Cheryl Longeway Likes to Keep ‘Em Guessing

Cheryl Longeway of Kennedy High School is tough to satisfy.

Longeway, The Times’ Athlete of the Week, pitched a perfect game in a 9-0 victory over Rancho Alamitos Tuesday and, although she was pleased, it wasn’t perfect in her mind.

“Rancho Alamitos has a good team,” Longeway said, “but it would have meant more if it was against Garden Grove.”

Garden Grove is the team to beat in the Garden Grove League, and Kennedy wants to do just that.

Besides, Longeway said, there is a lot of luck involved with pitching a perfect game. So even though a perfect game shows that she’s a quality pitcher, it doesn’t necessarily mean that she has complete control.

“Sometimes I’ll get a batter out with a good rise (pitch) and the next time I face her, she might be looking for it,” Longeway said. “Then I throw it and it won’t rise or it will curve out a little so she misses again. I don’t know if it’s going to rise or curve--I get lucky.”

If that keeps the batters guessing, they’re not the only ones.

“I don’t really have a best pitch. One game the rise will work and one game the drop will work,” Longeway said. “I kind of keep myself guessing.”

And, to a certain point, Kennedy Coach Susan Hall is guessing too.

“I don’t coach her as far as pitching,” Hall said. “I’ll talk to the catcher and I have things to say about allowing walks, but I don’t say anything to her about technique. She’s had a pitching coach for that.”

In addition to talent and luck, Longeway now is focusing on the hitter instead of her pitches.

“Earlier in the year, the umpires were really strict about emphasizing that pitchers drag their foot and remain on the ground,” Hall said. “But everyone hops and the umpires call it (an illegal pitch) on everyone. Early in the year, Cheryl was more worried about that than the batter.”

And since she has been concentrating on the batters and not her foot, it’s been a drag for the batters.

TOP PERFORMERS

Katie Beattie pitched a no-hitter and struck out eight Tuesday to lead Santa Margarita to an 8-1 victory over Whitney.

Jennifer Brundage pitched her third no-hitter of the season and hit a solo home run Thursday to lead Irvine to a 6-0 victory over Laguna Hills. Brundage had 14 strikeouts and walked one. It was her seventh career no-hitter.

Lisa Gray pitched a no-hitter Thursday to lead Liberty Christian to an 11-0 victory over Linfield Christian. Gray struck out three and walked two. The game was stopped after five innings because of the mercy rule.

Jennifer Kimble pitched a no-hitter to lead Ocean View to a 6-0 victory over Cerritos in the championship game of the Downey softball tournament Saturday. Kimble (5-3) allowed only six hits in five tournament games and was named the tournament’s most valuable player.

Summer Silva, a sophomore, hit for the cycle to lead Whittier Christian to an 18-11 victory over Brethren Tuesday. Silva had five RBIs and was five for five with two singles, a double, a triple and a three-run home run.

Cheryl Longeway

Kennedy High School

* Position: Pitcher

* Height, Weight, Class: 5-3, 132, Junior

* Last Week: Longeway struck out 15 and pitched a perfect game in a 9-0 Garden Grove League victory over Rancho Alamitos Tuesday. Longeway had a two-hitter, struck out nine and did not allow an earned run in a 3-2 victory over Bolsa Grande Thursday.

* Season: Longeway is 6-1, her only loss to top-ranked Mater Dei. She has struck out 60, walked six, allowed 13 hits and five runs--three earned--in 48 innings for an 0.46 earned-run average.