Born in Thailand of parents with Israeli roots, there's no special reason Noa Yakir should be so adept at softball.
But if there's one thing Noa knows, it's softball. Hitting the ball specifically. And hitting it long distances.
Heading into Wednesday's Central Coast Section playoff game against visiting Independence, Yakir has been pounding the ball for the Mustangs. She is hitting .418 with 10 home runs and 33 runs batted in. Her on-base percentage is a robust .486.
To put those 10 homers in perspective, Homestead's previous season high was four.
"She has a great swing -- you just watch her hands when she loads and follows through and her fundamentals are just so good," Homestead coach Steve Allemandi said. "And she's a big, strong kid. If you look at her she has like swimmers' shoulders."
Perhaps it's that powerful build and stellar mechanics that allow the sophomore to hit the ball as if it was shot out of a cannon.
"I think a lot of it is my bat speed," Yakir said. "My batting coach (Bob Perales) tells me that I have really good bat speed."
Yakir showed off her power last summer in a travel ball game in Los Angeles on a field with no outfield fence, just a barrier separating the ballpark from the freeway.
"I hit it all the way out there and could just walk home from third because the girl was still running after the ball," Yakir said with a laugh.
Then there was Yakir's prodigious blast against host Hillsdale that went over a fence in distant left field only cleared previously twice in 20 years, according to veteran Hillsdale coach Randy Matheany.
During practice at Homestead it's not unusual for Yakir to drive the ball some 300 feet, to the third base area of another field, Allemandi said.
The transfer student from Monta Vista has indeed raised eyebrows in helping lead the Mustangs (23-4) to an unbeaten Santa Clara Valley Athletic League-De Anza record.
"A lot of teachers that I don't even know will just randomly come up to me and say like 'Hey kid you gotta stop hitting bombs against those teams.'" Yakir said. "And parents always tell me that I do good and say like 'Hey, what did you eat this morning?'"
Word of the teen's deeds has spread all the way back to Israel where relatives view clips of her blasts on YouTube, compliments of her father Gershon.
But baseball and softball are not well known in Israel. Yakir in fact views her parents' unfamiliarity with the sport as a plus, compared to some of the softball-mad parents she's seen.
"I see girls on my (club) team and I don't know if they want to play softball because they're pushed so hard," Yakir said. "But my parents, considering that they don't even really know how to play, don't tell me what to do. If I strike out they just say, 'It's OK, you'll do better next time.'"
The Homestead star doesn't strike out much -- just six times in 91 at-bats this season. Overall it's much more likely fans will see Yakir clear the fence than whiff.
"I just look for a pitch I know I can drive and try to make solid contact," she said. "Usually when I'm not thinking about anything and my mind is clear, that's when it goes far."
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John Murphy can be reached at jmurphy@Prep2Prep.com and followed on Twitter @PrepCat
