Headin' Home: Westmont's Katherine Bamford is congratulated after crossing home plate with a run in a 7-0 win over Leigh.
Photograph by Jacqueline Ramseyer
Panthers open CCS playoffs at home
Westmont girls get bye in softball playoffs
By Dick Sparrer
"Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home."
And no one appreciates that old saying more this week than the baseball players at Prospect High School.
Prospect, champs of the Santa Teresa Division of the Blossom Valley Athletic League (BVAL), will open the Central Coast Section (CCS) Division II playoffs at home this week.
The Panthers, 19-6 for the year after posting an impressive 16-2 in league play, will host Burlingame (21-7) on May 16, 4 p.m., in a CCS first-round game. The winner will move into the quarter-final round on May 18, 10 a.m., at Santa Clara's Washington Park against the Half Moon Bay (16-10)-Santa Cruz (21-7) first-round winner.
Prospect closed out the regular season in impressive fashion, posting back-to-back wins over Piedmont Hills and Overfelt.
The Panthers gave up just four hits and Andrew Meade ran his mound record to 3-1 with an 8-4 win over Piedmont Hills last Friday.
Kevin McPeck singled and doubled in the win for Prospect, and Aaron Jacks and Steve Kong had two hits apiece. J.D. Mazzuca drove in two runs in the game.
The Panthers actually trailed 2-1 after three innings, but Prospect tied it with a run in the fourth, took the lead with two more in the fifth and ran away with it with four more in the sixth.
Prospect had opened the week with a 7-3 win over Overfelt. Jacks was the mound winner, pushing his record to 5-2. Mazzuca doubled twice in the win, and McPeck also had a double.
The Panthers trailed in this one, too, losing 2-0 after an inning. They tied it in the second and each team scored in the third to make it 3-3. But then the Panthers pulled away with two in the fourth and one each in the fifth and sixth.
Prospect has already clinched the division championship before heading into the final week of play. The only question that remained last week was which team would finish second in the Santa Teresa Division.
Mt. Pleasant, Del Mar and Pioneer were all alive in the race for second, but the Cardinals eliminated the Mustangs with a 6-1 win on Wednesday night.
Del Mar opened the week with an 8-2 win over Independence to enter the final game of the season trailing Mt. Pleasant by a single game when the Dons and Cardinals went head up on Friday.
The Dons scored three runs in the seventh, but it was too little too late, and they dropped a 7-5 nod to Mt. Pleasant. The Cards ended up in second place with a 12-6 record and earned an automatic CCS berth. The Dons finished at 10-8 and missed the playoffs.
Despite the loss, Greg Myers had a big finish for the Dons. Myers had four hits, including a pair of doubles, to drive in three of his club's five runs. Eric Martin also doubled in the loss.
Del Mar kept the playoff dream alive earlier in the week with an 8-2 win over Independence. Seth Williams was the winning pitcher for the Dons, and Matt Barrera ripped a double.
Over in the Mt. Hamilton Division of the BVAL, Westmont finished up with a couple of tough losses to finish the year 2-16 in the division and 7-18 overall.
Mike Gorski and Mike Sato each doubled, but the Warriors lost a 7-6 heartbreaker to Leland on the final day of the season.
The Warriors had rallied for six in the third to take a 6-1 lead, but the Chargers came back with single runs in the fourth, fifth and sixth, then unloaded for three in the seventh to win it.
It was a similar story earlier in the week. The Warriors were up 2-1 against Santa Teresa after an inning, but a three-run homer for the Saints in the third ended up as Westmont's undoing.
Mike Haynes had three hits for the Warriors.
Reed Dickert was stuck with the tough mound loss in his last start as a high school pitcher. Along with Dickert and Haynes, seniors playing their last game for the Warriors last week were Matt Mills, Ben Peterson, Brandon Rose and Jesse Boots.
Throwing Zeroes: Freshman hurler Breanna Kuhny tossed a four-hit shutout to lead the Westmont softball team to a 7-0 win over Leigh.
Photograph by Jacqueline Ramseyer
Playoff bound
The Warriors may not be going to the CCS baseball playoffs, but the Westmont softball team is playoff bound. Westmont split a pair of games last week to wind up 11-3 in the rugged Mt. Hamilton Division of the BVAL.
Westmont, 20-9 for the year, is the No. 4 seed in the CCS Division II playoffs, earning the Warriors a first-round bye. Westmont will take on the winners of the Sequoia (11-4)-Monterey (16-11) first-round game in the tournament quarterfinals on May 18, 10 a.m., at the Salinas Sports Complex.
Westmont finished the regular season by blanking Leigh 7-0 in a home game last Wednesday. Freshman hurler Breanna Kuhny tossed a four-hit shutout for the win. She's now 12-2 for the season and boasts a perfect 8-0 mark in league play.
Junior Katherine Bamford drilled a triple for Westmont in the win, and junior catcher Michelle Salmiery drove in two runs.
Westmont staked Kuhny to a 1-0 lead with a run in the first, and that's how it remained until the fourth, when the Warriors scored again. Westmont picked up two in the fifth and three in the sixth to coast to the victory.
The runs didn't come so easily--in fact, they didn't come at all--earlier in the week against Oak Grove. The Warriors were blanked 3-0 by the Eagles despite getting a six-hitter from another freshman hurler, Allyson Carrothers.
Bamford tripled in this one, too, and sophomore Michelle Desmet ripped two hits.
Oak Grove scored single runs in the first, third and fifth in the win.
In other local action, Prospect lost twice--5-0 and 15-2 to Mt. Pleasant--to finish up play in the Santa Teresa Division of the BVAL.
Del Mar lost its final Santa Teresa game 5-3 to Branham last week. The Dons ended up 3-11 in the division.
Campbell, California
