By Pete Borello

The San Jose Lady Sharks went from second alternate to second-place finisher at the American Softball Association Hall of Fame Tournament in Oklahoma City, Okla.

The Sharks - a summer league team with three Los Altos-area players - missed qualifying for the tournament initially, but earned an invitation after one of the 16 regional qualifiers and the first alternate bowed out.

The Sharks proved they belonged by posting a 5-2 record and advancing to the championship game of the 18-and-under division.

“I didn’t expect it,” coach Kim Fabian said of the Sharks’ success. “We weren’t hitting, but we played excellent defense and somehow made it through.”

Kathryn Neufeld and Cecily Gordon of Los Altos and Samantha Quintero of Mountain View played key roles in the Sharks’ run at the title, according to Fabian.

The coach said Neufeld “pitched great,” going 3-1 in the double-elimination tournament, which ran July 6-8. Neufeld, who along with Gordon graduated from The King’s Academy in Sunnyvale last month, allowed a total of three earned runs in her four starts. Her best effort may have come in the second round when she pitched a two-hitter in the Sharks’ 6-1 victory over the New Jersey Force.

“I couldn’t begin to tell you how many strikeouts she had (in the tournament),” Fabian said. “She was just amazing.”

Gordon, who plays first base, was the Sharks’ most consistent batter in the tournament, according to Fabian. Gordon had five hits in 13 at-bats.

Shortstop Quintero, a 2000 graduate of Los Altos High, went 3-for-4 in the Sharks’ opening game.

But like the majority of the Sharks’ lineup, the coach said Quintero cooled down as the tournament progressed.

“It was like our bats shut down,” said Fabian, who also coaches Quintero at West Valley College.

In the championship game, the Sharks and the Stockton Grapettes played to a scoreless tie after seven innings, forcing an extra frame.

The Sharks managed to get a run in the top of the eighth, but it wouldn’t be enough. The Grapettes hit a three-run homer off a tiring Neufeld in their half of the inning for a 3-1 win.

Although the Sharks didn’t return home with the championship trophy, they did earn something else: an invite to the ASA National Championships.

The top eight teams in the Hall of Fame Tournament qualified for the national, set for Aug. 6-12 in Salem, Va. Last year, the Sharks took 13th at the national.

This year’s squad is even better, according to Fabian. And after their performance in Oklahoma, the Sharks have their eyes on the big prize.

“Hopefully our bats will wake up and nobody will touch us,” the coach said. “I think we have the best pitching staff in the nation and we’re going back there to win it.”