BAY LEAGUE CHAMPIONS!!

For the first time in since 2002, the Panthers are champions of the Bay League! In a week lead by stellar pitching, incredible defense, and timely basehits, the Panthers swept their crosstown rivals, the Palos Verdes Seakings.
 
On Tuesday, Matthew Meskin got the ball for the Panthers and was dominant throughout. Meskin surrendered 6 hits, walking none and kept the Seakings scoreless. Meskin went the distance for the Panthers, pitching a complete game shutout. The Panthers offense was sparked by a RBI single by Ben Zuercher, a RBI double by AJ Hollis, and a RBI sac fly by Jordan Greenway. The Panthers won 3-0 and moved into first place in Bay League. 
 
On Thursday, Nick Frasso got the start with a Bay League Championship in sight. Frasso never faltered and threw an incredibly rare no hitter. Frasso didn't stand alone, as the Panther's defense came up strong for him on many occasions. Jordan Greenway, AJ Hollis, and Michael Fuhrman all made superb plays behind Frasso, sinking any hope of a Seaking rally. The Panthers found offense from a RBI ground out from Ryan Daues, a RBI sac fly from A.J. Hollis, and an errant throw from the Seakings that scored Michael Fuhrman. With his no hitter in check, with 2 outs and 2 strikes, Frasso got the final Seaking swinging on a curveball in the dirt. Kent Haruyama blocked the ball and threw out the runner at first and the dog-pile ensued.
 
The Panthers await their draw for the CIF championships but expect to play next Thursday. 

 

Our Panthers beat Redondo in a decisive 11-1 win.  We had a big sixth inning where we scored 5 runs - a home run by Senior, Eman Elpusan, and singles by Stacey Surace, Keilyn Yuzuki and Madison Denton.  Senior, Jenna Henry also homered in the 7th.  There were also multiple hits by Jasmine Nguyen and Arianna Contreras.  The team played strong defense behind the pitching of Madison Denton.  It was a team effort!
 
We went on to defeat our rival, PV High in a 4-0 shutout.  Strong pitching by Madison Denton allowing only 4 hits and striking out 5.  Senior, Hannah Lyons drove in the first run with a single in the second inning. Key hits by Stacey Surace, Claire Bogosian, Jasmine Nguyen, Madison Denton, Eman Elpusan and Trisha Valukonis helped produce the other runs.  Game highlight was senior, Claire Bogosian making a diving catch in left!  This secured second place in Bay League and Panther Softball will move on to the first round of CIF playoffs next week!
 

Peninsula Swim has had a victorious month!

 
On April 27, Boys and Girls Varsity celebrated a big win against PV. Girls Varsity scored 121 points to PV's 49 points. Boys Varsity scored 109 to PV's 61 points.

Last week, Peninsula hosted the Bay league championships.  In a tightly contested meet Mira Costa pushed Peninsula's boys to the brink.  It was not until the second to last event the 100 yard breast stroke that our Panthers, led by Sebastian Russell began to pull away.  Russell surged ahead with less then three meters to go to capture the victory and secure our Panthers their ninth consecutive league crown. 

On the Girls side of the pool, our Panthers fell swam well and came in second overall to Mira Costa.  Our Girls were led by its record breaking 200 medley relay that was composed of Lily Garcia, Siena Lucido, Christine Lee, and Brooke Geske.
Due to hard work and fast swimming many of our Panthers standouts will compete in the CIF championships.


Panthers continue their drive for a 2nd CIF championship!!

Panther tennis beat visiting Newbury Park 14-4 in the first round of CIF on Wednesday. Freshman Joshua Masuda won all three singles matches to pace the team. Jack Branger had a key third round singles win as did the doubles team of Joshua Blinder/Rikuto Suzuki. 
 
On Friday, the team is hosting West Ranch at 3 pm. Come on down to cheer the defending champs. 
 


PenGLAX first game was Wed 5/3 at home against CIFLA Alexander Hamilton. Although the ball went a little back and forth at the beginning, AH was not match for the mighty Panthers. Jr Sara Hata received a pass and scored 2 1/2 minutes into the game. AH scored at 6 min in, however, Sr Skylar Davis put one in the back of the net off of an assist from Sr Isabelle Wang, while Jr Emily Suganuma scored one to make it 3-2 at the first time out. Megan Webb came out like gang-busters afterwards, scoring 3 in a row for a hat trick, followed by another Skyler Davis goal with 32 seconds left on the clock. The half ended 7-3 in favor of the Panthers. In the second half, Megan scored 2 more, Skylar notched a hat trick, Sr Camryn Bush and Sr Himari Shimizu each scored to end the game 12-6.  Our Defense had an amazing game with Alexa Jones recording 10 saves, while the team had 22 ground ball controls, Megan had 7 draw controls and 2 forced turnovers. That win put us in the Semi-final game Friday at home
 
On Friday, 5/5, PenGLAX Varsity played Marlborough at home in the USL D2 Semi-final game. Although Marlborough drew first blood and held the Panthers for 13 minutes, Pen was not to be deterred. Sr Skylar Davis scored a hat trick in the first half, along with goals from So Riley Christie and Sr Megan Webb to bring the score to 5-2 at the end of the 1st half. The 2 teams went neck to neck in the second half, with the Panthers edging out Marlborough 4-3. Megan Webb had a hat trick in the 2nd half to total 4 goals, 2 unassisted and 2 on assists from Emily Suganuma and Kimmy Ahmady. Sr Camryn notched 1 on an assist from Skylar.  Final score, 9-5   Our defense had another amazing game with 22 ground ball controls, 2 interceptions and 2 forced turnovers. Alexa Jones recorded an amazing 16 saves on 21 shots, an almost 80% save record. Megan had 9 draw controls to help the Panthers to victory. This win set us up to play Westlake on Tuesday in the Finals.
 
Tuesday, Pen GLAX headed up to Westlake,  the #1 seeded team in the D2 grouping for the USL D2 Finals. After a long bus ride, the Ladies got ready to do battle. The team had another 20 ground ball controls, 7 goals, and Alexa Jones had 10 saves, but it wasn't enough to overcome an 8 minute, 4-0 deficit from Westlake #20, who scored 7 of her team's 11 goals, mostly from free position shots. After the initial onslaught, Pen GLAX was able to hold the Westlake Warriors for 13 minutes, while notching a goal of their own from Sr Skylar Davis on a free position shot. Sr Megan Webb scored with only 56 seconds left, and Sr Camryn Davis scored again 16 seconds later to end the half 6-3. Our Lady Panthers pulled out all the stops to thwart the Warriors, scoring 4 in the second half. Megan had another hat trick, Camryn scored a 2nd, and Sr Himari Shimizu scored on a free position shot after a Westlake defender literally bowled her over. Unfortunately, we were unable to overcome the initial deficit and lost 11-7. As a comparison, Culver City, a team initially ranked above the Panthers, lost in the Semis to Westlake 17-7. PenGLAX played great as a whole, ramping up the defense. We were thrilled to have some of our Panther family drive up and cheer us on.  The Pen GLAX team wants to thank our parents and friends for supporting us all season.



After securing their second consecutive undefeated Bay League title, our boys are off to the CIF-SS division team championships.  Coach Van Enk feels his senior heavy team of Rohan Krishnaswamy, Matt Lim, Takuma Yamashita and Cole Yoshida have a good shot of capturing the CIF title.  
 
In the Southern Individual Regional, held at Skylinks GC on Monday, Matt Lim shot 2-under 70 to finish in 7th place out of 117 golfers.  He qualified along with 19 other golfers to play in the Southern Section final at Rancho San Marcos on May 18.  Takuma Yamashita(76) and Cole Yoshida(82) failed to make the cut.
 
 
WELL DONE PANTHERS! #PantherPride