June 1, 2006

Sports

Student-run dodge ball tournament generates $1,662 for charity

Invisible Children honored with intra-district effort

By Justin Petersen
Staff Writer

Organizers report that San Jose Unified School District’s May 21 Invisible Children’s Dodge Ball tournament generated $1,662 earmarked for child-relief programs in Africa.

A Willow Glen student unleashes a canon shot at a Pioneer team.

Money raised came from entry fees and T-shirts that students designed to help spread awareness regarding the reported 10,000 child slaves in Uganda—termed “Invisible Children” by a 2003 documentary that exposed the horrible practice spreading across the continent, where radical groups abduct children and force them into military service and to work as sex slaves.

The tournament was conceived by Leland High juniors Shaina Patel, Elena Santa Maria, Emma Noftz and Jennifer Tsau, who presented the idea at an intra-district leadership meeting and received clearance from administrators at Leland, Pioneer, and Willow Glen to pursue the event.

Patel and company also drew the attention of Willow Glen senior Jason Tom, who signed on and ultimately secured the finals’ site, inside Willow Glen’s gymnasium.

“We watched the documentary at the very end of January, and were moved by it,” said Patel. “We wanted to plan fund-raisers to help. You hear about stuff going on in the world a lot, but seeing the documentary and seeing the faces of the children brought you close to the situation. The movie gave a personal connection because we saw the faces of kids involved in war.”

Patel said that in raising awareness for the dodge ball tournament, more than 160 students were able to view the film, which chronicles a 20-year war waged in Northern Uganda where the LRA rebel army abducts small children ages 5 to 12.

“The money goes directly to the End of the World Children’s Organization,” said Patel. “The money we raised will be used for educating recovered child slaves in Uganda.”

Patel said that world leaders have identified education as the most important tool to begin to restore normalcy in the lives of children abducted by the radical groups and subjected to traumatic experiences.

While it was a nimble crew from Willow Glen that hoisted championship salutes over their heads Sunday, Patel and her cohorts hope San Jose Unified students make the benefit dodge ball tournament an annual event.

“We are hoping to hold this dodge ball tournament every year, so if there is anyone from other schools in our district interested in helping us next year, they should contact us via e-mail,” said Patel.

Leland hosted several preliminary tournaments where a total of 12 teams competed within the school.

Pioneer finished second, riding the shotgun shots and sure hands of tournament Most Valuable Player J.J. Goulden. Goulden, who moonlighted in the CCS track finals, where he landed earlier in the week, impressed tournament organizers and officials, suffering just one knockout on championship day.

“I am not sure how many teams Pioneer and Willow Glen started out with,” said Patel. “There could have been as many as 25 teams total to begin with, and each team has eight players.”

Leland’s top squad, The Revolution, finished in third place, behind a Willow Glen contender and Goulden’s group.

2-1 CCS loss spells the end for Leigh softball season

Rough defensive fifth inning costs Longhorns two runs

By Diego Abeloos
Sports Editor

The Leigh softball team saw its playoff hopes dashed with a 2-1 loss to Notre Dame-Belmont in the semifinals of the CCS Playoffs on May 24 at San Jose’s PAL Stadium.

The Longhorns, 2006 Mt. Hamilton Division Champions, could not avoid a rough fifth inning in which their defense faltered with a pair of errors that allowed two runs to cross home plate for the Tigers.

Longhorns ace pitcher Jackie Hill picked up the tough loss, despite tossing seven strong innings in which the right-hander allowed just two unearned runs.

Leigh third baseman Tria Downer throws out a runner at first base during a 2-1 loss to Notre Dame-Belmont in the CCS semifinals on May 24. Photos by Jeff Frazee

Needless to say, the loss was a disappointing one for Leigh Head Coach Clovis Mirassou.

“I don’t mind when we get beat, but when we beat ourselves, I’m just really disappointed,” Mirassou said. “The kids, in that one inning, they just let up. We have a better defensive team than that.”

Leading 1-0 after a first-inning run, the Longhorns went into the top of the fifth inning with Hill on cruise control. That quickly changed when Notre Dame’s Ali Palermo reached base on a dropped throw at first base after hitting a grounder to shortstop. After a sacrifice bunt moved Palermo to second, the Tigers’ Kelly McDonald stepped up and swung and missed on a third strike, with the ball hitting the dirt and slightly glancing off catcher Whitney Terry, allowing McDonald to reach first base and moving Palermo to third.

Notre Dame’s Caitlin Lavezzo then stepped up to the plate and promptly dropped down a bunt down the third baseline, but third baseman Tria Downer’s throw to Terry at home plate was dropped with Palermo charging in hard and scoring, tying the game 1-1.

Tigers’ pinch hitter Steffanie Guillermo then stepped up and placed another bunt down, which rolled past Leigh’s bull-rushing infielders for a single, scoring McDonald from third for a 2-1 lead.

Mirassou said he felt bad for Hill, whose pitching effort was thwarted by the rough inning.

“She’s the best pitcher around,” Mirassou said of Hill. “It’s a shame to let her down like that. She pitched her heart out. …She never even let down, even with the errors behind her. She was the one picking the team up and she never got down on anybody.”

Meanwhile, Leigh’s offense had trouble against Notre Dame starting pitcher Emma Holden following the top of the fifth.

Holden managed to retire six straight Longhorn batters, striking out three during that stretch, before finding trouble in the bottom of the seventh. Leigh’s leadoff batter in the inning, Shelby Ford, reached base on a solid single to right field, before a sacrifice bunt from Kayla Pisano ended up with runners on first and second after a throw to second to nab Ford was dropped.

From that point on however, Holden settled down and struck out the next two Leigh batters before inducing a routine groundout out of pinch hitter Kat Pisano to end the game.

“We just couldn’t score,” Mirassou said. “Our bats went quiet after the first inning. I thought we were really going to start doing some scoring, but after that, we just couldn’t put it in play.”

Mirassou said he was proud of his team’s overall effort this season, despite the loss. He added that saying goodbye to the seniors, especially ace pitcher Hill, was a tough chore.

“I’m going to miss all my seniors,” Mirassou said. “Jackie, I’ve watched her since she was a seventh grader … so I had to wait two years to get her. She’s been a godsend.”

Abdalla headed to State Track Meet

Willow Glen’s Mohamed Abdalla (pictured left) is headed to the CIF State Track Meet after the sophomore runner finished third in the boys’ 3200-meter run at the CCS Finals on May 26.

At the finals meet, which was held at San Jose City College, Abdalla completed the 3200-meter run in nine minutes and 22.36 seconds for a third-place finish behind Alisal’s Diego Estrada and top finisher Ben Sitler of St. Francis. Abdalla’s performance at the finals came on the heels of a 9:45.58 finish in the CCS preliminary round, held the previous week at San Jose City College.

Willow Glen’s other representative at the CCS Finals, junior shot putter Stephanie Serna, finished in eighth place in her event, posting a toss of 33 feet and two inches.

—Photo by Jeff Frazee

Rams volleyball can’t dig out victory in CCS

Coach Wind said performance worthy of lofty expectations next year

By Justin Petersen
Staff Writer

Fourteen-seed Willow Glen came within a single game of knocking off eventual Division II Champion Los Gatos in the opening round of CCS Volleyball action May 9.

Despite ending the year with two consecutive losses, one to Mount Hamilton Division Champs Leland and the other stalking the Wildcats, Wind said it was the quality of loss and efforts displayed by his boys that have him more excited about the program’s future.

“We’re stoked that we have everybody coming back and a pretty decent group of kids coming up from junior varsity next season,” said Wind. “They are going to be strong and hopefully healthier than this year. They are ready to see some real success because they worked so hard this year and I know it is going to pay off next year.”

Willow Glen finished 22-13 in 2006, amidst a team-wide flu epidemic and pitiful luck fending off injuries.

“I don’t think there was one occasion when we had the same lineup in consecutive matches,” said Wind.

Yet, junior Tobin Chase still managed to snag the league’s Junior of the Year Award, and junior Robby Payne joined Chase on the First Team All-League roster.

“It was a really weird year,” said Wind. “Chemistry and continuity are everything in volleyball, and every game, loss or win, people had to step in—our second string had to play a lot this year, they had to come through for us. The guys’ heart was so big in persevering. It was amazing.”

The Rams hosted Leland May 4 in the schools’ volleyball equivalent to homecoming, the Tiki Match.

“The Tiki Match is a great rivalry between us and Leland,” said Wind. “More than 500 spectators came out to catch the match this year. It was so loud, our setter couldn’t even hear the calls we were making. That’s more people than I have ever seen at a high school volleyball event before.”

Wind said Leland dominated on the court, winning for the first time since he and Leland coach Jason Hilbert conceived the event in 2004.

Charger senior Scott Lucas led the attack with 16 kills.

“Leland ended up winning because Lucas was unstoppable,” said Wind. “He was hitting cross court at angles we weren’t ready for.”

Willow Glen next faced CCS favorite Los Gatos in the opening round, following the Leland match.

“We thought we got robbed pulling Los Gatos in the first round,” said Wind. “We had one of best records in CCS and played LG, who of course won it all.”

The Rams went five games with the top team in the section.

“It was a battle,” he said. “If we would have won first game, we would have won the match.”

Willow Glen evened the match 2-2 by the fourth game after dropping the first, pushing the Wildcats 26-24. Wind said they did it with overwhelming offensive assaults led by Chase, sophomore Spencer Dong and senior Michael Reiton.

“They couldn’t stop Tobin,” said Wind. “He was just ripping the ball, attacking from everywhere. My entire offense is based on everybody pulling together. Tobin was cranking in the middle and Michael on the outside. Both blocks played amazing defensive games, as well.”

Wind said Willow Glen clawed their way to a 10-10 tie in the fifth, but that’s when Los Gatos adjusted, by moving their 6-feet, 6-inch, middle to the outside block.

“We knew he was going to come alive,” said Wind. “We blocked him all game. I just told them you keep playing your match. The two games we won, we blew them out. Dong and Chase took him out of the game; that’s why they put him to the outside. I don’t think they felt like they could attack with our middles right there.”