Titan Ferrieri Is More Than Face in a Crowd

When she was just 16 years old, JoAnn Ferrieri was already making a name for herself in a sport where most women--even the very best in the nation--toil in relative obscurity for their entire careers.

Her claim to fame was merely a mention in the “Faces in the Crowd” section of Sports Illustrated, but to a softball player that’s the equivalent of being included in a Barbara Walters special with Margaret Thatcher, Katherine Hepburn and Joan Collins.

Let’s just say these women aren’t in the game for fame.

Ferrieri, who was impressing her coach, teammates and opponents at Parsippany Hills High School in New Jersey with a 52-2 career record as a pitcher, thought it was pretty neat to be in a national magazine and she made sure all her friends saw a copy. But her goals were totally realistic.

All she hoped to do was use her talents to secure a free college education.

She was offered, and accepted, a four-year scholarship to the University of Connecticut and her game plan for the future appeared to be right on schedule.

Things didn’t work out exactly the way she mapped them out, however. She’s getting her college education all right and she’s a first-team All-American, but she’s plying her considerable skills at third base, not on the mound, and she’s doing it 3,000 miles away from home at Cal State Fullerton.

The junior has spent the last week at Seymour Smith Park here helping Cal State Fullerton to a third-place finish in the NCAA Division 1 Softball World Series. Ferrieri made the all-tournament team, driving in three runs and hitting .438.

“We just weren’t hitting like we have been all year,” lamented Titan Coach Judi Garman after Fullerton lost to UCLA, 1-0, in the semifinals. “If we could have figured out a way to put JoAnn Ferrieri up every at-bat, we’d have won this thing.”

Ferrieri hit .323 and drove in 23 runs during the regular season as the Titans’ moved to a No. 1 ranking in the nation.

Those numbers may not sound especially impressive to folks more accustomed to baseball statistics, but when you consider the leading run producer for two-time national champion UCLA came into the College World Series with eight RBIs, well, it puts things into perspective.

Ferrieri had already signed a letter of intent to Connecticut when she agreed to make a visit to Fullerton after her senior year in New Jersey.

“I just wanted to see California, so I came out to look around,” she admitted.

When Ferrieri returned home, however, she found out that the coach who had recruited her to Connecticut had quit. She didn’t like the new one much, so she gave Garman a call.

“We had actively recruited her and were really impressed with the way she swung the bat when she was out here,” Garman said. “I told her we couldn’t give her a full scholarship at that point, but we’d help out with what little money we had left.”

Garman admitted that she was concerned about what the effects of being a “coast-to-coast” freshman would have on Ferrieri, but she need not have worried.

“I was a little homesick for a while, sure, I guess everyone is,” Ferrieri said. “But it was weird. I was excited. It was something I really wanted. I just knew I was going to be all right. And I’ve never regretted it for a second.

“I thought about being lonely, but I was confident I was a fairly good ballplayer and that I’d be accepted.”

Ferrieri turned out be far more than a fair player, and Garman knew right away she was going to have an impact on the Titan program.

“The first day out, I was watching her hit and I thought, ‘She’s got the best swing I ever seen on a ballplayer.’ She’s got a picture-perfect swing . . . just like it’s out of a Charlie Lau textbook.”

Ferrieri did have a little trouble adjusting, though.

“At first we couldn’t understand what she was saying, ‘cause she talked so fast,” Titan first baseman Robin Goodin said. “We still make fun of the way she talks.

“And she used to leave her keys in her car with windows open because that’s what everyone did back in New Jersey. We finally convinced her to lock up her car, but about half the time she’d do it without taking the keys out.”

Ferrieri’s reputation as a space case continued to grow.

“We’d get to the park and everyone would be in their orange uniforms and then JoAnn would show up wearing her blue jersey,” Garman said. “I hate to think how much time we’ve spent chasing down assistant athletic directors to get the keys to the equipment room so she could change.”

But Ferrieri’s more single-minded than absent-minded on the diamond. She’s given up aspirations of pitching and is concentrating on playing third and hitting, both of which she does with remarkable consistency.

“I can think of only one bad throw she’s ever made,” Garman said. “And that was after I told a reporter she had never made a bad throw.”

Ferrieri made the second bad throw of her Titan career Saturday after (you guessed it) Garman had told another writer that she’d only made that one.

“I’m gonna tell her to keep quiet about that from now on,” Ferrieri said, laughing. “But I do pride myself on my defense. I work hard at it.”

Not as hard as she’s worked to rehabilitate her right knee, which has required arthroscopic surgery three times in the past four years.

Ferrieri plays with an elaborate brace which she says gives her stability and confidence. But she has also followed a diligent rehabilitation regimen since her third operation last November.

“Our trainer tells me JoAnn has never missed a day of therapy,” Garman said, “and that she’s never seen anyone work harder at rehabilitation.”

But, considering the intense attitude JoAnn Ferrieri takes to her sport, that’s not really surprising. After all, it takes a supreme amount of dedication to softball if you want to be more than a face in the crowd.