Santa Cruz Sentinel from Santa Cruz, California • Page 13

June 3, 1992 win, Giants lose 0 Business, Page 7 Stocks, Page 8 0 Comics, Page 10 Page 3 1 1 rs 1 All-County baseballsoftball Parents force out SC coach They are anything but bleacher bums (from left): Chris Crawford, Justin Bettencourt, Mike Pieracci, Brian Penner, Billy Graff, Ross Parmenter, Jamie Carr, Simon Evans, Ricky Flores, Femi Ayanbadejo. Shmuel ThalerSentinel 1992 All-County (of 1990, which didn't lose until the section playoffs)," he noted. "Any time you have a team like that, you are going to refer back to that. But trying to put up those kinds of numbers is hard." But Parmenter knew he had to have a huge season for the team to find anything close to the success it found in 1990. And that translated into pressure, a lot of it self-imposed.

"I think I felt it more in the beginning," he said. "As the season went on, I thought, 'Hey, big And after I signed with Santa Clara (University, where he is headed on a baseball scholarship), they said I was going to be a middle fielder, so what was I worrying about?" FIRST TEAM Player, School Pos Avg Yr Femi Ayanbadeio, S. Cruz LF .429 Sr Justin Bettencourt, Soquel 7-1 Sr Jamie Carr, Santa Cruz .346 Sr Chris Crawford, Santa Cruz 12-1 Jr Simon Evans, Soquel LF-P .349 Sr Ricky Flores, Soquel RF .355 Sr Bill Graff, Harbor P-1B .371 Sr Ross Parmenter, SLV P-SS .402 Sr Brian Penner, Aptos SS .452 Sr Mike Pieracci, Soquel IB .329 Jr PLAYER OF THE YEAR Ross Parmenter, SLV PITCHER OF THE YEAR Chris Crawford, Santa Cruz COACH OF THE YEAR John Wilson, Santa Cruz By BOB LINNEMAN Sentinel staff writer SANTA CRUZ Pete Pappas is out as girls basketball coach at Santa Cruz High. Terry Pearman, the school's principal, cited philosophical differences and communication problems as the reason Pappas, an off-campus coach, has riot been asked to return after two Seasons as head coach. Although he would not go into specifics, Pearman said he had been considering a change since midseason.

He said parental pressure was a factor in the decision. Pearman said parents of Cardinal basketball players wanted Pappas removed from the job. "The bottom line is they got rid of me because of some parents and some kids," said Pappas, who has been retained as the golf coach at the school, but is not sure he, will continue in that capacity. Pearman would not comment on parent or player complaints, but indicated there was a clash in styles between himself and Pappas and a "lack of between Pappas, the players and parents. One par- Pappas ent, Pete Gonzales, called a meet ing with other parents to discuss their concerns that were then taken to Pearman.

Gonzales said players, as well as varsity and junior varsity parents, were invited to the meeting. "A group of parents that watched and listened to their children participate in Pete's basketball program finally responded to their children's complaints about the program and called a meeting together and talked about it," said Gonzales, whose daughter, Amy, played on Pappas' varsity team. "We presented it to the administration and the administration moved forward in a way it felt appropriate." He added: "Fortunately in our society if you have a complaint and handle it properly, you can get some results." Gonzales would not say specifically what the parents' complaints were. "I don't feel comfortable doing that," he said. At least one player, however, has an idea of what went wrong.

"We had a lot of personality conflicts on the team," said Cardinal junior Faith Hasty, who was the Sentinel's All-County player of the year. "It's really hard to explain without pointing the finger at other people. But Pete wasn't all to Please see FORCED B5 Bulls find rough road to repeat Los Angeles Daily News CHICAGO It wasn't so long ago that most National Basketball Association fans would have chuckled at the mere suggestion that the Chicago Bulls wouldn't repeat as league champions. A more pressing question was, would they be able to win 70 games in the regular season? Heck, when the playoffs began, the over-under on Why either team can win Page B2 games Chicago would lose in the entire playoffs was four, and visions of an undefeated postseason hardly seemed I bBMMMmHBBBBBMBBHBMBHMH-HBr Pressure can't stop Parmenter 'By EU VYEDA Sentinel sports editor CCORDING TO the numbers, Ross Parmenter had a terrific senior season for the San Lorenzo Valley High baseball team. He hit .400 for the second straight year and posted an earned run average of 1.64, striking out nearly one batter an inning.

But according to Parmenter, the season was merely what was expected from someone whose four-year varsity batting average wound up nothing more, and maybe a little bit less. Nonetheless, his performance from start to finish was enough to earn him the Sentinel's All-Santa Cruz County Player of the Year honor. "This year was difficult," Parmenter said, "because I had such a good year last year pitching. The worst part was the pressure to do that again, to go 8-1." Parmenter has been a vital part of SLV's rise the past three seasons to become a power team in the Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League. He's been a starter since his freshman season in 1989, and helped them get to the Central Coast Section playoffs the past three seasons.

This is the third straight season Parmenter has made the All-County first team, and in 1989 was the Freshman of the Year after hitting .403 the first of three .400 seasons he's had. This year, though, was differ ent. He was the star of the team, not just one of several, as he'd been before. "I was the last player on the team this year from the 25-1 team Wenger enjoys special By GREG LATHROP Sentinel staff writer FOUR YEARS ago, when Jacque Wenger was a freshman and still spelling her name "Jackie," one of the coaches in the Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League said that if he could take any player in the league and build a team around her, it would be Wenger. She hit only .263 that year and had a 4.13 earned run average in 59 '3 innings pitched, but the coach could see that Wenger was one of those franchise-type players the kind of a player who has the potential to lead you to the top of the standings.

That year, the Pirates went 4-8 and finished sixth. Over the next three years, they finished first twice and second once with a combined record of 36-8. And Wenger is one of the reasons why. Maybe the most significant rea son, because in softball, pitching can take you a long way. Wenger led the league in ERA this year at 1.10 and she walking only 17 batters in 89 innings.

That's one every five innings, less "than two a game. And she led the county in hits (34) and runs batted in (31) from her cleanup spot in the batting order. With those numbers and the Pirates' league championship her selection as the Sentinel's All- Santa Cruz County Player of the Year was a done deal. "With her speed and control, she's a tough pitcher to get to," said Watsonville Coach Brad Hubbard. "In three years against us, she didn't walk many.

If you're going to get on against her, you're going to have to hit the ball or put it in play." "Basically, I wanted to play my best," Wenger said, "and I kind of wanted to do it for my pitching coach, Wayne Richards. Richards, a former San Lorenzo Valley High softball and baseball coach, has been working with Wenger since she was a freshman. "She's nice and smooth," he said. "She's a darn good pitcher, but she's spent a lot of time at other positions, so she hasn't had A T-l T4F tff'S V-'f JIM ytr' a- A fe a baseball team SECOND TEAM Player, School Pos Avg Yr Frankie Amador, SLV CF .317 Jr Tom Flynn, Harbor .350 Sr James Gomez, Watsonville SS .320 Sr Fidel Gracia, Watsonville CF .357 Jr Mike Hendren, Santa Cruz RF .351 Sr Hunter McPherson, Harbor 2B .346 Sr Matt Mendes, Aptos 2B .418 Sr Chris Shoemaker, Harbor SS .389 Jr James Van Dusen, SLV 3B .397 Jr Matt Wade, Monte Vista P-SS .386 So JUNIOR OF THE YEAR Chris Crawford, Santa Cruz SOPHOMORE OF THE YEAR Matt Wade, Monte Vista Christian FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR Noah Hall, Aptos softball team SECOND TEAM Player, School Pos Avg Yr Jeannie Bastasch, Aptos CF .298 Jr Christy Camperud, M. Vista SS .482 Sr Lori Dutra, Watsonville LF .327 So Rachel Friedlund, SLV 3B .338 Sr Annette Guerrero.

Watsnvlle IB .328 So Kenna Karst, Santa Cruz SS-3B .312 Jr Desarie Knipfer, Soquel 8-13 So Megan Mackh, Aptos IB .305 Jr Hollie Williams, Harbor CF-1B J33 Sr Leah Yeazell, Soquel J47 So JUNIOR OF THE YEAR Jessica Lang, Santa Cruz SOPHOMORE OF THE YEAR Amy Perez, Watsonville FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR Sara Work, Watsonville There wasn't much he could do about some things, such as the Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League season opener against North Monterey County. Parmenter gave up only one run, but lost 1-0 to Condor ace Dwayn Kezerle, who had his best outing of the season. Kezerle won only three other games all season, but that game meant the difference in Parmenter being 7-3, which looks a lot better than 6-4. "Pitching depends so much on the offense and the defense you have behind you," SLV Coach Tim Kenworthy said of Parmenter losing two one-run games this season. "A pitcher is not going to Please see BASEBALL Soquel Coach Ron Brady.

"She's a tough out. She hammered most of the teams." Most teams pitched Wenger inside so she couldn't extend her arms, but because she's so strong, even that strategy didn't work all the time. "One time she took an inside pitch and ripped it to the left side on us," Brady said. "She can be very, very good," said Harbor Coach Emily Fertig of Wenger, who is headed for the University of Kansas on a softball scholarship. "Obviously, she's very good." That's the other deal that's all wrapped up for Wenger.

She has signed a letter of intent to play for the Jayhawks, who went to the Please see SOFTBALL B4 B4 Shmuel ThalerSentinel Jessica Lang, Maria Clayton, Amy Perez, Jill Rivera, Allie Haas, Catalina Chavez, Jacque Wenger and Sara Work. You'd never be up a tree or a backstop with this team (clockwise from left): Stacie Antonetti, Sheryl Terra, 1992 All-County FIRST TEAM Player, School Pot Avg Yr Stacie Antonetti, Harbor 2B-SS .359 Sr Catalina Chavez, Harbor .388 Maria Clayton, Harbor 3B .365 Allie Haas, SLV .373 Sr Sr Sr Jr Jessica Lang, Santa Cruz 3B-SS .446 Amy Perez, Watsonville .368 So Jill Rivera, Watsonville SS .245 Sr Sheryl Terra, Soquel RF .404 Sr Jacoue Wenger, Harbor SS-P .400 Sr Sara Work, Watsonville 11-5 Fr PLAYER OF THE YEAR Jacque Wenger, Harbor COACH OF THE YEAR Emily Fertig. Harbor out of the question. 1 So much for great expectations. The Bulls fell short of the 1971-72 Los Angeles Lakers' 69-13 record, were extended to a seventh game by New York and to a sixth by Cleveland.

On the way to immortality, Chicago has discovered the pressures that go hand-in-hand with the attempt to win back-to-back titles. "Compared to this year, last year was a cakewalk. It was like going to DisneyWorld," said forward Horace Grant, whose Bulls face Portland tonight at Chicago Stadium in Game 1 of the NBA Finals. "It was fun last year. This year was a lot of work.

We spoiled ourselves. Every time we win 13 in a row and then we'd lose one. people Please see REPEA B2 time to develop the pitching skills. But she's as good as anybody in the league right now." Wenger spent half the season at shortstop for Harbor, pitching 89 of 188 innings. And she has spent her past two summers playing the infield in the San Jose Strikkers organization, which fields ASA tournament teams in four age groups.

This summer she'll be at third base for the Strikkers' 18-under team, which is comprised of most of the best high school players in the Central Coast Section, including her catcher at Harbor. Catalina Chavez. Wenger was equally impressive at the plate this season at Harbor. She hit .400 and averaged almost one RBI for every hit. "She got a lot of clutch hits for them," said.