It was a make or break week for the St. Matthew’s softball team and the Falcons came through like the champions they are. Tied for first place in the Pacific Basin League with Crossroads and Windward, the defending champions pulled off come-from-behind victories over both teams to claim the No. 1 seed and home field advantage in the playoffs, which begin next Monday. Against Crossroads last Tuesday, the Falcons fell behind 2-0 in the first inning, but with the Roadrunners threatening to break the game open with the bases loaded and no outs, pitcher Cami Chapus snared a line drive and threw to third baseman Taylor Bartholomew, who then threw to second baseman Kelsey Reynolds to complete an inning-ending triple play. Run scoring singles by Jessica Goodkin and Danielle Greenberg tied the game, then Willa Ashley homered to give the Falcons a 4-2 lead. Crossroads stormed back to take a 7-6 lead in the sixth inning, but St. Matthew’s mounted a two-out rally on base hits by Chapus and Greenberg and a game-winning two-run double by Barbara Vlietstra. Chapus combined with Lauren Kaufman for the win. Two days later, St. Matthew’s played Windward in a rematch of last year’s league championship game. Nora Martin-Resnick had 10 strikeouts as the Wildcats jumped ahead 4-1, but once again the Falcons’ defense kept them in the game. Bartholomew’s unassisted double play and big catches by outfielders Goodkin and Molly Kornfeind prevented further damage. Well-executed bunts and alert base running led to St. Matthew’s scoring four runs in the third inning to take a 5-4 lead. Windward rallied for three runs in the fifth, but Greenberg led off the bottom of the frame with a hit and scored on a single by Ashley. Goodkin’s squeeze bunt scored Ashley to tie the game and Meredith Kornfeind doubled to score Vlietstra with the winning run. Boys Volleyball St. Matthew’s swept St. Paul, 26-24, 25-22, with eighth-grader Sullivan Washburn punctuating the victory with a stuff block to reach game point and a hard hit kill to finish the first game. In Game 2, St. Paul scored four straight points to close within two before seventh-grader Charlie Porter’s kills stemmed the tide. The Falcons earned their third straight sweep two days later with a 25-16, 25-19 win over Harvard-Westlake’s seventh-graders. Washburn again came up big with both a block and kill to end the first game. The second game was Conner Crane’s time to shine as he started the game with 12 straight service points. With the big lead established, Coach John Caravella emptied his bench. Also contributing to the win were seventh-graders Hadley Kia, Charlie Troy, Andrew Tinger, Stephen Carr, Young Douglas, Ryan Hiltermann and Lawrence Kondra and eighth-graders Sam Burt, Spencer Eichler, Lucas Helmintoller and Connor Lytle. Golf The Falcons edged Brentwood, 258-260, on Monday for their first victory of the season and their first win in the program’s three-year history. at the VA Golf Course 27 Low scorers Alex Hong and Andrew Tinger each shot a 10-over par 37 at the VA Hospital’s nine-hole course to give St. Matthew’s an early lead. With the match still in doubt, Ryan Gould sank a birdie putt on the ninth hole and Spencer Ward chipped from a hillside to within an inch of the cup and tapped in for a bogey to clinch the win. Also playing for the Falcons were sixth-grader Thomas Tortorici, seventh-grader Ryan Polsky and eighth-grader Deacon Frey. St. Matthew’s will play in the Pacific Basin League Championships on Saturday, May 12, at The Lakes in El Segundo.
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