Westlake Knows No Bounds in Aggressive Payback Effort

It was fairly clear from the start: nothing would stop Westlake High’s softball team from avenging an embarrassing loss to Newbury Park.

Not even a fence.

To set the mood Thursday, Westlake’s Tiffany Meadows denied Oli Keohohou of a leadoff home run to start the game by making an over-the-shoulder catch before barreling into the break-away fence in center field.

“I do love that catch,” Coach Barbara Jordan said.

But Jordan loved the victory more.

Westlake took the lead for good in the fifth inning and held on to beat Newbury Park, 2-1, in a key Marmonte League softball game at Westlake.

The Warriors (16-2, 6-1 in league play), ranked No. 5 in the region by The Times, moved into first place, one-half game ahead of No. 4-ranked Newbury Park (14-4, 5-1). Westlake lost to Newbury Park, 6-0, in its league opener.

“They played aggressive ball like they’ve been taught,” Newbury Park Coach Pete Ackermann said of Westlake. “That’s an emotional team and they played on emotion today.”

Westlake manufactured its first run in the second. Kaitlyn Wilson was hit by a pitch, advanced to second on Rachel Murray’s sacrifice, went to third on a fielder’s choice and scored on a passed ball.

Newbury Park answered in the top of third on one pitch--a riseball out of the strike zone by Erin Voeltz.

Keohohou tomahawked the pitch about 30 feet over the left-field fence, making sure it was well out of reach of any fielder.

“I don’t know if [pitchers] are going to give me anything to hit,” said Keohohou, who leads the league with a .519 average. “[So] if I can reach it, I’m going to go for it.”

Westlake scored the winning run in the fifth on Katie Reifman’s line-drive single. Meadows, who singled with one out and went to second on a sacrifice, scored easily on Reifman’s hit to left field.

Westlake, winner of 10 of its last 12 games, played error-free defense behind Voeltz (14-2), who allowed seven hits and struck out seven.

Tawni Yamauchi had two hits for Newbury Park.

Newbury Park threatened in sixth when Nancy Pabon and Cindy Muran each singled to lead off the inning. But Voeltz retired the next three batters on a strikeout, a pop-up in foul territory and a groundout.