Mygind Is Happy She Stuck Around

Softball pitcher Debbie Mygind of Cal State Fullerton won 21 games last year, but the satisfaction you would expect to accompany such success was strangely lacking.

Was the right-handed pitcher from Auckland, New Zealand, homesick? A little. Was the smog of Southern California hard to get used to? Definitely.

But what really bothered Mygind were some of her teammates. Last season, the Titans were a contentious team that always seemed to be fighting among themselves.

And Mygind, the consummate team player, hated to have to watch the infighting and dugout disputes.

“My junior season was no fun at all,” she said. “It seemed like everyone was fighting everyone else just to get in the lineup, and nobody pulled for each other. I felt bitter by the end of the season.”

Mygind was so bitter, in fact, she seriously considered giving up collegiate softball and going home for good.

But she choose to stay for her senior season, and she’s happy she did.

This year, Fullerton has been more of a close-knit team, and that has allowed Mygind to finally enjoy her personal success.

Mygind, who has a record of 25-3 and an earned-run average of 0.24, will pitch tonight’s opening game of the NCAA regional playoff series against Central Michigan at 7 o’clock on Titan Field.

The Titans, the top-ranked team in the country, will be heavily favored to eliminate the unranked Chippewas. If Fullerton does win the best-of-three-game series, it will go to the College World Series, and then Mygind’s goal in collegiate softball will be achieved.

The 24-year-old came to the United States three years ago in search of better coaching and better competition. After playing for the 1982 New Zealand world championship team and winning All-World honors, Mygind was ready for some new challenges.

“I enjoyed playing softball back home, but so few people played, it seemed you were always playing the same teams and the same people, except when we were in the international tournaments,” Mygind said.

Her first stop in America was Arizona Western Junior College, where she set a JC national record in 1983 with 317 strikeouts while winning 27 games in 31 decisions. She also pitched four perfect games and three-no hitters.

Those accomplishments attracted the attention of Judi Garman, Cal State Fullerton’s coach, who won the recruiting war for Mygind.

Garman teamed Mygind with Susan LeFebvre to give the Titans one of the best pitching duos in the nation in 1984.

Mygind compiled a record of 21-6 with an earned-run average of 0.40. Those are good numbers, but, being a perfectionist, Mygind saw room for improvement and set about learning some new pitches.

Fullerton assistant coach Kathy Van Wyk taught her the screwball in the off-season, and it’s become Mygind most effective pitch.

“The screwball has really helped me,” Mygind said. “It’s similar to a drop, but it moves into right-handed batters and away from left-handed batters. That’s a big reason I’ve been more effective.”

Whatever happens to the Titans in the playoffs, Mygind’s stay in the United States will soon be over. She has decided to return to New Zealand at season’s end.

“Coaches are not paid in New Zealand, so I can’t make a living coaching,” Mygind said. “So I’ll go back to my job as a clerk. But I am going to hold pitching clinics for the kids who are playing softball there, because there just isn’t that much instruction available to them.”