Sports El Gato • Friday, October 20, 2017 • elgatonews.com 19 Cross country beats opponents MLB playoffs begin by Abbi Berry including longer runs.” In addition to the new coaches by Matt White has propelled them to the American Public Relations Manager and training situation, the team has been working Media Production Editor League Championship series against The cross country team is well into its season, having out in the weight room. Boys’ captain senior Luke The great thing about this year’s Major the Yankees. The “Madison Bumgarner participated in several meets in these past months. The Stewart stated: “There are a lot of obstacles to train- League Baseball postseason has been that effect” played a major role in the Boston new girls’ coaches, Paul Lawryck from Fisher Middle School ing this season because of the weight room situation, every team is a legitimate championship against Houston series as both coaches and Heidi Biggee from Saratoga High School, have worked the heat, and the air quality.” Several practices have contender. The Los Angeles Dodgers and had their ace, Chris Sale and Justin alongside returning boys’ coach Matt Snee to establish a been canceled due to extreme heat as well as the recent Houston Astros are the clear favorites after Verlander, coming out of the bullpen in stronger team mentality by designing practices for both poor air quality due to the northern California fires. having the most wins during the regular Game Four. teams together. Senior Cassandra Melax said, “the strength With the competition season well under way, the season. But the Chicago Cubs are also very that this team has really comes from the shared passion of team has been running almost weekly with meets popular as they try to defend their World the community.” This new dynamic has contributed to a throughout the week. The major goal at each meet is Series title. richer training schedule for both the boys and girls teams. for runners to place, which generally signifies a chance The Dodgers swept their division rivals, at qualifying for CCS. Geiken commented on the team’s the Arizona Diamondbacks after the Dia- successes: “The team looks pretty good; our top run- mondbacks beat the Colorado Rockies in ners are doing really well in their races and the team the Wild Card Game. Clayton Kershaw has been getting places around third place at meets gave up four home runs during Game One, which would qualify them for CCS.” As for the boys but did not pitch after that. The Dodgers team, Stewart said: “We got four or five fresh runners were fortunate to rest their CY Young Ace, this season that are just finding their ability levels and Kershaw, as they prepared for the Chicago performing pretty consistently, which is really exciting Cubs. The Dodgers are a promising team to me. I’m looking forward to the end-season because led by their rookie Cody Bellinger and star there have been more than a few minor stress injuries, closer Kenley Jansen. and once mileage starts cutting down, I think our times courtesy M. Slaney are going to drop really quickly.” Additionally, the team has members of all athletic backgrounds, some SATISFIED: The girls varsity team smiles together for a picture after a run. with season goals of just getting through the entirety of their races. Overall, the cross country team has been With the implementation of a new coaching staff, the progressing as many of the top runners are improving team has established a different training program; diverg- their times and several cross training athletes continue ing from their normal Friday bonding runs, the athletes now to build their endurance. focus on building endurance. Senior Sara Geiken notes the The cross country team is headed into their postsea- courtesy wikipedia change in practices: “Our schedule has changed because we son championship meets in the next few weeks. Make have had to move our hard days around since the meets sure to wish them luck as they compete for a SCVAL HIT: Yankee’s Aaron Judge follows through on his swing. have started. And practices have been getting harder and title and for positions on the CCS team. The National League Champion- ship will be a rematch from last year with the Chicago Cubs playing the Los Girls tennis serves other teams Angeles Dodgers. The American League Championship will feature the New by Sam Zukin again to Cupertino. They came close to winning against courtesy wikimedia commons York Yankees and Houston Astros. All National Editor Palo Alto, but fell short by one match losing 3-4. The teams are led by powerful lineups, and The varsity girls’ tennis team continues to be successful girls returned with a smash the same week with their PITCH: Dodger’s pitcher Clayton Kershew launches the ball. tremendous starting pitching. in their efforts at winning matches against other teams in victory over Lynbrook by 7-0. After their triumphant the competitive De Anza league. On Sept. 19, the girls beat endeavor the previous week, they ultimately lost to The Cubs barely won the National rival Saratoga High School by a score of 4-3. They then notable competitor Monta Vista 1-6. League Central Division to play the NL played against Homestead High School the following week They have had some struggles in their season, but East division winners, the Washington where they won with a score of 5-2. Their match against they also try to remember the positive aspects of their Nationals. The Cubs struggled in the Cupertino High School ended up in their favor as they beat situation and the reasons why they play. beginning of the season, but the acqui- them 4-3. As they rolled into their next match against “We have struggled facing teams that were much sition of Jose Quintana before the trade Palo Alto High School, they became champions defeating more organized and focused on winning, but I don’t deadline helped them to a 49-25 record them 5-2. The match against Lynbrook was another suc- know any team that has as much fun as Los Gatos,” in the second half of the season. The cessful endeavor as they ended victorious winning 5-2. sophomore Grace Monahan said. mixture of Kyle Hendricks, Jon Lester Their match against Monta Vista High School was a feat The varsity team has been flourishing in their and Quintana helped them edge out Bryce as they won by 6-1. achievements and might be on a path to win CCS Harper and the Washington Nationals in Their undefeated status is a highlight among the team again as they did in 2016 while JV albeit strug- five games. members and reminder of how far the team has come. gling are approaching matches with an enjoyable and In the American League, the New York “This season we have been good at closing out matches. focused demeanor. Yankees are on a roll after beating the We are currently undefeated and we play Minnesota Twins in the wild card game Saratoga [Oct. 12] tomorrow. Our team has and coming back from down 0-2 in the grown over the last few years from being the series against the Cleveland Indians. The lowest in our division to winning CCS in a few Indians also had high odds of winning the seasons,” senior Sarah Bahsoun said. World Series after losing to the Cubs in During practices, the varsity team usually last year’s World Series and completing a hits and serves with each other and often historic 22 win streak in September. The plays mock matches. The varsity team does Yankees are led by several rookies includ- courtesy flickr not have a ladder for matches as their head ing Aaron Judge and Gary Sanchez and coach, Byron Nupecemo, chooses players he their phenomenal bullpen led by Aroldis ZOOM: Astros Jose Altuve runs the bases hard every game. think will work well together and then will Chapman. The team has a promising change it depending on the opponent. future as they have the third best farm My prediction is the Dodgers will The junior varsity (JV) team also attempts system in baseball. beat the Cubs in five games and the their best efforts to beat their fellow competi- The Houston Astros had few issues Astros will beat the Yankees in six tors. Up against rival Saratoga on Sept. 20 in defeating the Boston Red Sox in four games. The Astros will then beat the resulted in their second loss in the season. courtesy Los Gatos Athletics games. The Astros’ power hitting from Dodgers in six games to win their first During the next week’s match, the JV team Jose Altuve and George Springer com- World Series. lost again to Homestead by 0-7. They then lost SAY CHEESE: The varsity tennis team’s hard work pays off in their matchs’ results. bined with their stellar starting pitching (Sources: MLB) The band showcases bright sound in first competition by John Field The LGHS Marching Band, with 94 members, competed in the calls and a stumble in an earlier challenge, Schutters triumphantly Editorial Editor Western Band Association’s 3A division along with James Enochs, defeated Evergreen Valley High School’s marcher in the final round After the grueling September practices of learning and memoriz- American Canyon, and Valley Christian High Schools; however, as the for the grand prize of 100 dollars and 300 pieces of candy. ing as much music and drill as humanly possible, the LGHS Marching host, Valley Christian received no score in this competition.