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Photograph by David Heller
Westmont's Jennifer Brown lets out a holler after scoring a run in her club's 3-1 win over Prospect. Catcher Cassie Gilford (right) checks out the action on the diamond.
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Chapman tosses Warriors to wins
Falcons top Harbor, but lose to Soquel in CCS division playoffs
By Dick Sparrer
The girls softball teams at Presentation and Westmont forged a rather intense rivalry in the Mt. Hamilton Division of the Blossom Valley Athletic League this spring.
The clubs met twice in the rugged regular league season, and both games were close.
Now they would like nothing better than to face each other one more time.
If they could, it would be in the finals of the Central Coast Section Division II softball tournament that winds up May 27, 3 p.m., at PAL Stadium.
Both the Warriors and Panthers have advanced to the CCS semifinals May 24 at PAL. Westmont, 22-10 for the year, will battle No. 1 seed Mitty (24-5) at 3 p.m., and Presentation, 24-12 this season, will take on No. 2 seed St. Francis (21-5) at 5 p.m. The winners return to PAL to play for the championship on Saturday.
Both the Warriors and Panthers have opened the playoffs in impressive fashion. Westmont beat local rival Prospect 3-1, then blanked North Monterey County 3-0. The Panthers shut out Soquel 4-0, then edged Notre Dame-Belmont 1-0.
Lisa Chapman tossed a two-hit shutout to lead the Warriors to the win over North Monterey County on Saturday. The Westmont ace ran her pitching record to an impressive 19-5 with the win.
Jennifer Brown belted a couple of hits to lead a six-hit offensive attack for the Warriors.
The clubs were locked in a scoreless tie through three innings before Westmont unloaded with three runs in the top of the fourth. That would turn out to be all of the scoring in the game.
The first-round game between Westmont and Prospect matched two local champions. The Warriors had tied with Mitty for first in the Mt. Hamilton Division, and the Panthers had won the crown outright in the West Valley Division of the BVAL.
Chapman threw this one, too, for Westmont and flipped a three-hitter for the win. She struck out eight on her way to her 18th win.
Jennifer Brown ripped two hits in the game for Westmont and Bonnie Huggett smacked a triple.
Randi Gillespie was stuck with the pitching loss, despite tossing a five-hitter. She led her club at the plate with a single and double.
Just as they would a game later, the Warriors broke up this one with a three-run rally. The three runs came in the bottom of the third and broke up a scoreless tie. Prospect answered with a run in the seventh, but that was all the Panthers could manage.
Prospect ended the season 19-6 after going 12-0 in the West Valley Division.
Falcons split
A post-season that started so promisingly ended very abruptly for the Saratoga baseball team last week.
The Falcons opened the CCS Division II playoffs with a solid 7-5 win over Harbor, but lost 7-2 a game later to Soquel to fall out of the competition.
Senior right-hander Jason Worden finished his Saratoga career in impressive fashion by tossing the Falcons to the win over Harbor in the CCS first-round game. Worden pushed his mound record to 5-4 with the victory.
Senior Erick Raich had a big day at the plate with a double and two singles to drive in three runs for the Falcons. Adam Varteressian doubled home a couple of runs in the win.
Mike Cable had two hits for Saratoga and Jim Huether and Derek Cartmell each doubled.
The Falcons were down 3-1 after three innings against Harbor, but they rallied for a run in the fourth, three in the fifth and two more in the sixth to jump out to a 7-3 lead. Soquel picked up two in the seventh, but ended up a couple of runs short.
Saratoga finished the 2000 season with a 15-10-2 record that included a second-place finish in the tough De Anza Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League.
Vikings lose
The Lynbrook girls softball team lost a heartbreaker in the first round of the CCS Division I playoffs, falling 3-2 to Hollister. The loss ended the season for the Vikings, who posted a solid 17-7 record in 2000.
Stacey Benzing tossed a three-hitter, but was tagged with the tough loss for the Vikes. She also led the offensive attack with a double and a triple.
The Haybalers jumped out to a 1-0 lead with a run in the bottom of the first, but the Vikes came back to take the lead with two in the third. Hollister answered with two in the home half of the third, though, and that turned out to be the difference in the game.
Warriors fall
The Westmont baseball team saw its season come an abrupt end in the first round of the CCS Division II playoffs. The Warriors were blanked 9-0 by Gunn, the champions in the El Camino Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League this spring.
The game was close through three innings. The Titans ended a scoreless game with a couple of runs in the last of the third to take a 2-0 lead.
Gunn kept up the attack, though, scoring three in the fourth, one in the fifth and three more in the sixth to post the easy win.
Westmont finished the 2000 season with an 11-15 record.
Nabbefeld qualifies
Saratoga's Kevin Nabbefeld fired a four-over par 75 to tie for fifth place in the CCS golf qualifier at the Rancho Cañada West Golf Course.
By covering the 6,349-yard, par-71 course with a 75, Nabbefeld qualified to advance in the CCS tournament.
Erik Larsen of Westmont shot an 81 and Dan Ruby of Saratoga finished at 83. The two failed to make the cut for further CCS action.
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Saratoga, California Since 1955
