Sports

SALINAS—Christopher High coach Ryan Dequin led his team to an incredible second-half turnaround, which earned it a No. 3 seed in the Central Coast Section playoffs.

Over the years, Christopher High softball seniors Aly Olvera and Mariah Martinez have played a lot of catch together. Without including Little League and travel ball, the duo has logged countless hours of pitch and catch as the starting battery for the Cougars.

After a 10-day layoff since its last game, the Gilroy High boys soccer team took the pitch Tuesday in the first round of the Golden State Invitational, hosted by Bellarmine College.

It was only fitting.

MORGAN HILL — The Gilroy Gators saw six team records fall as three swimmers placed in the top 10 at the Junior Olympics Dec. 6-8 at the Morgan Hill Aquatics Center.

Christopher is happy that it is finally seeing success on the football field, but the Cougars aren’t taking much pleasure seeing a team that is struggling to find some wins.

Each week we will recognize one area male and female athlete for their performances. This week's are:

There may have been some lingering frustrations following a disappointing loss to San Mateo the day before as the Christopher High girls basketball team exploded for a 69-21 victory against Overfelt on Day 2 of Dons Club Holiday Tournament hosted by Del Mar High on Wednesday.

Don't get too close to the Christopher girls soccer team or you might get burned.  The red hot Cougars maintained their perfect record with a 7-1 win over Soledad Wednesday at home. Christopher has now outscored its opponents 32-2 through six games.  Zidant Okere led the way with two goals and two assists in the game. Paulina Llamas scored her eighth goal of the season and also picked up an assist. Jamie Boutee, Jasmine Contreras and Summer Rodriguez each added a goal.  The Cougars have one game left before breaking for the holidays. They will play Pinewood at 1:30 p.m. Saturday at the Burlingame Tournament.  BOYS SOCCER Mustangs throttle Soquel If the game ended at halftime, Gilroy still would've beaten Soquel by a long shot. But the Mustangs went on to score seven second-half goals to beat Soquel 10-0 at home Thursday. Andres Jimenez picked up a hat trick in an assist in the game to lead Gilroy. Jimenez now has 13 goals this season. Emmanuel Cruz, Carlos Jimenez, Gaspar Figueroa, David Solorzano, Marc Rivera, Sean Kauffman and Tony Barredas each added a goal.  The Mustangs maintained their blemish-free record to improve to 5-0-1 on the season and will take on Mountain View in the 2013 Oak Grove Gold Cup Finals Saturday. Cougars fall to The King's Academy The King's Academy scored its lone goal in the first half, but that was all it took to top Christopher. The Cougars lost 1-0 at home Thursday to drop to 1-4-1 on the season.  Christopher will have a long break to heal up and regroup before returning to action at 1 p.m. Jan. 3 when it hosts Monta Vista — the team's last game before league play begins.  BOYS BASKETBALL Bob Hagen Tournament continues today The 34th Bob Hagen Memorial Tournament continues today at Gilroy High School.  Christopher will play Harbor after losing to Aptos Thursday. The Cougars will play at 5 p.m. today and win will propel them into the Consolation Championship game.  Gilroy, who beat Anzar 66-34 Thursday, will face Oakwood — who beat Live Oak in a 58-55 overtime thriller — at 6:30 p.m. today.  Anzar and Live Oak will play at 3:30 p.m., while Aptos will play Gunderson at 8 p.m.