Head Coach: Greg Spirakis
Last year’s record: 13-6
Recap: The team placed 2nd in the league and lost in an upset game against Capuchino in the CCS quarterfinals.
Key Matchups: Cupertino
Star Players: senior pitcher Saira Ramakrishnan and senior infielder Sydney Riera
Key losses to graduation: Eva Semin, Lexi Cleland, Nancy Lei and Vivienne Brooks
League: El Camino
Prognosis:
After losing four seniors to graduation, the team is rebuilding and has five freshmen joining. Unlike in past years, the freshmen have previous experience, allowing for an easier transition onto the team.
With the increased depth brough to the team from multiple key freshmen — Bhavya Lohani, Sarah Musani, Jemma Tsang, Alyssa Tham and Avi Chauhan — the Falcons are hoping to win the league this year.
“Even though we lost a lot of really valuable seniors, we came in with a fresh group of freshmen who are really committed to the sport,” Ramakrishnan said. “In the past we’ve done good, with being second or third in the league but this year I think we have a really good shot at winning the league and even making a strong run in CCS.”
Longtime coach Mike Davey is no longer coaching the team, and Greg Spirakis a community member, whose daughter graduated a while back, will now be the head coach, along with Todd Osborne as the assistant coach.
“Both [Davey and Spirakis] have a similar coaching style so the transition hasn’t been that difficult,” Shah said. “I think that he is very calm and focuses a lot on the technique which is good for our team right now.”
Just last week, the team played a scrimmage against Homestead and lost 12-1 Feb. 25.
“I think that having a lot of freshmen that know what they’re doing is helpful. In the scrimmage we didn’t do as well because we aren’t really confident as a team yet,” junior right fielder Kate Vasquez said. “Some people are playing in new positions and we are still adjusting.”
Since their loss, the team faced Wilcox March 5 and won 7-6 and Prospect on March 11 and came away with a 6-5 win. They played Leland on March 13 at home and lost 11-3. They face Lincoln on March 18 at home.
