Viewpoint Teams Take to the Road

When the CIF playoff brackets were released Monday, the Viewpoint School baseball and softball teams found out they both will be on the road for opening round Division VI games.

The Patriots' baseball team (16-5) will travel Friday to Santa Monica to take on the Crossroads Roadrunners. The teams squared off March 25 at Viewpoint in a game that Crossroads won 5-3.

But the Patriots come into the postseason riding an eight-game win streak, with their last victory also being their most important, a huge come-from-behind 5-4 win against Buckley. The win brought Viewpoint even with the Griffins in league play at 7-1 and earned the Patriots a share of the Liberty League title.

"We probably couldn't be in a much better place emotionally. We did nothing right in that game until the very end, but pulled it out," coach Frank Pontello said. "It was a great team effort, a great win for the program and I know the boys are really excited."

The Patriots' softball team (10-8-1) will also jump on a bus as its second place finish (8-2) in the Liberty League earned it a date with the Mariners of St. Monica on Thursday.

A month ago St. Monica came to Calabasas and handed the Patriots a 10-3 defeat, in which the Mariners scored a run or more in each of the final six innings.

"We have a fairly young team, and we were even more inexperienced when we played them last. We are improving more and more and expect to give them a better game this time around," coach Pam Oseransky said.

The Patriots will turn to right-hander Blaire Berka to pitch, as the senior has put up an impressive 0.97 earned run average en route to a 6-4 record for the season.

"Our pitchers have done a great job all season keeping us in games," Oseransky said.  "Both teams are capable of winning. It's going to be up to whoever does the little things best."

The Patriots hitting and defense have been inconsistent at times this season, but there's been improvement late in the season.

"Our young players are swinging the bats better and our defense is improving. Hailey Sholty has been terrific at shortstop for us," Oseransky said.

Freshman leadoff hitter Blythe Berka has been hitting the ball as of late for the Patriots, receiving support from her sister Blaire and power from the combo of Emily Ashton and Kelsey Kaplan, both of whom are hitting above .350 for the season.

On the boys side, Pontello, who is in his 21^st season as skipper for the Patriots, is excited about his team's potential as it hopes to live up to the championship winning play it exhibited two seasons ago.

"We stand a good chance. We really need to hit the ball. We did not do that against Buckley until the end," Pontello said. "Sometimes when we haven't seen good pitching in a while it can be difficult.  Crossroads ace closed against us, he throws hard and they have some outstanding players on that team."

The Roadrunners, who captured the Delphic League Title with an 8-0 league record, come in red-hot winning nine straight–six of the games by 10 or more runs.

With such a daunting task ahead, the Patriots can take some confidence in the fact that they are unbeaten (8-0) on the road this season.

"The boys are excited. We've seen them before and that should ease some of the nerves, once they've seen a team before they tend to be able to relax and do well," Pontello said.

The Patriots will send lefthander Gil Brozki to the mound Friday. The senior sports a 3.47 ERA and is 4-4 on the season.  Sophomore Tyler Sprague, who is coming off a strained elbow, will be available if needed.

"Last year we got shut out in the first round. Our key is going to be hitting and getting on base," Pontello said. "Alex Pachino has been building throughout the whole season--when he gets on base he sets the tone for us, like you'd want from your leadoff man."

Pachino, a junior, is hitting .397 and has an on-base percentage of .461.