After Losing Title Game Last Season, Gonzalez Is on a Mission : Century League: Pitcher hopes to lead Foothill to Southern Section championship.

Foothill pitcher Leeann Gonzalez knows people don’t remember details.

Despite pitching spectacularly to lead Foothill to the Southern Section 4-A championship game last season, she knows people only remember one thing:

Irvine won that game.

Forgotten is the one-hitter Gonzalez pitched in the final. Forgotten is the fact that she retired the last 17 Irvine batters. Forgotten is the fact that Irvine’s run in a 1-0 victory was unearned, aided by Foothill’s first-inning jitters.

“It was a big disappointment because all season long, our team never made errors,” Gonzalez said. “But we made two errors in the first inning . . . it was so unlike us.”

But don’t weep for the Knights, because this could be their championship year.

Seven players return from last year’s team, and with Gonzalez, an all-county selection and Century League most valuable player leading the way, Foothill enters the season as the second-ranked team in the state, according to Cal-Hi Sports.

Returning with Gonzalez is All-Southern Section catcher Kelley Green and all-county players Melissa Wielandt (infield) and Christina Mazurie (first base).

They anchor a defense that helped Gonzalez go 21-3 and post an 0.31 earned-run average. Last season, Gonzalez pitched 160 1/3 innings, striking out 153 and allowing 62 hits and 26 walks.

Gonzalez also pitched a county-leading five no-hitters and one perfect game. According to Foothill Coach Joe Gonzalez, who is Leeann’s father, Leeann could be even better this season.

“I think she’s throwing faster this season,” Joe Gonzalez said. “She’s stronger physically, but we have to make sure she doesn’t throw her off-speed pitches too hard.”

Those off-speed pitches are crucial because Leeann relies on pinpoint control. She has struggled somewhat with her control this season, as was evident at a recent practice when Leeann was throwing to assistant coach Joe Brunansky.

Leeann tried to deliver her drop-changeup, but instead of staying low, the pitch floated in belt-high. Brunansky’s eyes widened with a hitter’s gleam.

Brunansky knows a fat pitch when he sees one. After all, his younger brother is former Angel outfielder Tom Brunansky, now with the Red Sox.

But instead of thinking about driving the pitch over a fence, the elder Brunansky, who reached the Class-AA level in the Oakland Athletics’ minor-league system, just shook his head and told Leeann to make some adjustments.

“She’s a finesse pitcher, but now it’s in her head that she can throw harder,” Brunansky said. “The control isn’t there right now because she’s throwing her pitches too hard. She just has to taper down a little to regain that control.”

Leeann’s work with light weights, combined with her summer-league experience, added some zip to her fastball.

“I don’t throw really hard,” Leeann said. “But I just wanted to be in a position that if I really needed to throw a good fastball, I could.”

Leeann knows she’ll need that fastball to keep hitters guessing at the collegiate level. Massachusetts, Minnesota, UC Santa Barbara and Northwestern are among the schools recruiting her.

But first things first. Leeann and her teammates have their sights set on the Century League title, then the 4-A championship.

“Now that we’ve made it to the finals, we want to win the whole thing,” Leeann said. “Sure, we’ll feel some pressure this year, and everyone’s gonna be up to play us. But I think we earned the high ranking for a reason, and I think we can handle it.”