![“[Building nerf blasters] became this outlet of creativity for me that hasn't been matched by anything else. The process [of] making a build complete to your desire is such a painstakingly difficult process, but I've had to learn from [the skills needed from] soldering to proper painting. There's so many different options for everything, if you think about it, it exists. The best part is [that] if it doesn't exist, you can build it yourself," Ishaan Parate said.](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/DSC_8149-900x604.jpg)
![“When I came into high school, I was ready to be a follower. But DECA was a game changer for me. It helped me overcome my fear of public speaking, and it's played such a major role in who I've become today. To be able to successfully lead a chapter of 150 students, an officer team and be one of the upperclassmen I once really admired is something I'm [really] proud of,” Anvitha Tummala ('21) said.](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Screen-Shot-2021-07-25-at-9.50.05-AM-900x594.png)
![“I think getting up in the morning and having a sense of purpose [is exciting]. I think without a certain amount of drive, life is kind of obsolete and mundane, and I think having that every single day is what makes each day unique and kind of makes life exciting,” Neymika Jain (12) said.](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Screen-Shot-2017-06-03-at-4.54.16-PM.png)
![“My slogan is ‘slow feet, don’t eat, and I’m hungry.’ You need to run fast to get where you are–you aren't going to get those championships if you aren't fast,” Angel Cervantes (12) said. “I want to do well in school on my tests and in track and win championships for my team. I live by that, [and] I can do that anywhere: in the classroom or on the field.”](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/DSC5146-900x601.jpg)
![“[Volleyball has] taught me how to fall correctly, and another thing it taught is that you don’t have to be the best at something to be good at it. If you just hit the ball in a smart way, then it still scores points and you’re good at it. You could be a background player and still make a much bigger impact on the team than you would think,” Anya Gert (’20) said.](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/AnnaGert_JinTuan_HoHPhotoEdited-600x900.jpeg)
![“I'm not nearly there yet, but [my confidence has] definitely been getting better since I was pretty shy and timid coming into Harker my freshman year. I know that there's a lot of people that are really confident in what they do, and I really admire them. Everyone's so driven and that has really pushed me to kind of try to find my own place in high school and be more confident,” Alyssa Huang (’20) said.](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/AlyssaHuang_EmilyChen_HoHPhoto-900x749.jpeg)
Giants lead NLCS 2-1
Many members of the Harker community donned Giants gear at the family picnic last Sunday in support of the San Francisco team.
The San Francisco Giants lead the St. Louis Cardinals two games to one in the Nation League Champion Series (NLCS).
Harker Giants fans rally on their team in hopes of going all the way this year. The Giants must win the best of seven games against the Cardinals to return to the World Series.
Many students are hopeful that the Giants continue the trend of winning the championship every two years as they have done in 2010 and 2012.
“I am confident that the Giants can make it to the World Series this year,” Natasha Mayor (11) said. “Winning the championship every other season seems to be our thing, so I think this is our year to win.”
Rohith Kuditipudi (12) shares this sentiment and looks forward to watching the Giants advance.
“I like the giants chances in this series since it’s highly unlikely that the Cardinals will be able to keep hitting home runs at their current rate,” he said. “Compared to last year, this team has a tremendous amount of energy.”
Students are also rooting on their favorite players who have made this season different from last year.
“Matt Duffy stood out for his unbelievable presence of mind as a rookie, which allowed him to avoid the double play and score the tying run in the ninth on a wild pitch,” Rohith said about Duffy’s game two run.
“We have an all-around strong roster with a lot of great pitchers and Buster Posey is an amazing catcher,” Natasha said.
Other students are unsure about the final outcome, but look forward to watching the team progress.
“The Cardinals are a really good match for our team, and I’m excited to see what Buster Posey is going to do in the next few games,” Gabriella Gupta (12) said.
In case you missed the first three games, catch up with this quick series recap:
Game 1:
San Francisco lead 1-0 after shutting out the Cardinals in game one of the series.
The Giants took an early lead with two runs in the second inning. A single by Travis Ishikawa, brought Brandon Belt to second, Hunter Pence to third, and scored Pablo Sandoval for the first run of the game. An error by Cardinals third baseman Matt Carpenter allowed Pence to score raising the score to 2-0. Buster Posey scored the last run of the game in the third inning off of a sacrifice fly from Brandon Belt.
Game 2:
The Cardinals bested the Giants in the last inning of game two after a night of back and forth scoring on Oct. 12.
The Giants starting pitcher was Jake Peavy. Carpenter hit a homerun at the bottom of the third to give the Cardinals an initial lead. Ranal Grichuk hit a single for Matt Adams to score another Cardinals run. At the top of the fifth, Belt brought in the first Giants run. Sandoval and Brandon Crawford both scored followed by a Cardinals home run bring the score to 3-4 at the end of the eighth inning.
Matt Duffy scored from third base after a wild pitch to tie the game at 4-4. Cardinals Player Kolten Wong hit the game winning run at the bottom of the ninth to defeat the giants 5-4.
Game 3:
The Giants beat St. Louis in game three after 10 innings and a game-changing error by the Cardinals last night.
At the bottom of the first inning, Posey and Sandoval got on base, and Pence hit a double to score Posey and bring the Giants their first run. Belt was intentionally walked, and with the bases loaded Ishikawa hit a double to right center to bring in three more runs to make the score 4-0 with the Giants in the lead.
The Cardinals took control of the next nine innings by tieing up the game with two runs in the fourth inning and a run in the seventh despite Giants pitcher, Tim Hudson’s best effort. The Giants had no hits through the second and ninth innings.
Giants player Juan Perez hit a single in the 10th inning that led to the final game winning run scored by Crawford on a throwing error by Cardinals pitcher Randy Choate.
Game four of the series will be played at 5 p.m. today at AT&T Park.
Megy Appalaraju (12) is the Sports Editor of Harker Aquila. This is her second year in the Harker journalism program. Her favorite part about journalism...