CLU’s First Lady Seeks Redemption : Pilkington Welcomes Chance to Help Make Amends in NAIA Softball Final

Statistics have a way of distorting things, so for the time being let’s skip the fact that DeeAndra Pilkington’s earned-run average is best seen under a wet slide.

And let’s also forget that, as a hitter, the Cal Lutheran junior has accounted for more singles than the Beach Boys and a slugging percentage that would make Mike Tyson proud.

Those numbers, while impressive, are not nearly as captivating as her face. It is a tanned face. A face that is quick to smile. The face of the captain of the CLU cheerleading squad.

It is also a face that can look as if it belongs to a person who has just had a three-quarter-ton pickup truck dropped on their big toe. This is the face Pilkington makes just as she releases a pitch.

You think going 18-4 and batting .413 was easy? Look again.

See DeeAndra play. Count the veins bulging in her neck.

“It’s all right there in living color,” said Wendy Beckemeyer, Cal Lutheran’s coach. “With Dee, what you see is what you get.”

And what you get most is effort.

Pilkington will take center stage today when she leads Cal Lutheran (35-16) against Kearney (Neb.) State (28-14) in the first round of the National Assn. of Intercollegiate Athletics softball championships in Midland, Mich.

It is the second consecutive appearance in the national tournament for Cal Lutheran, which was eliminated in two games last season. The Regals dropped their first game, 6-2, to Minnesota-Duluth, and then were eliminated by West Florida, 5-1.

The early exit did not sit well with Pilkington, a 5-foot-4 All-American whose performance in the finals last season was subpar. Pitching in relief, she hit the first two batters she faced.

“It was hard for her to wait the whole off-season for a chance to redeem herself,” Beckemeyer said. “She’s really hungry this time because she wants to do so much better.”

Pilkington’s improvement has been evident all season. She compiled a pitching record of 14-7 with a 1.61 earned-run average as a sophomore. This season, the numbers were 18-4 and 0.99.

On offense, Pilkington, who plays center field when she isn’t pitching, bettered her .273 career average by 140 points this season batting in the leadoff position. She also stole 14 bases in 15 attempts.

“She’s our little spark plug out there--so intense,” Beckemeyer said. “Dee gets the whole team going.”

Pilkington also has a habit of getting the whole team laughing, even in some rather bleak situations.

Catcher Teri Rupe, the team’s senior captain, recalled such an instance two years ago.

Pilkington, then a freshman, was struggling with her pitching and a timeout was called. Rupe approached the pitching area and was joined by several Cal Lutheran infielders.

But before anything constructive could be said, Pilkington blurted out, “Everyone look toward the sun. I get my energy from the sun.”

Pilkington, who grew up near the beach in Carpinteria, says now, “I was kidding . . . I think.” Rupe is convinced that she was perfectly serious. End of chat.

“Everyone just laughed, turned around and went back to their positions,” Rupe said.

Pilkington, by all accounts, has matured significantly. Still, occasionally, even Yogi Berra would be hard pressed to match Pilkington’s, er, perspective.

At the national tournament last season, Pilkington offered this profound prediction: “The team that scores the most runs will win.”

The next day, Beckemeyer says, Pilkington was wondering aloud which state the team from West Florida was from. Again, she was serious.

“She keeps us all laughing,” Rupe said. “But she doesn’t really mean to. That’s the best part.”

Fortunately for Cal Lutheran, Pilkington’s spontaneity usually ends when she plays softball. In fact, as a pitcher, she is known for being somewhat deliberate.

“She takes her time out there. She walks around, kicks the dirt, licks her hand, wipes it off, grabs some dirt, rubs the ball . . . it can drive a batter crazy,” Beckemeyer said. “But it makes them anxious, kind of prolongs their agony. It’s like the only thing that’s important to her is that next pitch.”

The pitch usually is a curve or a rise. Pilkington lacks the size needed to generate an overpowering fastball--so she rarely throws one.

“At the top of the order you have girls who, if you throw a fastball down the middle, they’re going to kill it,” Pilkington said. “Then, if you throw one to someone at the end of the order they’re probably just going to stick their bat out and bloop it in. I figure if I throw one down the middle I’m giving up a hit.”

Pilkington has only 61 strikeouts in 148 2/3 innings, but while opponents hit her, they usually don’t hurt her. Of the 115 hits she has allowed, all but 12 were singles.

“The big thing with Dee is she hates to lose,” Rupe said. “When someone gets on base she just gets that much tougher. She’ll do whatever it takes to beat you, and the better you are, the better she gets.”

All of which should come in handy against Kearney State, a team that has made the national tournament an annual destination.

Kearney, which won the NAIA title in 1987, is making its eighth appearance in the nationals, more than any other NAIA school.

“I’m sure they’re a good team, but we’re good, too,” Pilkington said. “We think we can win it this time. Last year, I was really disappointed. It was depressing. I don’t want to have to feel like that again.”