Orange County Sports / The Colleges : Chapman Women Improve With a Mound of Support

Last year, the Chapman College softball team won only 13 of 42 games.

This season, the team has doubled that victory total with 14 games still to play.

Six starters return from that 13-28-1 team, but the turnaround to a 26-18-1 record so far this year can be traced to a rejuvenated pitching staff.

Two of the Panthers’ three starters last season had earned-run averages of 2.00 or more. All three of this year’s starters are better than that.

Freshman Jacki Blake, who leads the team in victories with a 10-6 record, is a former All-Sunset League pitcher from Fountain Valley High School who relies on good ball movement and placement. She is joined by freshman Cheri Schreck from Workman High in the City of Industry and sophomore Shelly Mahon from Western High on the new Panther staff. Schreck is 9-5 with an 0.60 ERA; Mahon is 7-7 with a 1.80 ERA. Blake’s ERA is 0.90.

Blake will start the first game of today’s California Collegiate Athletic Assn. doubleheader at UC Riverside. Chapman is 5-5 in the CCAA and is ranked No. 17 among National Collegiate Athletic Assn. Division II schools.

Blake seems to be more impressive on the statistics chart than on the mound.

“She’s not a power pitcher like Michele Granger,” Panther co-coach Gary Haning said, referring to Valencia High School’s star pitcher. “She throws at about 58-61 (miles per hour) on a good day, and she moves the ball well.” (Granger can throw up to about 75 m.p.h.)

“I’m not a strikeout pitcher,” Blake said.

“I’m confident in letting (batters) hit the ball. We have a great defense. I try to make them hit ground balls or pop them up with my rise. You can’t think, ‘I have to strike out this girl.’ ”

Blake relies on finesse and strategy to get outs.

“You have to keep (batters) off balance,” she said. “You can’t just throw fastballs; you have to work them inside-outside or with the drop and rise.”

Haning said that playing in the Sunset League was good training for Blake.

“When you pitch in the Sunset League, it’s like pitching here (at Chapman),” Haning said. “It’s a very competitive league.”

But it took some time for Blake to adjust. The pitching rubber is 43 feet from home plate in college, 40 in high school.

“It took awhile to get used to,” Blake said. “We worked on it all fall.”

Blake says that being farther from the plate has positive and negative aspects.

“It makes a difference fielding bunts,” she said.

“But it can be to your advantage because it gives your pitches more room to move.”

Blake sometimes moves from the mound to play first base or outfield or serve as the designated hitter. Although her batting average is .239, her on-base percentage is .329, and she is one of three players on the team with a home run.

“She’s driven in a lot of runs to tie or win the game for us,” Haning said. “If she doesn’t drive in a run, she can usually move the runner over.”