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Neufeld leads King's to softball title
Homestead wins to advance to volleyball semifinals
By Dick Sparrer
Seniors Aaron Mansfield and Kavon Hassani-Azad sparked the Homestead boys volleyball team to back-to-back wins to open the CCS playoffs last week.
The Mustangs whipped Woodside Priory in three straight games, then edged Harbor in a tough four-game match.
The two wins helped Homestead improve to 36-2 for the year, and pushed the Mustangs into the CCS semifinals against Mount Madonna (17-2) on May 16 at Santa Clara High School.
Valley Christian (19-4) meets Bellarmine (24-1) in the other semi match that night with the winner facing the Homestead-Mount. Madonna winner for the CCS title on May 18, 7 p.m., at Santa Clara.
Semifinal games are slated for 6 p.m. and 8 p.m., but at presstime it had not been determined which teams would play at which times.
Mansfield buried 15 kills and Hassani-Azad drilled 13 to lead the Mustangs to the lopsided 15-3, 15-4, 15-2 win over Woodside Priory last week.
Things were a bit tougher for the Mustangs in the CCS quarterfinals against Harbor. Homestead won, but had to go four games to pull out a 16-14, 12-15, 15-8, 15-10 victory.
Any-yen Hu and Dominic Phillips were other seniors playing key roles for the Mustangs.
Kings are golden
Kathryn Neufeld knew what she had to do.
She knew that The King's Academy girls softball team needed three wins to claim the championship in the Private Schools League.
The Knights had to beat Mercy of Burlingame, Mercy of San Francisco and Castilleja in the final three games of the regular season. So Neufeld just took over.
The talented hurler tossed a one-hitter for a 6-1 win over Mercy-Burlingame, then came back with a no-hitter in an 8-0 win over Mercy-SF. As if that wasn't enough, she blanked Castilleja on just one hit to help the Knights close out the league season with a 15-1 record.
Neufeld struck out 18 to account for all but three of the outs recorded against Mercy-SF. Her teammates staked her to a 6-0 lead in the first, and she threw goose eggs at the opposition for seven frames.
King's, 20-4 for the year, will now advance to the Central Coast Section Division III playoffs this week. The Knights will take on Carmel (18-8) on May 17, 5 p.m., at Sherwood Park in Salinas. The winner will meet No. 2 seed Half Moon Bay (21-7) on May 20, noon, at Hawes Park.
Cecily Gordon ripped three hits and Angela Guidi belted a pair to help the Knights to win over San Francisco.
Earlier in the week, Neufeld's pitching and hitting led King's to an important 6-1 win over Burlingame. Neufeld tossed a one-hitter and helped her cause at the plate with a double and a homer to drive in four runs.
Carissa Threewitt ripped a two-run home run for the Knights in the win.
Neufeld blanked Burlingame over six innings before getting touched for a single run in the seventh. But King's had already scored six runs to take a commanding lead.
Burlingame had entered the game with a 13-0 record. The win for the Knights left the two clubs locked in a first-place tie with matching 13-1 marks.
King's came back with the wins over Mercy-SF and Castilleja to wrap up the season 15-1.
Neufeld pushed her mound record to 19-4 with the one-hit shutout against Castilleja. She struck out 13 in just five innings.
Katie Shockey homered and singled to drive in three runs for King's in the win. Hawley Menser singled and doubled to drive in two runs, Guidi doubled home a pair of runs, Kirsten Corstorphine singled and tripled and Neufeld had two hits.
King's had opened the long week with a tough 3-2 nonleague loss to Sacred Heart Prep. Neufeld was stuck with the loss, despite fanning 17 and giving up just five hits. Menser doubled for the Knights.
Mustangs split
Lynbrook needed two wins last week to clinch the girls softball championship in the El Camino Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League. And the Vikings got them both.
The Vikes edged Saratoga 1-0 in the battle for first place in the division, then clinched the league championship with a 6-1 win over Homestead later in the week.
Homestead finished the year 8-4 in the division and 13-10 overall after the loss to Lynbrook. Earlier in the week, the Mustangs had blanked Cupertino 7-0 on a five-hit shutout by Ashley Suth.
Freshman Karen Purdy, who flipped a five-hitter in the loss to Lynbrook, tripled home three runs for Homestead against Cupertino. Julie Colvin ripped a double and Stacey Harris had two hits.
Lady Birds win two
Fremont finished the El Camino season in style with a pair of wins. The Firebirds beat Gunn 9-3 and Palo Alto 4-2 to end up 4-8 in the division and 4-10 for the year.
Nicole Pedroza tossed both of the wins for the Lady Birds to finish the year with a 4-2 pitching record. She came close to shutouts in each of the games, but late-inning runs cost her in each bid.
Pedroza blanked the Titans over five innings while her teammates were running up a 9-0 lead against Gunn. The Titans broke up the shutout with a run in the sixth, then scored two more in the seventh. Pedroza ended up with a six-hitter and struck out 11.
Robin Glass doubled and singled twice to drive in four runs in the win. Carolanne Fidler had three hits and Kristina Hayes singled and doubled to knock in three runs. Alison Ganz and Brittany Liu added two hits apiece in the win.
Pedroza appeared to be zeroing in on a shutout later in the week against Paly, but after tossing six scoreless frames she was touched for two runs in the seventh.
Hayes singled twice to plate a pair of runs for Fremont.
Homestead wins
The Homestead baseball team finished the year with a pair of wins to secure a winning season.
The Mustangs beat Santa Clara 7-4 and knocked off Lynbrook 5-4 to wrap up the year 14-12 overall and 7-11 in the El Camino Division of the SCVAL.
Senior David Attard starred for the Mustangs in the win over the Bruins. Not only was Attard the winning pitcher, but he also doubled and singled and to help his team to the 7-4 win.
Brandon Schroder doubled and singled twice for the Mustangs and Robbie Hoffman singled and doubled. Adam Milliken had two hits and Gary Mullins doubled.
The Mustangs trailed 2-1 before ralling for a couple of runs in the bottom of the fifth. They broke the game open with four runs in the sixth.
Homestead had to battle from behind to beat Lynbrook later in the week. The Mustangs fought back from a 4-1 deficit with two runs in the sixth and two more in the seventh to pull out the 5-4 win.
Israel Trujillo was the winning pitcher for the Mustangs and Anthony Torres came on to get the save.
Brandon Dougherty was the offensive star for the Mustangs with a double and three singles to drive in two runs. Chris Kidd had two hits to knock in two runs and Mullins singled and doubled. Schroder also doubled for Homestead.
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Sunnyvale, California Since 1994
