By Pete Borello
Spring Sports Summary
ast week’s softball game between Mountain View and Los Altos highs featured more intrigue than a typical meeting between the two district rivals.
The extra twist: a family rivalry pitting a father, Mountain View coach Robert Herrera, against his daughters, Los Altos starting infielders Kristin and Jennifer Herrera.
The daughters went on to defeat dad, 4-3, thanks to Jennifer’s clutch double in the seventh inning.
With the game tied at 3 and a runner at second base with two outs, Jennifer drilled a shot down the first base line that drove in the decisive run.
“It had to be one of my kids,” Robert said with a chuckle. “But that’s better than anyone else doing it.”
Jennifer’s hit was fair by about five inches, according to Los Altos coach Bernie Quintero, who called the April 1 game “a big win.”
Although the Eagles lost 2-1 to host Wilcox two days later - dropping their league record to 3-2 - Quintero is confident his team can still finish in the top three of the SCVAL De Anza Division.
“We’re going to be there,” he said. “We’re the surprise team.”
Mountain View, meanwhile, is struggling to stay out of the division cellar. On April 3, the Spartans lost their fourth-straight game, 10-2 to visiting Milpitas, to fall to 1-5 in the De Anza.
Mountain View’s struggles began soon after it lost star infielder Kathleen Benetua to a sprained ankle.
“That brought the team down quite a bit,” Robert said. “She’s our inspirational leader.”
The Spartans’ first-year coach hopes Benetua, a senior batting nearly .400, will be ready to return this week.
Boys Tennis
Los Altos ran its winning streak to six matches last week by beating Gunn and Los Gatos in De Anza Division play.
The host Eagles routed Gunn 7-0 April 2 and edged Los Gatos 4-3 Thursday.
Los Altos (6-3, 9-4) won Thursday’s match without top player Jon Wong, who was competing in a national tournament.
“That was a very good win,” Eagles coach Cuong Duong said. “Some of the other players really stepped up.”
Los Altos swept the doubles and got its lone singles win at No. 3, where Mike Sherbakov prevailed in straight sets.
Gymnastics
Led by overall champion Ciera Kash, Los Altos opened its SCVAL South Division season with a convincing 169.65-61.50 victory at Cupertino Thursday.
Kash tallied an overall score of 36.05. The junior won every event: the vault (8.9); bars (9.0); beam (8.95); and floor (9.22).
Boys Volleyball
Behind eight kills each by Daniel Fischer and Brad Read, visiting Mountain View whipped Wilcox 15-3, 15-4, 15-10 Thursday.
The win boosted the Spartans’ record to 3-5 in the SCVAL.
Badminton
Mountain View coach Kelly Kuboyama expected his team to defeat last-place Santa Clara Thursday.
However, he didn’t expect the Spartans to win the way they did.
“Our (No. 1 and 2) boys singles got dumped,” Kuboyama said. “The real surprising thing, and what probably kept us in front, was our girls singles.”
Thanks to key contributions from top player Clare Lanam (2-0) and No. 2 Dannie Wang (1-1), the Spartans prevailed 37-30.
Mountain View, which beat Wilcox 48-26 two days earlier, entered this week with a 4-3 record in the SCVAL.
