Sports

It was a wet and dreary morning when a friend and I turned into one of the canyons that funnel storm runoff down the slope of Mt. Tamalpais and into Bolinas Lagoon.  We parked near the old white clapboard ranch house and walked to a clearing for a view of the thickly forested canyon. When we got to the top, we found what we were looking for. Standing it front of us was a Douglas fir — standing high above its neighboring trees — that seemed decorated like a Christmas tree with many large fluffy white ornaments.

Sometimes a split second means everything.

It won’t take San Benito boys volleyball head coach Emily Tonascia much time to admit, the Balers – on their way to a 15-1 record inside the Tri-County Athletic League – haven’t faced the toughest league schedule.

Draped in upper-right wall of Mattson Gym, the boys league-championship banner lists only two titles under volleyball. With the Balers 3-0 victory over Watsonville on Tuesday, the boys volleyball team positioned itself one win away from adding a third.

How do you solve a problem like San Benito? The Gilroy High softball team has been baffled in finding an answer to that conundrum since March 21, 2006. And the Mustangs' quest will continue as the Balers again squeaked past GHS 2-0 on Tuesday in Gilroy.

The San Benito boys golf team knew the Tri-County Athletic League Mountain Division title on Monday in Salinas would come down to Palma and the Balers.

Three years after winning the Tri-County Athletic League championship as a then-freshman runner, all senior track and field captain Darian Maroney wanted to do in her final year was to get another championship patch.