THE HIGH SCHOOLS : ATHLETE OF THE WEEK : Peck Shakes Off Illness and Plagues Opponents

Chrissy Peck of El Camino Real High set some lofty goals for herself before the season.

The first was to help the Conquistadores (18-2) win their second consecutive City Section title and sixth in the past seven years. The second was to throw a no-hitter and the third was to pitch a perfect game.

While Peck considered all three goals attainable, she never expected to accomplish the second one--a no-hitter--two days after returning to school from a two-week bout with chicken pox.

“I wasn’t even sure if I’d be able to pitch the entire game,” said Peck (17-2), who struck out nine and walked two in beating Canoga Park, 15-0, last Tuesday. “I’m really out of shape right now. I didn’t have much velocity on the ball and I really got tired in the later innings.”

Two days after blanking Canoga Park, Peck pitched 6 1/3 innings of no-hit ball against Taft before finishing with a two-hitter and a 26-1 victory.

Although she lost to Newbury Park, 5-0, in the Thousand Oaks tournament Saturday morning, Peck pitched a one-hitter and struck out 14 in an 11-1 victory over Redlands that afternoon.

“She actually pitched stronger in the tournament than during the no-hitter,” El Camino Real Coach Neils Ludlow said. “Her velocity was better and she had more endurance as the week went on.”

Peck transferred from El Camino Real to Bel-Air Prep as a freshman to concentrate on her studies but returned to the Woodland Hills campus for this, her junior season.

But Ludlow, in his fifth year at El Camino Real, reckons that the Conquistadores’ storied past might have influenced Peck’s decision to return.

“A lot more people are going to know about Chrissy if she’s pitching here than if she’s pitching at Bel-Air Prep,” Ludlow said.

Beth Silverman, who graduated last June, might be the best-known player in El Camino Real softball history. She pitched the Conquistadores to City titles in 1985 (over Banning), ’86 (Canoga Park) and ’88 (San Pedro).

Ludlow said that Peck, with 182 strikeouts in 125 innings and an 0.50 earned-run average, is like Silverman in many respects.

“Beth and Chrissy both have very good velocity on their fastballs,” Ludlow said. “They both throw the rise, the drop, the changeup and the curveball with equal efficiency.”