BELMONT — The Presentation High softball team got taken down by senior pitcher Emma Holden and the rest of the Notre Dame team. Holden struck out 16 in a 1-0 victory in a West Catholic Athletic League playoff semifinal game Wednesday.

Notre Dame (18-8), the No.2 seed in the playoffs, travels to meet top-seed Mitty today for the WCAL championship. Mitty is the only WCAL team that Notre Dame has not defeated this year.

Holden used a nasty curveball that nibbled on the outside corner to throw a one-hitter. Except for a couple of batters near the top of the Presentation lineup, the Panthers looked as if they had thrown their bats in the dumpster as one batter after another flailed at Holden's pitches with half-hearted and late swings.

Holden struck out the side in the first inning and sixth inning and then fanned two batters in each of the remaining innings. The 16 strikeouts was not a season-high as Holden fanned 17 against Presentation earlier this year.

"I felt petty strong today. The ball had some pop," said Holden, who will pitch for Cal Baptist in Riverside next year on a softball scholarship. "This was our last home game, sort of special for the seniors, and I wanted to be sure to focus. But I still got nervous in the seventh inning and walked a batter. So I went back to the curveball and finished.

"This was both exciting and sad for us," she added. "Exciting because we all really want to play Mitty, and sad because this was our last time

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on our field."

All Notre Dame needed was one run to lock up the win. They got it when junior catcher Ali Palermo delivered a solo home run in the fourth inning.

"I was looking for a strike, any strike, to hit, and I got one on the outside," said Palermo, who hit her fifth homer of the season. "Yes, I think a lot of us started thinking about Mitty right then," she added sheepishly.

Junior center fielder Maia Monchek smacked two doubles but got stranded on both occasions. Palermo had a home run and two singles, including one that fell into left field on a check swing.

PAL Ocean

Terra Nova (22-3, 13-1), which hadn't had a winning season in six years, downed visiting Menlo School 10-0 and captured the championship of the Peninsula Athletic League Ocean Division. Terra Nova last won a title in the 2001 season. PAL Ocean batting leader Kelly Shulze (.658) led Terra Nova with two hits and two RBIs.

San Mateo junior pitcher Alyssa Boardman threw a four-hitter and senior outfielder Stefania Gemignani mashed a three-run home run to lead San Mateo (8-10, 7-7) to a 5-2 win over Jefferson (5-9, 5-9). Senior Bianca Garcia also homered for Jeff.

An RBI single from freshman cather Hannah Rosenfeld and a sacrifice fly from senior second baseman Tara Galvez in the seventh inning produced the tying and winning runs for Menlo-Atherton (5-16-2, 5-9) in a 7-6 win over South San Francisco (2-14, 2-12). Winning pitcher Tai Vujovich also had three hits, while Christina Ramos and Siao Malepeai each had two hits for SSF.