London Lefler is used to the awkward interaction.
When the freshman with the flowing blonde hair carries a bat on the Newbury Park High campus, she’s often asked how the softball team is doing.
“I’m actually on the baseball team,” Lefler reflexively responds.
She wasn’t just on the Panthers’ frosh-soph baseball team this spring. She was a vocal leader who splits the starting catcher role, the most physical position on the field.
“She’s got great skills behind the plate, receiving and blocking,” Newbury Park varsity head coach Curtis Scott said. “She works hard. She competes. She’s a great teammate.”
Lefler had her moments, the biggest of which was a walkoff single in extra innings to beat Agoura.
“She can play,” said Scott.
Lefler can definitely play, no matter the sport.
The 15-year-old just wrapped up one of the more notable freshman years locally in recent memory.
“She’s the one that drives it,” said Newbury Park athletic director Ethan Gray. “She’d probably do more, if it was possible.”
Five-sport star?
Contrary to the current trend of increased specialization, Lefler is a potential five-sport high school athlete.
In flag football, she was an all-league and all-county selection who is probably the Panthers’ future quarterback.
“Just get the ball in her hands,” said Newbury Park flag football coach Steve Wood. “She caught anything that was anywhere near her.”
In girls basketball, she was a hustling and high-flying undersized forward for the varsity, earning All-County All-Academic honors from the Ventura County Basketball Coaches Association.
“She doesn’t shy away from physical contact,” said Newbury Park girls basketball head coach Darren Burge. “She plays through it.”
Lefler would have also played soccer in the winter, were it not for her basketball commitments.
“The reality of being able to do soccer and basketball is so tough,” Gray said.
As a big part of the frosh-soph baseball team, she directed the team from behind the plate in her stars-and-stripes catcher’s gear.
“She earned her spot just like everyone else did,” Newbury Park frosh-soph baseball coach Tyler Kennedy said. “And she did it while playing two (other) sports. … She’s honestly just an incredible athlete for her age.”
And Lefler didn’t even represent the Panthers in arguably her best sport.
One of the top 100 recruits in the Class of 2028, according to Extra Inning Softball, Lefler plays travel softball for the SoCal Athletics U16.
“I’ve seen her play softball, she’s ridiculous,” said baseball teammate Jax Miller. “It’s just mind-boggling that she’s so good at (so many sports).”
’Just normal’
Lefler spent her spring proving herself against the opposition.
More than a few surprised opposing coaches have approached Lefler with a handshake and a kind word after a game this spring.
“She fit right in,” said Westlake varsity baseball coach Wally Barnett.
A similar cycle plays out with the umpires behind the plate.
“When I introduce myself to the umpire before every game, sometimes I feel like they’re a little taken back, like, ‘Is this kid going to keep me protected?’ ” Lefler said. “After the game, they say, ‘I appreciated having you behind home plate.’ ”
Although she attracted the attention of opponents, umpires and fans throughout the baseball season, her teammates were nonplussed.
Growing up playing Newbury Park Pony Baseball with Lefler, they’ve seen it all before.
Miller, a freshman who shared the starting catching position with Lefler, has played baseball with her since they were 8.
“I don’t think the gender thing really comes across as much as it might seem because we’ve all known her for so long,” Miller said. “It’s just normal.
“She’s just another player on the team and she’s one of the best players on the team.”
Lefler hit .324 in 19 games as a freshman, reaching base at a .400 clip. Behind the plate, she threw out seven runners on the basepaths for the 17-8-2 Panthers, who finished second in the Marmonte League.
“I definitely didn’t think I would have as much success as I did,” Lefler said.
But her biggest contributions weren’t statistical.
“She’s always been a really good leader,” Miller said. “When she’s out there catching, she’s always super loud. She’s never trying to bring people down. She lifts people up.”
’Something else’
Wood had coached against Lefler in youth baseball, so his eyes lit up when he saw her listed among his incoming freshmen.
“I knew the athlete we were getting,” Wood said.
Lefler led the flag football team with 19 touchdowns as a freshmen. She’s also in line to take over as the starting quarterback when junior Greta Heath graduates.
“The way she works in practice is at another level,” Wood said. “When you have some older girls on the team and they see how hard this freshman working, it elevates their games, as well.”
Lefler started the basketball season as the varsity’s sixth player, working her way into the starting lineup.
“I don’t normally expect freshmen to come in and be a starter,” Burge said. “She impressed me right out of the gate with her athleticism.”
Lefler averaged 5.4 points and 3.3 rebounds in 28 games, scoring a season-high 14 points in a win over Taft on Dec. 26.
“Her movement and her athleticism reminds us of Kavida Goss,” said Burge, comparing Lefler to a former Newbury Park star who played at Loyola Marymount. “If she puts skill with that athleticism, she’s going to be something else.”
The schedule kept Lefler from playing soccer as a freshman and she missed it. So she hasn’t completely closed that door yet.
“I do want to continue playing soccer, but it does conflict with the basketball season,” said Lefler.
If it were up to her, she would add soccer as a sophomore “if my coaches work it out.”
A pair of diamonds
With the baseball season over, Lefler was again welcomed to join the Newbury Park softball varsity for the potential playoff push.
So far, she’s stuck with her current decision to play baseball over softball at the high school level.
“I’ve played both of them for a very long time,” Lefler explained. “Softball, for me, will go much longer than baseball will. I feel like that might be the sport that I continue to play in college. I want to have as much time with baseball as I can.
“I know softball is going to be there for me. Baseball probably won’t be (long term).”
The transition from spring baseball to summer softball begins now.
The summer softball season will begin at the end of the month, building into a showcase in June and the two biggest recruiting events of the summer — Colorado Fourth of July and the Premier Girls Fastpitch national championships — in July.
“We have a lot of big tournaments this summer,” Lefler said.
Lefler will focus on those while juggling offseason workouts for football and basketball.
“This is the Lefler life,” she said. “This is what we do.”
The “we” includes 13-year-old twin sisters Ellery and Finley, who follow in their sister’s cleats on the baseball field, and younger brother JR. All four of them are catchers.
Asked if she has considered paring down her commitments, Lefler explained that the team aspect of sports drives her.
“I want to be there for that teammate that’s next to me,” Lefler said.
When she’s feeling down after a tough loss, the best tonic is the next day’s practice.
“When I go back to practice the next day and my team is there, it keeps me going,” Lefler said. “It teaches me to love those sports again.”
That’s why she didn’t stick with the individual sports she tried when she was young, like tennis.
“When you’re on a team, there’s somebody next to you who’s going to pick you up,” Lefler said. “You could go 0 for 4 with four strikeouts and you can still win the game … that’s what keeps me going in all the sports.”
Joe Curley is a staff writer for The Star. He can be reached at joe.curley@vcstar.com. For more coverage, follow @vcsjoecurley on Twitter/X, Instagram/Threads, Facebook and Bluesky.
This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: The one-of-a-kind freshman year of Newbury Park potential five-sport star London Lefler
Reporting by Joe Curley, Ventura County Star / Ventura County Star
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
