he really does. He’s had guys on base, but he doesn’t give in to them. They may get on base, but that doesn’t mean they are going to score. He gets them out.” Fernandez, “worked up from the nineteenth guy on the team to one of the top guys. Every time he’s up and there’s a guy on base, he hit’s the ball. I can’t tell you how,” says the coach taking none of the credit for Fernandez’ production. “All I know is he’s doing it. He’s always played the infield, but he went to right field now and everything fell in place for him.” SC is no stranger to South San Francisco or the North Peninsula league. In the Cards three appearances in the CCS finals, they lost two of the games to NPL league teams, El Camino and Terra Nova. “Both our leagues are pretty representative every year. Like the SCCAL, the NPL is a Division II school in most sports, but baseball still has all schools in the same playoff. “One of the reasons it hasn’t broken off into Division I and Division II, like football and basketball, is the Division II teams have won championships as many times as the Division I schools have. The Cardinals would like to continue that trend. No matter what anybody says about them. They wouldn’t mind at all being the CCS baseball champion that didn’t belong.
Pre-game write up on Richie Fernandez.
Cardinal Nobody, Now A Somebody. Fernandez Turns Into A Hitting Terror. Before the SC baseball season began, Rich Fernandez was nowhere. He was headed for Cardinal oblivion, destined to be the nineteenth player on an eighteen man squad. The main reason he was so far down the list was an a sudden attack of arthritis during the last half of his JV season last year. He ended up in the hospital and was warned not to play any sports for about a year. Fernandez said he, “couldn’t hardly move at first. I got it everywhere.” This had a lot to do with how he performed at the beginning of this season, He had not been able to stay in shape. The junior right fielder never gave up, though. He battled, showed some fortitude and not only won a spot on the Cards roster, but turned into the Cards best clutch hitter. “He went from ground zero to being a very important part of this team. We did not expect him to even be able to play, because of his illness. He was on the verge of not even making the team.” So far this season he is hitting .406 going 35 hits of 86 at bats, with 26 runs batted in and 19 runs scored, mostly from the cleanup spot. But it didn’t happen overnight. “ Two weeks before the first game coach took me off to the side and said I was not cutting it and need to get my head into the game. It made me realize that I should do something. Before that, I wasn’t even hitting the ball in batting practice. I couldn’t hit anything.” Coach, “I told him that to try to get him going as we knew he had the ability. We were just trying to stir him up a bit. It got him going. We probably would have kept him on the team as Richie is a good person, but didn‘t see him as a contributor with the way things were going.” Fernandez surprise even himself this season. “I just wanted to hit over 300. I’ve never hit the ball as consistently as I have this season.” Fernandez improved enough and the basketball team was still playing the day of the first baseball game, so Fernandez got to start as the designated hitter in the ninth spot. Fernandez went 1 for 2 and drove in two runs. So he kept play and hitting. “He played the first game basically, because he had been out there longer than most guys and then he hit the ball. He still hit’s the ball–harder. Harder and more consistently, than any other Cardinal. Every time someone’s on base, which is the toughest time to get a hit, he hit’s the ball. He hits better when men are on base than anyone else on the team. He hit’s the ball when it counts, every game. Even his outs are hit hard. He has been with it the whole season, He really has not hit any down spots, which is hard to do. He‘s not a one dimensional player as he fields his outfield spot well and has thrown runners out in crucial spots.” Surprisingly, Fernandez was not chosen for the ALL SCCAL team, despite having outstanding statistics. Coach. “Without question he deserves the honor, but the Cards were not a top team in the league and the teams at the top get more players on the all league team. Also people were upset about the Cardinals getting a playoff spot and that might have influenced some of the voters. Hopefully he will make the Sentinel All County team.” “Yeah, I was kind of disappointed, not making the team,” Fernandez said. The coach likes battlers. That’s why he likes what Fernandez has done this season. “It’s easy to quit, but Richie isn’t a quitter. Usually, all you read about are the all stars. Here’s a guy who made it from down the pack a ways and he has earned recognition for what he accomplished.” Way down. Like number nineteenth.
Cards Do It Again. Santa Cruz makes Final Four by defeating South San Francisco 4-1. If a two hour baseball game or an entire season, for that matter, can be reduced to just one pitch, that fleeting moment it takes for the ball to ravel 60 feet, six inches, from the mound to home plate, then it’s clear why the Cardinals are members of the CCS baseball tournament’s elite Final Four for a record six times. It wasn’t as easy as it may have looked to the casual observer. The turning point came in the top of the sixth inning. SC was leading, 3-0, when Cardinal starter Bytheal Ratliff, pitching superbly under pressure in what was undoubtedly the most important game of his life, gave up a base hit and then a walk on five pitches with no outs. As it was, the Cards coach couldn’t of been more pleased with the way Ratliff had performed, but it looked like the big right hander was tiring and the coach wasn’t about to take any chances. He waved over shortstop Kevin Grindy, who last week threw complete game victories in the Cards first two tournament games and handed him the ball. Runners on first and second and no outs. A situation that called for a sacrifice bunt, Grindy figured. Grindy, whose fastball isn’t the most potent weapon in his pitching arsenal, and that is putting it mildly, served up one high and tight to the batter. “That’s the hardest pitch in the world to bunt, Nine times out of ten, the guy is going to pop it up,” said the confident Cardinal senior. The batter squared away and did just that, lifting a soft liner back to Grindy, who caught it and threw to first to double the runner off by 15 feet. Two outs and no runner on base. Grindy went back to his bread and butter off speed curves and sliders to strike out the next batter to slam the door on the Warriors. “We really got a break,” said Grindy with a grin, relishing the memory after the game. “All we wanted was one out..” And the Cards got two and a victory as well. The coach had nothing by praise for Ratliff. “That was the key for us. He looked great. He has been our clutch guy down the stretch, both on the mound and at the plate. Without him, we wouldn’t be here.” Ratliff cooled off some at the plate, but that was understandable. He had other things on his mind. “I was concentrating on pitching,” said the junior, who held the Warriors to one run and five hits in five plus innings. And that was all the Cards asked from him as he took SC to the point where all that was needed for the victory was an inning or two of relief from their untouchable ace Grindy, who has carried them all season. In post season play, Grindy and Ratliff have teamed up to give the Cards a 1.33 earned run average in three games. “They have really settled down and played well, which is about all you can say,” said pitching coach Ray Hunter. “They’ve really been concentrating.” Grindy’s playing status was up in the air until game time. Coming off back to back, seven inning victories, Grindy’s arm was sore and so was his left shoulder injured last Tuesday. “I wasn’t planning on going today,” said Grindy, “but after I threw a little I felt good and told the coaches. It was there too, when I needed it. The curve was breaking, I was throwing strikes, everything was working.” Gindy will start Friday against Bellarmine in the semi-finals at San Jose Muni. But for now, the Cards are savoring their sixth straight victory and thirteenth of their last sixteen games. “Everybody was with it tonight. They’re coming through. Success breeds success and they think they can win, that’s the important thing.” SC broke open the scoreless game with a two out rally, good for a a pair of runs in the third inning. Designated hitter Bob Adams singled sharply between first and second and promptly stole second. Rob Morris drove in Adams with a single to right field and advanced to second on the throw home. An infield single by Richie Fernandez advanced Morris to third. Fernandez stole second and when the throw to second went into center, Morris steamed home to give the Cards a 2-0 lead. SC made it 3-0 in the fourth. Ratliff was hit by a pitch, took second on a wild pitch and scored on a single by Don Keathley. South San Francisco cut the margin to 3-1 in the fifth with a run of its own, on a leadoff walk, stolen base and a single. SC scored its last run in the bottom of the sixth on a single by Grindy, sacrifice bunt by Keathley, single by Sean Gahan and an infield error. Leading the Cards offensively was Fernandez, who singled all three times to the plate. Gahan was 2 for 3. Cards had two errors. Lineup: Bob Adams DH, 3-1, run, steal; Kingdom 1B, defense; Morris LF, 2-1, RBI, double, run, walk; Fernandez RF, 3-3, RBI; Ratliff P/1B, 2-0, run, hit by pitch; Grindy SS/P, 3-1, run, double; Keathley C, 2-1, RBI, sacrifice; Gahan 3B, 3-2, steal; Tuck 2B, 3-0 and Kurt Hodges CF, 3-1.
INN H ER BB SO
Ratliff 5 6 1 4 2
Grindy 2 0 0 1 1
Cards Already ‘CCS Public School Champs’ The Santa Cruz High Cardinals are loose. Loose enough to joke and have a leisurely-but-productive practice Thursday afternoon before going into tonight’s 8 o’clock CCS semifinal game against the West Catholic Athletic league runner up and number two rated team in CCS, Bellarmine. At practice trying to accentuate the positive Bob Adams brought up that all of the high schools remaining in the Final Four of CCS–except for Santa Cruz–are private schools, in reference to Bellarmine, Serra and Robert Louis Stevenson. “So, we just proclaimed ourselves the public schools champs of the CCS,” laughed the coach. “So we’ve already won something.” Loose. It’s won championships before. “If you can smile, you can play, It’s when people walk around with a sour look on their face that you start to worry. But, you also need a little talent, too. They look like they think they can win. That’s at least 75 percent of the battle–thinking you can win. If you don’t think you can win, you’re not going to win.” The team did not practice Wednesday–perhaps for good behavior. Yesterday there was an abbreviated workout. “We had a short, crisp practice. In and hour and 15 minutes, we got done as much as we usually get done in three hours. Kevin Grindy, the Cards ace right-hander will start. Is there any doubt? The curve ball specialist with and earned run average of 1.72 for the season, says he is a “little nervous” going into the biggest game for him in his four years starting for the SC varsity. Coach, “If you don’t get nervous, you’re not alive. This is one of the reasons you play–to be in this kind of situation.” Grindy relies on cunning and skill as a pitcher. He’s not a fireballer who can threw the ball past batters with consistence. So, said Gringy, he must remain calm so he doesn’t overthrow his pitches. That’s what I really have to concentrate on. I have to stay calm, to throw like I always throw.” Grindy, who mostly throws curves and slider, may try to keep Bellarmine off balance by changing his style a little. “I’m going to try to throw more fastballs against them. High and tight.” Rob Morris will be the primary reliever. “Rob’s a key man. He’s going to have to do it. He has the capability of doing it. It’s just a matter of him getting psyched up.” The perfect scenario for SC, since the finals will be the following night, would be to get a big lead by the third inning, so Morris could replace Grindy early to save him for finals action on Saturday. But that does not usual happen in CCS semifinal action. Coach doesn’t look at one team being a favorite and the other an underdog. “We look at the positive–we play well and we’re going to beat anybody. You start worrying about the other team and you’re in trouble.” This is the Cards sixth time in the Final Four of the CCS more than any other school.
Added box — On Their Way–in the Sentinel to go with the pre-game story.
Santa Cruz High Cardinals road to the CCS baseball Final Four;
FIRST ROUND: SC 4, Valley Christian 2.
Winning pitcher– Kevin Grindy: nine strike outs, two walks
Highlight– Bytheal Ratliff home run in the fifth and a game winning RBI with a single in the sixth.
SECOND ROUND: SC 6, Palma 4
Winning pitcher– Kevin Grindy: 11 strike outs, three walks
Highlight– Ratliff three hits, including a first inning homer
QUARTERFINALS: SC 4, South San Francisco 1
Winning pitcher–Ratliff: five innings, six hits and two strike outs
Highlight: Rich Fernandez went 3 for 3. The teams 500 win in the last 29 years.
Cardinals Road Through Playoffs Comes To End. Bad Inning Puts End To Cards Good Season.
The game had been over for about a half hour and Kevin Grindy was making his way to the bus home. Grindy like the rest of the Cardinals, wasn’t too happy having suffered through a tough loss to Bellarmine, 8-4 in the semifinals of the CCS playoffs. But when asked if he had any regrets about the season now past, Grindy stopped in his tracks, one side of his mouth turning up in a hint of a smile. “No not at all,” said Grindy. “We got further than the rest of the teams in our league and that was a great feeling. I guess I’ll always remember the CCS games. That was the best part of the season.”
The Cardinals, the last at large team picked to the field of 32 teams, weren’t given much of a chance to get past the first round. Grindy had a lot to do with the success of the Cardinals in CCS as well as the season. He pitched two and a third of the innings in the first three games putting the Cards into the CCS Final Four for a record sixth time in the 19 year history of the playoff.
And all of a sudden, baseball fever had spread throughout Santa Cruz High. “The mood of the school was that everybody knew there was a baseball team for a change. It was sort of nice to have. I heard it in the halls all day Friday, students asking, ’Are you going over to the game tonight.” The answer was yes. “I was surprised to see so many people there. The reaction of the fans was great and we appreciated that. I’m just sorry we didn’t do better.” Actually SC played well enough to win, save for a couple of errors–one in the second inning and one in the third inning. The game was still scoreless in the bottom of the second inning and Bellarmine had runners on first and second with no one out, when a bunt down the third base line was winged high past first base allowing a run to score and left runners on the corners. After a walk to load the bases, a strike out and a sacrifice fly–which would have ended the inning without a run were it not for the error, it was 2-0. A towering triple to center plated two more runs for a 4-0 lead. “I just couldn’t get to the ball,” said center fielder Kurt Hodges, who turned and ran as the ball flew over his head. “It was hit too deep and I couldn’t get to the wall in time.” A bunt for a base hit scored the fifth and last run of the inning. “They put down some perfect bunts. That doesn’t happen too often, but we didn’t help matters by throwing one a way. That’s what breaks a game.”
It was more of the same for SC in the third inning. Again, the Cards made only one error, but it resulted in two more Bellarmine runs. Two strike out pitches got away from the catcher allowing two unearned runs to score. Two errors. Seven unearned runs. Ouch. Grindy continued pitching in the fourth, facing the top of the order got a fly out, gave up a walk and struck out the heart of the Bellarmine order.
Rob Morris took over the mound in the sixth inning without any runs scoring. In the seventh inning the Bells scored their only earned run of the game. It didn’t look good for SC in the top of the seventh inning, the Cards had the bottom of the order up and were down by six runs. But stranger things have happened this year for SC. Like how, within the span of three days, the Cards went from thinking their season was over with their final SCCAL game against Marello to being the at large team in the CCS playoffs. If, as Grindy said, the CCS playoffs were the best part of the season, those three days were the unbelievable part. Coach, “Somebody was looking out for us.”
So, when the Cards came to the plate for their final turn at bat against Bellarmine, they must have had a feeling it wouldn’t be a on-two-three inning. And it wasn’t. Brothers Kevin and Kurt Hodges both walked and Bob Adams sliced an RBI single down the right field line to make it 8-3. It was the Cards first hit since the first inning, when a walk to Gahan, a single by Fernandez and a balk put runners at second and third with two out and Grindy at the plate. But Grindy, on a hit to deep shortstop was thrown out at first in a close play for the third out. “If we scored, we would have been in good shape,” Grindy said. “I knew that would be critical.” “It didn’t help not to get to them,” the coach said of the first inning’s missed opportunity. We could have made them sweat and tighten up a little bit if we had scored.” Nevertheless, in the seventh inning after Adam’s hit in the seventh, the Cards were still in the game. The Bellarmine pitcher, however, was not. The reliever fanned Gahan for the first out. Fernandez waited out a walk to load the bases, but Raltiff went down swing at a 2-2 fastball for the second out. That brought up Grindy, the player who had done so much for the Cardinals this season. Three times this year, he pitched back to back games. He was the winning pitcher in nine of the Cardinals 18 victories and in the playoff, he pitched 20 of a possible 28 innings. And in his final at bat, he walked on four pitches to force in the second run of the inning and bring tying run to the plate in the person of Don Keathley.
Keathley fell behind 0-2 and then fouled of another pitch to stay alive. He took a pitch for a ball, but then missed the next one. The inning, the game and the season were over. It was a somber mood in the wake of Santa Cruz’s first loss since April 30, a fact that wasn’t lost on the coach. “You don’t enjoy losing, but we can feel the inner warmth of having a good season. We went through some of those playoff games and we hated to leave the scene. We wanted to milk it and have the feeling last as long as it could. Those are some things that you don’t get to feel too often. I guess that’s the thing that keeps you with it. It’s sort of great to feel a part of it, too. You don’t get that in a lot of things you do.”
The Cards committed three errors. Lineup: Bob Adams DH, 4-1, RBI; Gahan 3B/2B/3B, 3-0, RBI, walk; Fernandez RF, 3-1, walk; Ratliff 1B, 4-0; Grindy P/2B, 3-0, RBI, walk; Keathley C, 3-0, walk; Morris LF/2B/P, 2-0; Tuck 2B, 2-0; Kurt Hodges CF, 2-0, run, walk; Kevin Hodges LF, 0-0, two walks; David Adams PH, 0-0, run; Kingdom 3B, 0-0; Harrell SS, 0-0 and Elwelling PR, 0-0.
INN H ER BB SO
Grindy 4 6 0 3 6
Morris 2 4 1 1 1
(The following was in the above article and has been written about before in other articles. But will add next as it seems to be more concise then some of the previous articles.) The Cardinals ended the regular season a 15-11 record after winning their last three games and eight of their last 10 to finish in a tie for third place in the SCCAL. But only after SLV defeated Watsonville in a make up game on the day after the final day of the regular season. If Watsonville had won they would taken third place out right. Then fate took over where SLV left off.
Saturday May 11: SC won a complicated SCCAL tie-breaker with Watsonville and SLV, as the three teams tied for third place, to earn the right to apply for an at-large berth in the CCS playoffs.
Sunday, May 12: SC won a coin flip with Willow Glen for the thirty second and final spot in the playoffs. Each team had 23 CCS qualifying points.
Monday, May 13: Half Moon Bay’s at-large application, which was mailed seven days earlier, arrived at the CCS office. The Cougars had 27 qualifying points, but their form was a day late.
Grindy Can Do It All–And Has. Iron Man Grindy Key To Cardinals Success This Year.
Santa Cruz High’s Kevin Grindy has done just about everything for four years. You name it, he has done it. This season, especially, it was necessary Grindy work overtime. As a pitcher, he was an iron man–the Cards starter in back-to-back games three times. When he didn’t pitch this season, he was mostly used at first base. But in four years on the SC varsity, Grindy played every position, except catcher.
Going into the season, he was obviously the senior member of the team. He could have kicked back and gone through the motions, knowing he had already put in his time in the previous three seasons. “But that’s not Kevin. He goes out and does his job. He’s done it for four years. You can’t beat that. He does not play the star role. He’s been our stopper, the kind of guy who turns things around for us. He’s a good all-around person. Anyone would like to have him on their team.”
Grindy a Co-Player of the Year intended to go out with a bang as a senior, not with a whimper. It’s all a part of Grindy’s personality and character. He has pride. He has purpose. He was not the hardest-throwing high school pitcher around, but certainly one of the most intelligent. He likes it that way, too. “I like to be known as a smart pitcher,” said Grindy, who throws mostly curves and a slider. “Not somebody who just goes out there and has all kinds of physical talent and then throws the ball past people.” He posted a 1.21 earned run average and a 8-5 record last season as a junior, but wanted to do better as a senior. He bettered the record this season, but not the ERA. He was 9-2 with a 1.66 ERA including the playoffs. Grindy pitched 93 innings, gave up 73 hits and 30 walks while striking out 91. Grindy would have improved on last seasons ERA if not for one item, he gave up nine earned runs in six and two-third inning in a game against Aptos in a game won by the Cards 19-14. Take away the Aptos game and Grindy’s ERA would have been 1.06.
Overshadowed is Grindy’s .349 batting average, with 24 runs scored and 15 runs batted in. Burch Boehner of the league champion Harbor team was chosen as most valuable player in the league, but with the way that Kevin finished off the last half of the season the Sentinel made Kevin co-most valuable for the county. Gindy’s coach believes it would not have been unjust for Grindy to have shared the award with Boehner. “I’m not taking anything away from Boehner, he deserves it too. But what Kevin did for our team …”
Grindy doesn’t believe Boehner as the sole choice was out of line. “My stats weren’t up to par in league,” said Grindy. “I really didn’t start playing that well until halfway through the league. Later, I started to peak with the rest of the team.” Grindy struggled early, because he came out late from basketball, missing a lot of practice and two games. Grindy went no more the four innings in any non-league game. “My arm wasn’t ready,” said Grindy. “ I wasn’t swinging the bat well enough, either. I more or less used the first half of league as practice games that I missed.”
Because Grindy is not super-talented, he has to use other intangibles to be a winner. Mental toughness and confidence provide Grindy with an edge. “Sometimes, he was out there struggling a little bit, but he didn’t ever give up. It was not easy in some of those games. He also knows how to pitch,. He’s not just throwing it up there with a prayer–he’s got something on it. He’s making good pitches. He’s hitting the corners.” Plus, the harder it gets, the more Grindy rises to the occasion. “He’s toughest in the clutch. When runners get on base, he just doesn’t give up anything.“ “There’s a reason for that,” said Grindy. “You focus more when your in trouble. You’re more aware of what’s going on. You’re more aware of trying to hit the corners.”
“Soquel coach Mitch Meyers has seen Grindy compete for four seasons. He looks at Grindy as a controlled player, who knows what he has to do to win games. “When he comes into the ballgame, he does his job without you really noticing he’s there. He’s not a flashy, catch-your-eye player. He’ll do a number on you without you even realizing he ever did it to you.”
Some may see Grindy as throwing junk. Grindy takes offense to the term. “Just call me a placement pitcher. If its junk then they should be able to hit it.” More times than not this season, they didn’t.
Bellarmine beat Serra 10-9 in eight innings for the CCS championship. (SC was the only public school team in the semifinals)
By team Vote:
Most valuable player, best overall player and team captains–Kevin Grindy, fourth year starter
Best hitter– Richie Fernandez
Best defensive player– Sean Gahan
Most Improved–Don Keathley
Mr Hustle–Bytheal Ratliff
Cardinal Club sportsmanship award–Kurt Hodges
BEST BIRDS FOR THE SEASON
Average: Fernandez 416, Tuck 373 and Grindy 349
RBI: Fernandez 26, Grindy 16, Ratliff 15 and Gahan 14
Total bases: Fernandez 47, Grindy 38 and Gahan 29
Doubles: Fernandez and Keathley 5 each
Home runs: Ratliff and Morris two each. Fernandez and Grindy one each
Steals: Gahan 12, Bobby Adams 9 and Kurt Hodges 8
Walks: Morris 18, Grindy 17 and Bobby Adams 15
Hit by pitch: Bobby Adams and Kurt Hodges 4 each
Runs: Grindy 24, Bobby Adams 21, Fernandez and Gahan 19 each
Least number of strike outs: Grindy 1, Tuck 4 and Ratliff 6
SEASON hitting stats by at bats, runs, hits, batting average, doubles, triples, runs batted in, sacrifices, base on balls and steals.
AB R H AVE 2B 3B RBI SAC BB SB
Fernandez 89 19 37 416 5 1 26 1 10 6
Tuck 51 7 19 373 0 0 8 2 4 2
Grindy 83 24 29 349 2 2 16 1 18 5
Gahan 80 19 25 313 2 1 14 6 12 12
Keathley 67 10 21 313 5 1 11 2 10 1
Ratliff 58 5 16 276 3 0 15 1 13 0
B Adams 80 21 21 263 1 0 9 1 19 9
Morris 61 14 15 246 1 1 11 1 19 2
Ku Hodges 52 10 12 231 0 0 8 0 12 8
Harrell 47 8 9 191 0 1 1 0 3 2
D Adams 29 7 5 172 1 0 6 1 12 1
Domhoff 12 1 2 167 0 0 0 0 1 1
Kev Hodges 32 9 5 156 0 0 1 0 9 2
Kingdom 5 0 0 000 0 0 0 0 1 1
Totals 746 154 216 290 20 7 126 16 142 51
Players who did not finish the season are not included in the totals.
SEASON pitching stats by innings pitched, run scored, hits, earned run average, doubles, triples, home runs, struck out, base on balls, wins, losses and saves.
INN R H ER ERA 2B 3B HR SO BB W L
Grindy 93 48 81 22 1.65 2 3 1 87 29 9 2
Ratliff 41 27 43 13 2.20 3 1 0 20 19 6 4
Morris 26 26 30 10 2.66 1 0 1 24 21 1 3
Kev Hodges 24 21 20 8 2.33 2 0 1 13 19 2 1
D Adams 11 15 14 4 2.63 0 1 0 3 9 0 1
Kingdom 1 0 1 0 0.00 0 0 0 1 2 0 0
Totals 195 137 189 57 2.05 5 3 148 99 18 18 12
Morris had three saves and Grindy had two saves.
ALL LEAGUE selection Kevin Grindy. Honorable mention Richie Fernandez and Sean Gahan.
ALL COUNTY selection of Kevin Grindy Co-most Valuable Player and Richie Fernandez.
JV BASEBALL
Yearbook. Team members were Darryl Ratliff, Scott Wilkinson, Dan Cooper, Scott Roberson, John Oxford, Bill Mellis, Mike Strange, Peter Maestas, Rich Kaiser, Jack Sylvan, Kurt Reyer, John Nield, Alex Alston, David Machado, Carlos Norena, James Holiday, Steve Rodoni, Matt Zwerling, Sandor LeBarre, Eric Ulwelling, Jeff Alexander, Lunky McDuffie and Drew Todd. Coaches: Mark Hodges, Mike DiTano and Rich Castillo.
Trident April 26. JV Coming On Strong. Assistant coach Rich Castillo said,” the team is coming along strong, with their heads up and going straight ahead. The team has turned it around, because their attitudes have changed to work together as a team. The strong pitching arm of Darryl Ratliff, two big hits by Peter Maestas and the good support in the dugout led the team to a big win over SLV. According to Coach Castillo, “this game helped the teams confidence and outlook for the rest of the season. Catching are Kut Rayer and rifle arm Eric Ulweling.
GIRLS SOFTBALL Season record 16-8.
League: Harbor 1-8, ?-0 win; SLV 5-6
Sentinel preseason write up of February 24. Plenty OF Solid Pitchers In The Area This Season. SLV, SC, Soquel and Aptos Boast Top-Flight Hurlers.
Last season, coach Vic Miguel took a season off and Pete Newell took over the varsity team. Newell is now back coaching the frosh-soph team. Newell took last years team to a 9-3 record for a second place tie with Soquel in league play. This year it is like Miguel never left, because all the starters are back from last year. SC has an experienced lineup, all junior and seniors. Returning seniors are pitcher Shauna Schaeffer, center fielder Diana Macken, who was the Sentinel’s All County Junior of the year last season and second baseman Kris Celayeta. Juniors are catcher Jana Burr, first baseman Laureen Guidici, shortstop Amy Ball, third baseman Dina Avila, left fielder Renee Alvado and right fielder Rhonda Lyon.
“The potential is there. The talent is certainly there. We just have to mold everybody into a good defensive unit. We have a ways to go yet. I don’t think we’re anywhere near our capabilities yet,” said Miguel. Problems may be pitching depth behind Schaeffer and hitting. “We have a better hitting team than we were last season. I think there are some weaknesses in the batting order that can be improved on,” Miguel said.
Sentinel March 6. Rain dampens Schedule. The Cardinals went to Salinas to play, but got in less than an inning and the rain halted play in the bottom of the first inning.
In the second league game, Harbor’s defense stifles highly regarded SC (1-1) at Harvey West Park in a 8-1 win. Three fine double plays helped cut off Cardinal scoring opportunities. “They made some great defensive plays,” said SC coach Vic Miguel. The lone SC run came in the fifth inning, when Val Holman singled and was doubled home by Dina Avila. “We made some key errors that started their rallies,” said Miguel, whose team committed four errors in the game. “We just didn’t play well today.” Two pictures in the Sentinel for this game show Jana Burr tagging out a runner at the plate and first baseman Kris Celayeta stretching to catch a ball to get the runner at first.
Trident April 26. When SLV comes to play SC in softball, it always seems to a good and close game and this one went to SLV 6-5. SC scored a couple of runs on errors and pass balls. In the third inning SLV exploded for five runs to take a 5-2 lead. The Cards came back with two runs, but at the end of six innings SLV was still ahead 5-4. Each team scored a run in the seventh inning. SC had runners on base with two outs, but SLV got the last out to preserve the win 6-5.
May 12. Harbor goes from worst last season to first place tie with Soquel at 9-3 records this season. One of their three losses came on a no-hitter loss to SC.
Sentinel end of the season stats of May 26, by place in in order, name, at bats runs, hits, RBI’s and average with at least 38 at bats and above .249 batting average.
PL NAME AB R H RBI AV
7 Ball 73 24 28 21 .384
9 Macken 78 37 29 12 .372 Tied for second in home runs with 2
12 Celayeta 67 26 23 16 .343
19 Burr 80 20 24 19 .300
22 Lyon 72 20 21 22 .292 Fifth in doubles with 4
28 Holman 47 15 13 9 .277
3 SC team 648 220 178 136 .275
Diana Macken led in stolen bases with 33.
Individual pitching by place, name, won-loss, innings pitched, hits, walks strike outs and earned runs with at least 40 innings pitched.
PL NAME W-L IP H BB SO ERA
5 Schaeffer 16-6 156 112 111 61 2.11
5 SC team 16-8 168 123 145 64 3.01
Outfielder Diana Macken was the only Cardinal on the Sentinel All County team.
JV SOFTBALL
Yearbook. Team members were Tammi King, Kristi Netto, Kim Park, Julie Judkins, Jenny Mullen, Jeannete Chick, Nadja Oxford, Gini Hartley, Mary Mosses, Julie Chick, Patrice Wallace, Michelle Holsworth, Sharon Lovato, Janice Zumot, Kara Fields, Annessa Ratliff, Kim Dunn, Ashley Anderson, Krissy Jhankee and Joanne Ayers. Coach Pete Newell and assistant Charles Burks.
TRACK
Sentinel May 12. At the SCCAL meet, North Monterey won the boys division for the fourth straight year and the girls won for the first time ever. One of the best boys races of the day was the 800 meter, were SC’s Eric Hilger slashed five seconds off his previous season best to nip at the wire the diving Soquel runner to win in a time of 2:01.0. The Cards Brandon Smith set a new season best in the 3,200 (two mile) in a winning time of 10:06.7.
Trident February 15. This year Marello is practicing with us at Memorial Field from after school until around five o’clock. The first meet is on March 1.
May 23. Sentinel pre CCS championship meet write up. The only Cardinal Codi Ratianen qualified in the 1,600 at the CCS Region IV meet a Hartnell College. She is the only SC athlete to qualify to compete in the CCS finals at San Jose City College.
Sentinel May 26. County Athletes Struggle At CCS Track Finals. Only the first three placers qualify for the State meet at Hughes Stadium in Sacramento. The only girl from the SCCAL to qualify was the North Monterey discus thrower, who had her personal best and school record throw of 120-11 for third place. There were no boys who qualified.
May 28.. Final, Sentinel area prep bests in the SCCAL in boys track and field.
By place, name, time or distance for the top five individuals
800 meters
PL NAME TIME/DISTANCE
4 Hilger 2:01.0
Two mile
1 Smith 10:09.3
400 relay
5 SC team 57.0
Mile relay
4. SC team 3:44.6
May 28. Final, Sentinel area prep bests in the SCCAL in girls track and field.
By place, name, time or distance
800 meters
PL NAME TIME/DISTANCE
5 Rantanen 2:32.6
Mile
1 Rantanen 5:30.0
4 Mungai 5:51.5
Two mile
3 Rantanen 12:41.0
5 Mungai 13:08.4
BOYS SWIMMING
Yearbook. The boys had a great year, they shredded every team they faced until the league finals. With the standouts Bill Hackbarth, Jon Melton, Chris Shumate and senior Cary Smith along with the rest of the Boy’s Team, they proved to be one of the best. With the experience of seniors and the enthusiastic under classmen, SC swimming is here to stay. Coach Karl Grubaugh.
Sentinel May 5. SCCAL Champion Harbor’s Depth Too Much as they win the sixth straight title. Scoring: Harbor 378, Aptos 227, SC 158,
Two varsity meet records were broken by sophomore Jon Melton, who won two individual events and swam on a winning relay team as did Bill Hackbarth, who set a new league mark as well in the process. Melton won the 200 freestyle in 1:44.78. In the 500 free, he swam away from the field to win by more than 17 seconds with a time of 4:42.74. Hackbarth’s record breaking swim came in the 100 backstroke, which he won in 56.50. He also won the 200 individual medley in 2:03.95. Melton and Hackbarth were on the winning 200 medley relay team with Mike Frick and Chris Shumate that won in 1:45.30. SC added two seconds and a fifth place to its scoring. Shumate came in second in the 50 freestyle in 23.74. (article did not add the other two placers)
Frosh-soph: Harbor 390, Soquel 323.
School record Sparks SC To Victory. Breaking a school record in the very first event gets a team off to a nice lead and that is just what happened as the Cards defeated Watsonville 91-64 in a SCCAL swim meet. The Cardinals clocked 1:46.37 in winning the medley relay, breaking the school record of 1:47.54 established in 1978. The swimmers were Bill Hackbarth, Mike Frick, Jon Melton and Chris Shumate. SC moved to 2-1 overall and 1-0 in league.
Hackbarth, Shumate and Melton each posted two individual wins in addition to their participation in the victorious 200 medley relay race. Hackbarth won the 200 individual medley in 2:05.57 for the top time in Santa Cruz county. He also won the 500 freestyle in 5:14.66. Shumate captured the 200 freestyle in 1:59.69 and the 100 freestyle in 54:02. Melton took the 100 butterfly in 56.10, the top county time. He also won the 100 backstroke in 57.37. Cary Smith won the 50 freestyle in 24.37 and was also a member of the triumphant 400 freestyle relay squad.
Sentinel May 14 Prep Swimming Statistics, by place, name and time.
200 Medley Relay
1 Hackbarth, Frick, Melton, Shumate in 1:43.70.
200 Freestyle
1 Melton 1:43.53
5 Hackbarth 1:52.62
200 Individual Medley
2 Hackbarth 2:03.95
50 Freestyle
4 Melton 23.50
100 Butterfly
2 Melton 56.10
4 Hackbarth 58.37
100 Freestyle
1 Melton 48.70
5 Hackbarth 51.00
500 Freestyle
1 Melton 4:36.32
5 Hackbarth 5:14.23
100 Backstroke
1 Hackbarth 56.76
2 Melton 57.37
100 Breastroke
5 Frick 1:08.32
400 Freestyle Relay
2 Shumate, Frick, Hackbarth and Melton in 3:33.26
ALL SCCAL Relay team of Bill Hackbarth, Jon Melton, Chris Shumate, Mike Frick
Individuals: Melton, Hackbarth,
Team members unavailable
BOYS TENNIS WON THE SCCAL CHAMPIONSHIP FOR THE SIX STRAIGHT YEAR in Co-championship with Aptos with 9-1 records.
Practice matches: Live Oak 7-0, North Salinas 7-0, Salinas 6-0, RLS 3-4, St. Francis of Mt. View 0-7, Gunn 0-7, Carmel 5-2, Leland 2-5. Practice record 4-4. League: Watsonville 7-0, 7-0; Harbor 6-1, 7-0; SLV 7-0, 7-0; Soquel 7-0, 7-0; Aptos 5-2, loss. League record 9-1 tied for league title with Aptos. League play off for CCS ranking: Aptos 4-3. CCS Leland 3-4. Overall record 15-6.
Sentinel May 9. Santa Cruz Suffers First Round CCS Loss. Leland of San Jose nipped SC 4-3. “It was one of those things,” said Coach Mullen, whose team lost three three-set matches in the second through fourth singles, two of which included tiebreakers. “The kids just went out and played the best tennis they could.” In number two singles, Doug Fisher lost 6-2, 6-7(8-6 tiebreaker), 4-6. David Mello at number three lost 6-2, 3-6, 3-6. Ken Atkinson lost 5-6, 7-6 (7-5), 4-6. Mullen gave high praise to Fisher and Atkinson, both seniors. It was their last match and they were really going for it.” In another three setter, Walt Alexander and Jim Herbert won in number two doubles, 6-1, 2-6, 6-4. In number one singles, Eddy Marcum won 6-3, 6-4 to end his season with a 19-2 record. Early in the season, Leland topped SC 5-2, but Wednesday it could have gone either way. “Overall, we really improved,” coach Mullen, whose Cards end the season 15-6. “I think that’s important.” Aptos tied SC for the league title with 9-1 records.
May 8. This Round Goes To Santa Cruz. Santa Cruz Beats Aptos In Battle For SCCAL Tennis Bragging Rights. “We’re Through! Said Coach Dennis Mullen. “Just like in ‘Rocky’ no rematches.” Mullen was at nerve’s end following a 4-3 victory by SC over Aptos in a SCCAL tennis playoff match at Harbor. SC and Aptos, co-champions of the SCCAL with 9-1 records, split their two league matches during the regular season to force the special playoff.
Just as the first two meetings between the teams had been, this was a tightly contested match. “It was a cliff hanger again. It was just a tune up for CCS,” Mullen. There were three three-set matches, two of which involved tie breakers. In number two singles, Jason Graves won 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(7-4 tiebreaker). In number four singles Jim Ulwelling lost 7-6(7-3). 4-6, 6-7(6-8) in a three and a half hour marathon in the best match of the day. In number one doubles, Steve Carniglia and Ron Dong won 3-6, 6-3, 7-5. They cane back from a 5-2 deficit in the last set to win. Eddy Marcum at number one singles continued to dominate, winning 6-0, 6-0. In 11 matches against SCCAL competition Marcum has lost only six games this season.
May 10. SC blanks Live Oak 7-0. Eddie Marcum won 6-1, 6-1. At number one doubles, Steve Carniglia and Ron Dong won 7-5, 9-0. SC is now 3-0.
Feb. 17. SC blanks North Salinas 7-0 to open the season. North Salinas was only able to win four games in the first five singles matches. Eddy Marcum won 6-0, 6-0. Doug Fisher 6-2, 6-0; Dave Mellon 6-0, 6-0; Ken Atkinson 6-0, 6-1; Jim Ulwelling 6-0, 6-0.
March 3. Can’t Stop Santa Cruz. The weather was miserable and it got too dark to complete each match, but SC defeated Salinas 6-0. Senior Doug Fisher at number two singles and sophomore David Mellon at three singles, each made good comebacks to win. Fisher came back to win 7-5, 6-1. Mellon lost the first set in a 7-5 tiebreaker, then won the next set 6-0 and led 4-1, when his opponent retired.
March 13. RLS downs SC 4-3. In number one singles, Eddie Marcum won 6-0, 6-0. In five singles, Jim Ulwelling won 3-6, 6-1, 6-2. In one doubles, Steve Carniglia and Ron Dong won 7-6, 6-7, 6-0. SC lost three other three set matches.
March 14. Cards Get Lesson, losing to powerful St. Francis of Mt. View 7-0. “We played well considering the caliber of competition and the fact that we are a young team. My kids saw shots they had never seen before” said coach Mullen, whose Cards are now 3-2 overall. On of the closest matches was in number one singles, where Eddie Marcus lost 5-7, 1-6. In three singles, David Mellon lost 5-7, 1-6.
March 22. Santa Cruz Blasted by Gunn 7-0. All seven of SC’s losses came in two sets.
March 24. Cards Off On Right Foot In Quest of Another Title. SC winner of nine of the last ten league tennis championships in SC county got off on the right foot toward making it ten of the last 11, when it overpowered Soquel 7-0 in the league opener. But even with his teams impressive performance, the Cards won 14 0f 15 sets and Soquel won more than two games in just two of the 15 sets, but SC coach Dennis Mullen isn’t talking championship yet. “Aptos is going to be really good this year,” Mullen said of the only other school in the area to win a league tennis championship.
SC lost only the first set in the number 3 doubles match. Davey Ransom and Andrew Kwan lost the first set, 7-5, but came back to win the next two, 6-0, 6-2. “I was really pleased with their comeback,” Mullen said. “I thought David Mellon and Doug Fischer played well too.” Mellon won 6-0, 6-1 in number 3 singles. In number two singles Fischer won 6-3, 3-2.
March 29. Cardinals Netters Romp in 7-0 win over Watsonville. SC is now 2-0 in league and 5-3 overall. “Jim Ulwelling at five singles played real well and I was pleased with our doubles teams,” Coach Mullen. Singles winners were Eddie Marcum, Doug Fisher, David Mellon and Ken Atkinson. Steve Carniglia and Ron Dong won along with Dewey Ransom and Jim Herbert in doubles.
March 31. SC 6, Harbor 1.
April 10. Cardinals Knock Aptos Out Of Tie For First Place. SC defeated previously undefeated Aptos 5-2 for it’s fourth league victory. Leading the SC attack was number one singles player Eddie Marcum, who won 6-1, 6-2. Also winning were number two singles player Doug Fisher and number five Jim Ulwelling. The key to the match was the winning play of the doubles teams, of the number one team of Steve Carniglia and Ron Dong 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 and number two of Jim Herbert and Davy Ransom 6-7, 6-2, 6-4.
April 12. SC downs Carmel 5-2. Eddie Marcum won 6-3, 6-1, while David Mellon and Ken Atkinson won singles matches.
April 14. Beat Goes On. Santa Cruz Zeroes In On Fourth Success Title. Tennis teams representing SCHS traditionally are among the tops in the area and this year is no different. SC over powered SLV 7-0. SLV didn’t win more than three games in any set and SC looked every bit the tennis powerhouse that it continues to be. SC raised its record to 5-0 in league at the half way point and is 8-3 overall. Five Cards, Eddie Marcum, Jim Ulwelling, Davey Ransom, Ron Dong and Steve Carniglia all raised their league records to 5-0. Carniglia and Dong played singles for the first time all year and I was pleased with their play,” coach Mullen, whose team seeks its fourth league title in a row. In doubles Ulwelling and Ken Atkinson plus the team of Ransom and Jim Herbert won.
April 17. After beating Soquel 7-0, SC is now 6-0 in league cruising to another league title. Number one singles player Eddie Marcum with a 6-0 record in league steamroller his opponent 6-2, 6-1. Three singles players Doug Fisher, David Melton and Ken Atkinson all won by the same score and Jim Ulwelling won 6-2, 6-4. In doubles Steve Carniglia and Ron Dong won 6-0, 6-1, while Jim Herbert and Davy Ransom won 6-1, 6-0.
April 19. Card Netters Prevail over Monta Vista of Cupertino 5-2. SC won four of the five singles matches against a really tough team in the DeAnza league. SC is now 11-3 overall. Marcum, Fischer, Mellon and Ulwelling won their singles matches, while losing only three games. Steve Carniglia and Ron Dong won the number one doubles.
April 21. Convincing win. SC defeats Watsonville 7-0. Watsonville won only four games in the first six matches.
April 25. Cards Still Unbeaten. SC shut out Harbor 7-0 to improve its league record to 8-0. Doug Fisher posted an exciting victory in number two singles, winning 6-3, 3-6, 6-4. SC is now 13-3 overall.
SC 7, SLV 0 at Boulder Creek. This match was over almost as soon as it started. The Valley won only two games all afternoon, one in each number 1 singles and number five singles. Singles winners for the Cards in order number one man through five. Marcum, Newman, Kashap, Brooke and Lezin. Doubles team members were Carniglia-Mellon and Berger- Atkinson.
May 5. Leland 5, SC 2. Eddie Marcum continued his winning ways 3-6, 6-2, 6-3. Jim Ulwelling won the number five match 3-6, 6-2, 6-3. In the number two match Doug Fisher lost a three set match to the number twentieth in age group 14 in Northern Cal 6-1, 1-6, 6-4. SC is 14-5 on the season.
Team members were Ian Lawless, Steve Carniglia, Jim Herbert, Jim Ulwelling, Adam Gersick, Doug Fisher, Ken Atkinson, Kevin Smith, Eddie Marcum, Ronny Dong, David Mellon, Davey Ramson and Andrew Kwan. Coach Dennis Mullen
BOYS GOLF Finally, A Competitive SCCAL Golf Match. In league, it isn’t often that two teams can get together and have a nice competitive round of golf. But SC and Watsonville were able to do just that Tuesday at DeLaveaga Golf Course, where the Cards emerged with a 14-13 win. “It was nice to play a team that we’re fairly even with,” said Card coach Bob Gallagher. “It seems like most of the time the match is an overmatch one way or the other. I think Watsonville played a terrific match on a course they’re not used to playing on and I think we got good performances up and down the line, Everyone played well for us.” Santa Cruz’ Mark Failor was the match medalist with a four over par 51 for the 12 hole match. He also won his match, 3-0, as did his brother, Scott. SC is 2-3 in league play and Watsonville is 1-4. Card golfer in order of number one first: M. Failor, win. No. 2, S. Failor win. No. 3, Kingsbury, lost. No, 4, Wolfe, won. No. 5, Kaiser, won. No. 6, Bennett lost.
INDIVIDUALS
Considering the Cardinals 0-7 record with him not in uniform, it’s easy to see the impact Johnny Johnson has on the Cards success. In December, a healthy Johnson was voted the Most Valuable Player of the Carmel Tournament. Johnson hopes to start at fullback for the Cards this coming Fall. “Johnny’s not a horse on the football field, he’s a stallion. In the eleven years that I have been here, he is the best athlete I’ve seen. Recruiters are going to be knocking down his door to get him to play for them.” Pete Newell has seen a change in Johnson. “I’ve witnessed Johnny turn around in development as a human being. There is a lot to love directed at him from different parts of the campus. Watching Johnny grow has been a reaffirmation for me of why I’m involved in teaching and athletics,” Coach Newell. Johnson averaged 11.8 points a game and 11.1 rebounds a game in league. The career of Johnny Johnson of Santa Cruz is just beginning. Perhaps the best is yet to come. (It did come as Johnny stared at San Jose State in football and played one year of basketball there in his junior year, when the team needed players. He was All Pro for the New York Jets in the NFL. It has been said the Johnny could be a pro in any sport that he wanted.) Against North Monterey, Johnny added 17 points and grabbed a career high 26 rebounds as SC won the battle of the boards by an overwhelming 52-16 margin. “We’re always a great rebounding team with Johnny (Johnson) out there. He’s the best rebounder in the league,” Coach Newell. Johnson, like his team, has emerged at the top with a flourish. Only a junior and in his first year of varsity competition, the 6-foot-4 center is on an all-league pace (along with Poll) averaging 11.8 points and 11.0 rebounds per game. Earlier this year, he pulled down 26 rebounds in one game. Using his extra-long arms, Johnson has been able to control the boards against taller opponents and is acquiring a delicate shot-blocking touch inside as well. He can fire the outlet pass to a teammate or put it on the floor and score coast-to-coast with equal success. “He may be quiet to everybody else,” said Harbor Coach Mike Gruber, “but not to the coaches in the rest of the league who know what kind of a factor he is when he’s on the floor.” “Johnny just plays,” said Santa Cruz Coach Pete Newell. “For God-given talent, he’s right there at the top.” Johnson was called by his coach as our most talented player. Johnson, a junior center was selected first team ALL SCCAL and first team ALL COUNTY by the Sentinel.
If an opposing team begins to sag in defensively on Poll and Johnson, the Cardinals often turn to the only other senior starter on the squad. Forward Kevin Grindy, shorter than most forwards at 5 feet 10 inches, strengths are his deadly outside jumper from the baseline and his tenacious defense. The best defensive player on the team, Grindy usually draws the opposition’s biggest scoring threat, like Harbor’s Jeffty Connelly or Aptos’ Warren Holt, even though he’s giving up six or seven inches in height to each. Kevin Grindy shut down a NMC player with a 15 point a game average “You want players like Kevin Grindy on the court in tough situations because you know they’re going to produce,” said Newell.
Johnson’s talents have allowed Mike Poll the freedom to showcase his own abilities this season. A three-year varsity starter, Poll is asked to do more for the Cardinals than any other player and his consistency has been a stabilizing force for the Cardinals through thick and thin.
Mike Poll according to his coach has been our most consistent player. Poll, a senior forward, averaged 16.2 points and 8.4 rebounds. Mike was a repeat ALL SCCAL player this year. (On merit he was one of the top players in the league this season also.) Mike was recognized by the Sentinel as a first team ALL COUNTY player.
The starting backcourt of junior Eddy Marcum and sophomore Kevin Harrell is another team strength. “Together, at the defensive end, they’ve provided the guard play that is a constant aggravation to their opponents.” Marcum is the point guard, who runs the offense and directs the fast break. With his crisp, accurate passes, it’s no wonder Marcum leads the Cardinals in assists. He can hit the shot at the top of the key if the defense drops off. Senior Ed Marcum “understood and fulfilled the role of point guard. He’s a natural. He does things that don/t show up in the stats,” from Coach Newell. Eddy was named second team ALL SCCAL and also second team ALL COUNTY. (Which means he is a top ten player in the league.)
For the Sentinel ALL COUNTY squad, Sean Harrell is a good outside shooter–especially from the top of the key–and talented enough himself to play point. One of, if not the quickest, player on the team, Harrell is another defensive standout who draws the opponent’s scoring guard. He can fly on the break and penetrate inside as well and has an 8.8-point average to prove it. “Together, at the defensive end, they’ve provided the guard play that is a constant aggravation to their opponents. Sean is our most dynamic player according to his coach. Harrell a sophomore guard averaged 8.8 points a game. Sean was second team ALL SCCAL and second team ALL COUNTY. . (Which means he is a top ten player in the league.) He was declared Sophomore of The Year by the Sentinel.
The second place volleyball team was led by the outstanding play of ALL SCCAL honored Donna Beronia, a senior middle-hitter. Cards power was proven in their triumph over league champion Harbor High. The Cardinals downed the Pirates in two games, displaying the best match of the season and showed enthusiasm and skill.
The girls’ track team went out this year with incredible spirit, taking fourth overall in league and the regionals. Lynette Mungai made it to CCS where she did a great job. The most valuable player goes to Brandy Smith and Lynette Mungai.
Bob Adams was a soccer ALL SCCAL defensive player. Bob whose main job was on defense did score one goal in the season.
David Adams was a soccer ALL SCCAL offensive player. David a brother of Bob was the top scorer on the team with 10 goals.
Jorge Sierra was a soccer ALL SCCAL player. Jorge scored four goals for the season.
Codi Ratianen qualified in the 1,600 at the CCS Region IV meet a Hartnell College. She is the only SC athlete to qualify to compete in the CCS finals at San Jose City College.
The boys swim team had a great year. They shredded every team they faced until the league finals. With the standouts Bill Hackbarth, Jon Melton, Chris Shumate and senior Cary Smith. The first three swimmers listed here plus Mike Frick broke a school record in the very first event against Watsonville, clocking a 1:46.37 in winning the medley relay, breaking the school record of 1:47.54 established in 1978. Hackbarth, Shumate and Melton each posted two individual wins in addition to their participation in the victorious 200 medley relay race.
In the same meet with Watsonville the four swimmers listed above won two events. Bill Hackbarth won the 200 individual medley in 2:05.57 for the top time in Santa Cruz county. He also won the 500 freestyle in 5:14.66.
Chris Shumate captured the 200 freestyle in 1:59.69 and the 100 freestyle in 54:02.
Jon Melton took the 100 butterfly in 56.10, the top county time. He also won the 100 backstroke in 57.37.
Cary Smith won the 50 freestyle in 24.37 and was also a member of the triumphant 400 freestyle relay squad.
santacruzsportshistory 