Dalton Swats Away Pressure With Record Home Run

Glendale High’s Jenny Dalton is breathing easier these days.

For the first 17 games of the season, Dalton had been unable to shake the familiar voice that reverberated inside her head every time she stepped into the batter’s box.

You have to get this record.

You want this record badly.

By ripping a home run in her first at-bat against Muir on Thursday, Dalton set the Southern Section record for home runs and shook loose that nagging voice. Finally relaxed, she hit two more home runs in the game.

“As soon as I hit that first home run it was like this heavy weight had been lifted off my shoulders,” Dalton said, “because I knew the expectations and goals had finally been fulfilled.”

Dalton, a senior, earlier this season had tied previous record-holder Gina Karpinski of Charter Oak (1983-86) with 23 home runs. In the Dynamiters’ 23-0 Pacific League victory over Muir, Dalton homered in the first, third and seventh innings. She also homered Tuesday against Pasadena and now has 27.

Although Dalton made it look easy against Muir, the pressure to get the record seemed to jinx her early in the season.

“I went one for 23, or something like that,” Dalton said. “I was just heartbroken. I had the lowest self-confidence in the world.

“I was swinging for Jupiter. I was pulling my head every time and I’d just hit popup after popup.”

Dalton, who has hit six home runs this season, has hit more home runs in her career than doubles (24). She is batting .306 this season and .483 in league play. Last season, Dalton batted .508.

Dalton’s statistics have been uncharacteristically low this season, but she has made solid contact, Glendale Coach Fawn Spradlin said.

“I’ve seen countless line drives land in gloves,” Spradlin said. “I think she just had a string of bad luck.”

A trip to her batting instructor helped Dalton turn things around.

“I finally just got down to business and said, ‘Knock it off,’ ” Dalton said. “I just needed to relax.”

Dalton, who signed a letter of intent in April to play for second-ranked Arizona next season, was five for five against Muir with two walks. She narrowly missed a fourth home run, which would have tied a Southern Section single-game record, but had to settle for a triple.

“She had a slow runner in front of her who wouldn’t get out of her way,” Spradlin said.

On her sixth of seven plate appearances, Dalton ripped a liner into left-center and took off running. Teammate Karen Wilkening, who was on first, took off running as well--but not as fast.

“By the time she was at third, I was right on her tail,” Dalton said. “When she turned around and saw that I was really running, it really scared her.”

Wilkening’s fright turned to flight.

“What was so funny though, was the next time around, she was a little speedster,” Dalton said. “She didn’t want to get in my way again. I was laughing so hard.”

The Dynamiters have become so accustomed to watching Dalton round the bases, they didn’t even meet her at the plate to congratulate her for setting the record.

“They didn’t know about it,” Dalton said. “Our assistant coach had to come over and tell them, ‘Did you guys know that Jenny just set a Southern Section record for home runs?’ ”

The day after Dalton set the record, she placed second in the shotput in the Pacific League track championships with a throw of 36 feet 6 1/2 inches and qualified for this weekend’s 4-A Division preliminaries. Dalton, however, will forgo the track prelims. Instead, she plans to fulfill a commitment to supervise children at a church outing.

The four-sport athlete, who has thrown the shot only three times competitively, broke a school record on her first throw in a meet. On March 5, the day Dalton turned 18, she threw 37-5 1/4, shattering the old mark of 33-8 set by Liz Weaver in 1988.

The records are piling up for Dalton.

She is just two home runs shy of the state record of 29 held by Laytonville’s Dee Dee Phillips (1979-82). But for now, Dalton is hoping to relax and enjoy the rest of the season without hearing those little voices.

“My main goal was to get the (Southern Section) record,” Dalton said. “The state record would just be icing on the cake.”