SOUTHERN COLLEGE SOFTBALL CHAMPIONSHIPS : 4-A Preview : Cypress, Thousand Oaks Take Similar Paths to Reach Final

Anyone who picked Cypress and Thousand Oaks high schools to make it to the Southern Section 4-A softball final should stand tall. This one would have been tough to predict.

Perhaps even more remarkable than the fact that these teams are in the championship game, though, is the similarity of their routes to the final at 8 tonight at Mayfair Park in Lakewood.

Both teams reached the playoffs as third-place league finishers--and both ended up in the No. 3 spot after losing their final two league games. Thousand Oaks (23-8) had won 11 straight Marmonte League games before losing to Newbury Park and Simi Valley. The Lancers have won 15 of their last 17 games.

Cypress (21-8) finished in a tie for second in the Empire League after losing to Los Alamitos and Kennedy in its final two league games.

The teams have continued their parallel paths in the playoffs. Cypress knocked off top-seeded defending champion St. Joseph in the quarterfinals, and Thousand Oaks beat third-seeded Righetti in the second round.

As for personnel, the most striking similarity is that catchers lead both teams in hitting.

Cypress catcher Diane Pohl batted .295 during the regular season and drove in three game-winning runs.

Julie Chellevold, the Thousand Oaks catcher, is batting .356 and is a sharp defender as well.

But this is softball, of course, and the key player is the pitcher.

Cypress has Nicky Luce (21-5), who struck out 232 batters in 174 regular-season innings.

Thousand Oaks, which uses two pitchers, will start Shireen Campbell (13-6).

In other Southern Section finals today, Bel-Air Prep plays Leffingwell Christian for the Small Schools championship at 3 p.m. and St. Joseph (Santa Maria) plays Santa Paula for the 1-A championship at 5:30.