Taylor went 3 for 4 in Prospect's 14-4 win over Lincoln on April 14, including a walk, a double, a triple, an RBI and two runs scored.

Along with Taylor, the team's powerhouse Liz Miller also went 3 for 4. Miller scored five times on the day, drove in two runs and tripled.

"Everybody played solidly for us today," said Prospect head coach John Melvin. "But someone has stepped up for us every game so far and it's been a different player each time."

The win, coupled with a 15-0 victory over San Jose Academy earlier in the week, helped the Panthers improve to 11-2 for the season and to 10-0 in the West Valley Division of the Blossom Valley Athletic League.

Prospect enters play this week one game up in the loss column over Overfelt (10-1) and two games ahead of Silver Creek (8-2). The Panthers will face Yerba Buena in two games--April 19 at Prospect and April 22 at YB--before hosting Overfelt in a big game on April 25. All games begin at 3:30 p.m.

The Panthers didn't have one big inning in their victory over Lincoln, they had four.

In the bottom of the third, already leading 2-0, Prospect scored three runs and had nine batters step to the plate. Leah Sparrow led off with a walk, Miller followed with a triple that scored Sparrow, then Taylor drove in Miller with a double. Kylie Gipson knocked a single and Devin Cannon drove in Taylor with a base knock deep in the hole at short before Lincoln got their three outs.

In the fourth Prospect scored another three runs and sent another nine batters to the plate. Sparrow again led it off with a walk and Miller moved her to second on a hard-hit ball of the pitcher's glove. Sparrow and Miller stole second and third and Gipson drove in Sparrow with a ground out to third. Cannon reached on an error that scored Miller. Katie Clayton was hit by a pitch, Brittany Utman walked and Paige Madson drove in Cannon on a fielder's choice.

And in the fifth inning, Prospect brought in another three runs and had seven batters in the inning. Finally in the sixth, with two outs, the Panthers scored three more runs on two outs to complete the 14-4 victory.

Sparrow singled, stole second base and moved to third on a wild pitch as Miller walked. Miller stole second and both girls scored on a wild pitch. Then with two outs Taylor crushed a triple and was driven in on a base hit by Gipson to end the game.

Freshman Sparrow went 2 for 2. She drew three walks, had a double and scored all five times she reached base. She also had three stolen bases and pitched for the Panthers, striking out eight in her appearance.

Gipson went 3 for 4. She drove in three runs, scored once and drew a walk.

"Kylie is always there," said Melvin of Gipson. "She's consistent in her performance."

Freshman Cannon singled, walked, had two RBIs and added a run. Clayton and Madson also had an RBI each in the win.

"The key to our team is that we are complete," added Melvin. "These girls are solid together."

"Prospect is a good team," said Lincoln head coach Hank Wallis. "You can't get behind a team like this."

Prospect's rolled over San Jose Academy 15-0 earlier in the week.

Clayton went 3 for 3 and Gipson was 2 for 4 with a run scored. Madson went had a single, three walks and scored three runs, and Sparrow was also singled, scored two runs and had a sacrifice bunt. Taylor and Miller each singled and scored two runs, and Cannon and Jessica Janssen each had hits.

Sparrow was on the hill that day for the Panthers. She downed nine batters by way of strikes in her shutout performance.

Baseball teams splits

The Prospect baseball team, meanwhile, split a pair of games last week in the BVAL's Santa Teresa Division, beating Lincoln 10-7 before losing 11-1 to Silver Creek.

The Panthers trailed most of the day--5-1 after two innings and 6-3 after four--but rallied for seven runs in the top of the seventh to pull out an exciting 10-7 win over the Lions.

Casey Juull and Nick Nichols each homered and David Kinder ripped three hits to lead the Panthers to the victory.

Nichols was the winning pitcher for Prospect, evening his record at 2-2. Curtis Vanwaardenberg came on in relief to get the save.

The Panthers were the victims of a late rally two days later in the loss to the Raiders. Prospect entered the top of the fifth trailed Silver Creek just 2-0, but the Raiders unloaded for six runs and coasted from there to the victory. Creek moved into a second-place tie in the division with Piedmont Hills, each club at 6-3.

The two losses dropped Prospect's record to 4-6 in the division, leaving them a half game behind fourth-place Evergreen Valley (4-5). The Panthers, 6-9 for the year, will host Independence (2-7) on April 19 and first-place Pioneer (11-0) on April 21 in a couple of 3:30 p.m. games.