1989 ALL-COUNTY SOFTBALL TEAM : Brundage Confirms She’s a Quick Study

Irvine High School sophomore Jennifer Brundage really hits the books. But that’s not all the honor student hits.

Brundage batted a team-high .449 this season and was the starting pitcher for the Vaqueros’ South Coast League champion softball team, compiling a 17-8 record with an 0.25 earned-run average.

Brundage, The Times’ player of the year in softball, helped Irvine go from a fourth-place finish last year to the quarterfinals of the Southern Section 3-A playoffs, where the third-seeded Vaqueros lost to Saugus.

“It was kind of disappointing to lose (in the quarterfinals), but we were just happy to make it as far as we did because last season we didn’t even make it to the playoffs,” said Brundage, who was voted the league’s most valuable player.

“I didn’t even think we would win league. I wasn’t expecting that. We had a lot of talent, but we are just so young. I wasn’t sure how we would do.”

Irvine had five freshmen, five sophomores and one senior on its team.

Brundage is not one to toot her own horn, though she could. She picked up the French horn this year in her wind ensemble class after years of studying the flute. Her grade-point average dropped from a 4.0 to a 3.8 this year because she “got some harder classes”--namely accelerated English, U.S. History, Algebra II and Spanish.

Brundage’s studies do not end when the sixth-period bell signals the end of the school day. After conjugating verbs and isolating variables, Brundage polishes her pitching skills at Ron LeFebvre’s School of Baseball and Softball, which she has attended since she was 8.

The extra studying has paid off.

She gets A’s in Drop-Ball 101, Accelerated Breaking Pitches, Advanced Riseball, Fastball 100 and extra credit for elementary Extra-Base Hits.

“I have been pretty surprised at how well I was doing this year,” Brundage said. “I didn’t expect that. This year I picked up some speed on my fastball, and my breaking pitches have been working a lot better, too.”

Brundage’s efforts included three no-hitters and six one-hitters, finishing with 12 shutouts. She struck out 259 of 666 batters she faced in 199 innings. She allowed seven earned runs and walked 35 batters.

She committed only three errors for a .963 fielding percentage.

Offensively, she led her team in hits (40 in 89 at-bats) with four doubles, one triple and five home runs. She drove in a team-high 16 runs and scored 22. She batted leadoff, and had an on-base percentage of .589.

“I think she is probably the best pitcher that Irvine has had,” Irvine Coach Phil Dunmeyer said. “Her work habits are outstanding. She is not satisfied with today. She is one of the hardest workers I have ever seen. She leads by example; she leads by success. She is determined to be the best she can be, and I don’t know how else to judge an individual other than by them not being satisfied and continuing to work hard.”

Brundage has enjoyed Irvine’s turnabout this season, and she is quick to point out that she is not the sole reason for it.

The young players improved the defense, committing fewer errors and keeping runners off second and third, which allowed her to be less conservative with her pitching, Brundage said.

Brundage has set another goal for next season--to make it to the Southern Section 3-A final.

“It seems like I did everything I possibly could to get us to the final this season,” she said. “I don’t know what else I can do.”

Just keep studying.

PLAYER OF THE YEAR

JENNIFER BRUNDAGE

Pitcher, Irvine

IP W-L SO BB ERA 199 17-8 259 35 0.25