A One-Two Punch : For Makimoto and Silva, Only the Results Are Similar

Alani Silva and Chris Makimoto of Santa Ana College share only one common bond, and that’s their uncommon statistics. The numbers belonging to the state’s best community college pitching duo are so incredible, they may make your eyes bulge as big as the softballs they regularly whiz past opponents.

In the just-completed regular season, Silva had a record of 17-1 with an earned-run average of 0.55, while Makimoto was 15-1 with an earned-run average of 0.07.

But the statistics are the only similarities between Silva and Makimoto. In appearance, pitching technique and personality, they are about as different as two can be.

Sophomore Silva, who came to Santa Ana last year from Kauai, Hawaii, is muscular and tries to overpower hitters with her best pitch, her fastball. On the field, she is aggressive and has been known to taunt opponents and umpires. Off the field, she is shy.

Freshman Makimoto, a four-year softball star at Anaheim’s Savanna High School, is rather petite and tries to get batters out using deception and craft. On the field, she ignores everyone but her catcher and never lets anyone rattle her. Off the field, she is friendly and talkative.

All of which goes to prove, according to Santa Ana Coach Jim Reach, is that there is more than one road leading to success as a softball pitcher.

“They are totally, totally different pitchers,” Reach said. “Alani is so strong that she just can throw it by everyone. She is more of a thrower than pitcher, I would say, but even if she makes a mistake, it isn’t likely she’ll be hurt by it because she is so overpowering out there.

“Chris is a real thinker out there, a real pitcher. She’s very, very intelligent and has a great deal of knowledge about the game, and she uses that to her advantage.”

Reach, who was formerly the baseball coach at Savanna and at Santa Ana before becoming the Dons’ softball coach four years ago, expected Makimoto to have the kind of year she’s been having all along.

Because of his ties to his old high school, he watched Makimoto pitch several times last year at Savanna when Makimoto was Most Valuable Player of the Orange League and an all-Southern Section 3-A selection.

But Reach had his doubts about Silva, the 1984 Community College Player of the Year, and whether she would recover from a severe knee injury suffered last spring before the start of the state playoffs.

Silva had already compiled a 19-4 record when she tore ligaments and cartilage in her right knee while playing in a pickup volleyball game with some of her teammates in Palm Springs.

A few days later, she underwent extensive surgery to repair the damage. She was forced to watch from the sidelines while Santa Ana lost to eventual state champion Golden West and Palomar in the state regional playoffs.

Silva spent most of the summer rehabilitating the knee and her recovery was slow. But now, she has all of her speed and mobility back to go along with her aggressiveness, which she never lost.

“I would say I’m very aggressive,” Silva said. “If any other players say something to me, then I’ll talk right back. And if an umpire makes what I think is a bad call, then I let him know about it.

“I seem to play better and get more fired up when I think the umpires and the other team are against me.”

In fact, Silva has proven she has recovered so convincingly that Cal State Fullerton, the nation’s top-ranked NCAA Division 1 school, has offered Silva a scholarship to continue her career there. Because the Titans have so much pitching, however, they plan to play Silva exclusively in the outfield, where she plays for Santa Ana only when Makimoto is pitching.

Makimoto has played softball year-round since she was 12, and wasn’t always sure if she wanted to keep playing after high school. She is very studious, and seriously considered going to a four-year school to pursue academics only before she met Reach.

Reach influenced her to keep playing, and Makimoto is glad with the decision she made.

“I’m surprised at how well I’ve done at Santa Ana,” Makimoto said. “I regard playing in this conference (South Coast) as the big-time, and although it’s been tough and competitive, it’s not as tough as I thought.

“I didn’t think I’d have a chance at starting, and thought that I’d have to work twice as hard as I did in high school just to make the team.”

Makimoto takes a more clinical approach to her game than Silva does, and that has nothing to with her desire for a career in sports medicine. It’s just that Makimoto, who was an honor student at Savanna and the editor of the school paper, is a very bright sort who likes using her analytical skills all the time, even when pitching.

“I pitch well when I pitch smart,” she said. “My game is setting the hitters up, changing speed and knowing the umpires, whether they are calling low balls or outside balls for strikes.

“I just concentrate on my catcher, and work with her. No matter how cocky other players may be, or what they might be saying on the bench, I never let them break my concentration.”

Santa Ana’s only losses came in South Coast Conference play, and the Dons finished one game behind conference winner Fullerton. Santa Ana, which set a school record by going 33-2, will get another shot at the Hornets in the Southern California Sectional Tournament, which starts on May 18.

Reach is confident Santa Ana can win the sectional tournament and maybe even the state tournament, and he has two reasons for his confidence: Silva and Makimoto.

“There’s not a better 1-2 pitching combination in the state,” he said. “There might be teams who have one pitcher who’s better than one of our’s, but nobody has the depth we do pitching.”