Front or back, Greenhorn still home for Bullfrogs

By Jeremy D. Malamed

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Posted: Friday, September 5, 2008 10:36 AM CDT

Left to right, Bret Harte’s Audrey Benevento and Alli Westerhoff, and Escalon’s Hailey Homen follow the drive of Escalon’s Presli Pilati from hole No. 10 Tuesday. Enterprise photo by Jeremy D. Malamed

Even with their home-course advantage diminished, the Bret Harte High girls golf team was able to hold off one of its biggest challengers to Valley Foothill League dominance.

Led by 8-over-par 44s from seniors Kirsten Locke and Shannon Woodward, Bret Harte opened the Valley Foothill League North season with a 218-224 victory over Escalon Tuesday on the back nine at Greenhorn Creek.

Bret Harte (1-0 VFL North), which has won five straight VFL championships, typically plays its home matches on the front nine at Greenhorn Creek. But a tournament for Greenhorn employees pushed the Bullfrogs' to the back nine for Tuesday's early showdown with Escalon.

“The back nine is a little narrower,” Bret Harte coach Rich Cathcart said. “You have to be more accurate, plus we don't practice on it. Some of the girls like Kirsten and Shannon have played it a few times, but some of them have never played it.

“As a general rule, whenever we play the back with the boys or the girls, we always end up about 10 strokes higher with our score.”

Escalon returned three all-league players from last season and added Presli Pilati, Modesto Christian's top golfer from a year ago, making them a contender for both the VFL North and Sac-Joaquin Section Division V titles.

Pilati and Hailey Homen shot 50s to lead the Cougars (0-1), who capped their total with a pair of 59s.

Bret Harte had a pair of 65s from Audrey Benevento and Nancy Smith to round out its scoring. Locke highlighted her round with a birdie on the 18th hole.

“This was a real big win for us to play on the back nine and come through like that,” Cathcart said.

“One thing about Escalon, they don't have two great players like we have, but they have a steady lineup all the way through.”

Cathcart said Escalon's depth could be a bigger factor at the Division V section tournament, where each team's top five scores are counted. In league play, only the top four scores count per team.

“We still have a ways to before we can get there,” Cathcart said.

Contact Jeremy D. Malamed at sports@calaverasenterprise.com

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