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Photograph by Kathy De La Torre
Strong-Arm Tactics: Prospect southpaw Brent Maselli was the winning pitcher in last week's 12-6 nonleague win over Homestead.
Haynes tosses Westmont to win
Prospect fights back with a win over the Mustangs
By Dick Sparrer
It didn't help either club in their league races, but both the Westmont and Prospect baseball teams took advantage of spring break to bring home victories in nonleague games last week.
Westmont actually won its game at the expense of Prospect. The Warriors pulled out a 4-1 win over the Panthers early in the week before getting a Friday game against Saratoga washed away by April showers.
Prospect battled back from that Tuesday loss to Westmont to pound Homestead 12-6 on Wednesday.
Del Mar, meanwhile, managed to pick up a victory in the Valley Christian Crown Classic, beating Sacred Heart Prep 3-2. But the Dons lost 7-3 to host Valley Christian, and the Warriors went on to beat Bellarmine in the championship game.
Each of the three local clubs--Westmont, Prospect and Del Mar--will return to their league schedules this week, but with very different goals.
Westmont heads into the final leg of the year with a shot at the championship in the Mount Hamilton Division of the Blossom Valley Athletic League. The Warriors are 8-5 in league play and trail division co-leaders Valley Christian (10-3) and Leigh (9-3) by just two games in the loss column with five games left to play.
Del Mar, on the other hand, rests in the Mount Hamilton Division cellar at 2-10, but a half game behind Leland.
Over in the Santa Teresa Division, Prospect enters the final round of league play with an outside shot at second place and a place in the CCS playoffs.
Westmont pushed its season record to a solid 13-8 with the 4-1 win over Prospect during spring break.
Junior right-hander Mike Haynes went the distance to toss a four-hitter in the win over the Panthers. Haynes was touched for just an unearned run in the fifth and had superb control, walking no one in the game. The hurler pushed his season record to 5-4 with the win.
Senior slugger Bill Stouffer and sophomore Mike Gorski each singled twice, and senior Chris Snyder drove in two runs to lead the Warriors to the win.
Curtis Wills singled and doubled to account for half of Prospect's hits, and he was stung with the tough pitching loss.
Westmont took the lead with a run in the third, then took control of the game with a three-run rally in the top of the fifth.
Prospect came charging back a day after the loss to Westmont with a 12-6 win over Homestead.
The Panthers, now 8-11 for the year, found themselves in a slugfest in the early innings, but they blanked the Mustangs over the final four frames while picking up four runs to clinch the win.
Lefty Brent Maselli was the winning pitcher for the Panthers. He evened his season record at 1-1 with the win. Andrew Meade came on in relief to pick up his second save of the year.
Kyle Bonvechio doubled twice and singled to knock in four runs for the Panthers, and Wills singled and doubled to drive in four more.
Meade and Nick O'Hara supported with two hits apiece, Kevin McPeck clubbed a triple and Ivan McVay doubled in the win.
Prospect scored a run in the first to take the lead, but the Mustangs picked up three in the bottom of the first to go up 3-1.
The Panthers added a run in the second, then unloaded for six in the third to lead 8-3.
But Homestead was determined to make a game of it. The Mustangs responded with three in the home half of the third to cut the gap to 8-6. The Panthers took over from there, though, adding three runs in the fifth and one in the sixth while blanking Homestead the rest of the way.
Del Mar, meanwhile, claimed its fifth win of the season with a 3-2 victory over Sacred Heart Prep in the Valley Christian Crown Classic, but then lost 7-3 to host Valley.
Sean Scott tossed the Dons to the tight win over Sacred Heart with a two-hitter.
Junior Seth Williams singled and doubled and Clayton Sakoda doubled to lead a six-hit attack for the Dons.
Del Mar took the early lead with two runs in the second, but Sacred Heart got one back in the fourth. The Dons scored again in the fifth and that turned out to be the game winner when Prep added another run in the sixth.
Scott and senior Jaemin Caplan cracked two hits apiece and sophomore Matt Barrera doubled, but the Dons lost 7-3 to the Warriors in the third round of the tournament.
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Campbell, California
