The Preps : Girls’ Athlete of the Week : She’s Pitching In for the Playoffs

Cheryl Longeway has been pitching for Kennedy High School’s softball team for two seasons. Last year, as a freshman, she helped pitch the Fighting Irish to the Southern Section 3-A championship.

This year, Kennedy is in the playoffs again, only this time the Fighting Irish have moved up to the 4-A.

And Longeway has made herself right at home.

On Friday, Longeway, The Times’ athlete of the week, pitched her first no-hitter of the season, a perfect game in a 3-0 shutout of Rolling Hills in first-round action.

She struck out 17.

“She is actually pitching like a whole different person now that CIF (playoffs) has started,” Kennedy Coach Sue Hall said. “She definitely looked different on the mound (against) Rolling Hills. Without even watching her throw, just looking at her emotions and mental attitude on the mound, I could tell she was going to throw well.”

Said Longeway: “I know in CIF if you lose, that’s it. You’re done. I just wanted to do my best. I’m not saying I didn’t do my best the other times, but this is CIF. I just said I can’t let my team down, and I tried my best not to even let (Rolling Hills) hit the ball.”

Only four Rolling Hills batters hit the ball, each grounding out.

Longeway came into the game with a 17-3 record. In 129 2/3 innings, she had struck out 157 of 443 batters and had an earned-run average of 0.49.

Many pitchers would love to have her statistics. But Longeway the sophomore has had to live up to the performance of Longeway the freshman. And it has not been easy. Last year, she was 23-3 with 235 strikeouts and an ERA of 0.37, numbers that earned her a spot on the All-Southern Section 3-A team.

“I knew the whole year she wasn’t pitching as hard as she did last year,” Hall said. “I think it was partly because she knew she had to throw just about every game and did not want to burn herself out.

“I expected her to dominate this year, and she definitely did not dominate during the season. But I think during CIF she will look about the same as she did at last year’s CIF, which was awesome. “

TOP PERFORMERS

Pam Fogg pitched her first perfect game and also singled in the winning run to help Huntington Beach beat Cypress, 1-0, in a 5-A wild-card game Tuesday.

Allison Franke of Canyon won the long jump (17 feet 9 1/2 inches), her second consecutive title in the triple jump (38-0) and placed second in the discus (153-7) in the 3-A division of at the Southern Section track and field championships Saturday.

Lisa Sciarrino went two for two with a solo home run to lead Western to a first-round 2-0 victory over Los Amigos Friday in the 4-A softball playoffs.

Shelley Taylor, an Edison freshman, won the 800 meters (2 minutes 15.33 seconds) and the 1,600 meters with the fastest county time this season (5:05.10) at the Southern Section 4-A track and field championships Saturday.

Cathy Turner, a freshman shortstop, went two for three--including a triple, an RBI and two runs scored--to help La Habra to a first-round 4-0 victory over Foothill Friday in the 4-A softball playoffs.

Cheryl Longeway

Kennedy High School

Position: Pitcher

Height, Weight, Class: 5-3, 130, Sophomore

Last Week: Longeway pitched a perfect game with 17 strikeouts in a 3-0 victory over Rolling Hills in the first round of the Southern Section 4-A softball playoffs.

Season: Longeway finished the regular season 17-3 with 157 strikeouts and a O.49 ERA.