Gavilan basketball takes care of De Anza in second half
The Gavilan softball team compiled a 3-1 record at the College of the Sequoias Tournament last weekend, and improve to 11-2 overall on the season after defeating Merced, Cosumnes River and Fresno City.
“This team is probably one of the best cohesive teams I’ve ever worked with,” coach Nikki Dequin said. “They work really well together and it’s exciting to watch them play.
“It’s going to be an outstanding year for Gavilan softball.”
Last weekend wasn’t so bad either for the Rams squad, which opened the tournament with a come-from-behind 7-2 victory against Merced.
After giving up a run in each of the second and third innings, Gavilan starter Julie Broyer held on for the win when her offense awoke for seven runs combined in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings.
Alicia Reese had a pair of singles and two RBI, while Broyer helped out with a double. Said Dequin, “We were a little late with scoring runs, but better late than never.”
Gavilan was dealt a tough blow in their second game against Shasta College, however. With a 3-2 lead heading into the fifth inning, a lead highlighted by Amanda Rosevear’s lead-off homer in the second, Shasta connected for six hits on five runs in the fifth en route to an 8-4 victory.
“We had a couple of errors in that game that hurt us,” Dequin said. “It was a good game up until that fifth inning when they scored their runs and we couldn’t come back from that.”
Danielle Hernandez, who threw two hitless innings to close out Merced, pitched seven against Shasta and allowed six earned runs.
Despite the loss, though, Shasta’s coach acknowledged Gavilan after the game, Dequin said, saying they were the best softball team the college has had.
Hernandez would pitch another strong seven in the third game against Consumnes River on Saturday, hurling a five-hit shutout. The Rams, powered by an RBI-triple from Danielle Scibuola in the third, kept Consumnes River off the scoreboard with a 4-0 victory.
In what turned out to be their closest game of the tournament, Gavilan battled Fresno City in their fourth and final contest.
With their game against Fresno just hours after their win over Consumnes River on Saturday, Rams pitcher Danielle Hernandez still managed to throw another four innings. Despite allowing 10 runs in the abbreviated stint, though, Hernandez allowed just a single run and struck out six.
The Rams went on to defeat Fresno City 5-4 with two runs in the sixth inning. After Broyer hit an RBI-single, Audra Brown connected on a 2-run homer for Gavilan that gave a one-run edge to the Rams.
Fortunately for Gavilan, the game was called after the sixth inning due to a two-hour time limit.
Gavilan will return to their conference schedule on Tuesday when they host Hartnell in Gilroy at 3 p.m.
Basketball
Trailing by two points at halftime to visiting De Anza, the Gavilan men’s basketball team rebounded with plenty of pressure defense in the second half en route to an 87-68 victory last Friday in Gilroy.
Jessie LoBue had a team-high 21 points for Gavilan, while John Williams and Stephen Vargas supplied 15 and 13 points, respectively.
“They shot pretty well. They passed pretty well. They did all the basics well, and I was impressed and very pleased with them,” coach Tito Addison said.
The difference came in the second half, however. The Rams found themselves behind 43-41 at the break, but Gavilan upped the defensive output and held De Anza to just 25 points in second half.
“We created a lot of turnovers that created some offense for us,” Addison said. “We executed very well in the second half of the game.”
De Anza played a zone defense throughout the entire contest, but it wasn’t until the second half that Gavilan began to break it down.
“In the first half, we did exactly what they wanted us to do,” said Addison, as the Rams were taking a shoot-first approach. “They did a better job of getting the ball inside and out (in the second half) and we got a lot more opportunities.”
The Rams (9-21, 3-7 Coast Conference) will host San Jose City College on Wednesday in Gilroy. Tip-off is at 7 p.m.
Baseball
Despite going 2-1 over the weekend against visiting Barstow, the Gavilan baseball team walked away a little disapointed after failing to move three games over .500 in preseason play.
In the first game of the doubleheader Saturday, Gavilan won 19-3 behind a strong outing on the mound by Joe Vasquez.
The Rams spread around the hitting and capitalized on numerous errors.
But in the second game Saturday, the Rams came out flat and were hurt by walks in a 9-7 loss. Gavilan had a chance to win at the end of the game, but couldn’t come through in the clutch with the bases loaded.
On Sunday, Gavilan fell behind 2-0 early on a two-run home run but rebounded with a pair of four-run innings to win 14-8. Alex Oberle got the win.
Gavilan (5-4-1) will travel to Coalinga Tuesday to face West Hills College before returning home on Friday to face Cabrillo.
