Panthers might be hottest team heading into the Div. I playoffs

Panthers might be hottest team heading into the Div. I playoffs

ON POINT-Tiffany Curtis of Newbury Park took the mound last Tuesday against Calabasas and struck out 10 batters. The Panthers 6-1 win over the Coyotes vaulted them ahead of T.O. in the Marmonte League standings.

By Steve Ames

Special to the T.O. Acorn

The Newbury Park High softball team is exactly where it wants to be as it meets the Thousand Oaks Lancers tonight in a showdown for second place in the Marmonte League.

The Panthers beat host Thousand Oaks, 1-0, on April 19, and this time the game will be on Newbury’s home turf at Borchard Park. First pitch will be at 6:30.

After a 6-1 win over Calabasas on Tuesday, Newbury Park is 16-6 overall and 9-3 league, good enough for a half-game lead on Thousand Oaks. The Lancers are 16- 8 overall, 9-4 league, after they lost to the league-leading Royal Highlanders, 4-1. Royal is 23-2 overall and 12-1 in Marmonte.

"It’s going to be a key game," said second year Panther head coach Darrin Carr of tomorrow’s contest against rival T.O. "The girls are really pumped up for it. It could be the difference between second and third place (behind the Royal Highlanders)."

Carr expects another barn burner between the two teams.

"The thing about this game with T.O. is that it is always a close game, always a tough game," he said. "I’m expecting a 1-0, 2-1 game after everything is said and done this time. I’m looking forward to the T.O. game and it’s going to be a lot of fun."

The Panthers beat the Coyotes in a game highlighted by senior catcher Caitlin Bailey doubling twice and junior first baseman Vaiolini Gago’s triple. Gago also came home on a squeeze play.

Junior pitcher Tiffany Curtis (13-6) fanned 13 and walked three while scattering four Calabasas hits. She was in control the entire game.

The Coyotes dropped to 6-14 overall, 3-10 league.

Carr said that Newbury Park’s improvement in the league standings this season is the result of the team’s cohesiveness.

"A lot of people talk about chemistry working for a team and that’s what it is for us," Carr said. "Even in tough games like this one. Calabasas gave us a good battle."

Carr lauded his captain, Bailey, as one of the team’s leaders and a player who’s emerged on the field and in the dugout.

"When she gets to the plate, she’s been a catalyst for us," Carr said. "Behind the plate, catching, she’s really worked well with Tiffany Curtis, and not only that, but she’s thrown out a lot of base runners. She would be definitely the leader of the team, the one who everybody is looking up to."

The coach said that when Robyn Wike, now a sophomore redsirt catcher at the University of Washington, went out with a shoulder injury three years ago, Bailey took over for the Panthers. She hasn’t looked back.

"She’s just become an extremely strong catcher over the past three years," Carr said. "Defensively, I think she’s the best catcher in the league this year."

Gago, Newbury Park’s leadoff hitter, has been a terror on the basepath.

"She’s 17 for 18 in stolen bases this year," Carr said. "As she’s been going, we’ve been going."

The Panthers have won 13 in a row and nine straight in league. They handed red hot Royal its only loss of the season and performed well against top competition in the Thousand Oaks and Daily News tournaments.

The Panthers have one more game in league play, a make-up road game tomorrow against the Simi Valley Pioneers at 3:30 p.m., then will await to hear the California Interscholastic Federation Southern Section Division I playoff schedule. Wild card games are Wed., May 18 at 3:15 p.m., and first round games will be 3:15 p.m., Fri., May 20.

"Every single girl on this team has contributed and is contributing whether it’s from the bench or whatever it is," Carr said. "I think that’s the wonderful thing about it. It’s not just the one girl, it’s everybody who has some part of this thing. That’s what’s making it so wonderful this year."