SOFTBALL / PAIGE A. LEECH : Misfortune Strikes Former Hart Pitcher

Kym Weil, a former Hart High pitcher, does not consider herself accident-prone.

But the University of Hawaii pitcher does consider herself lucky to be alive.

In the span of little more than a year, Weil had two major accidents. One kept her from competing during her collegiate sophomore season. The other could easily have ended her life.

It was 10:45 p.m. on Dec. 20, 1990. Weil, then a freshman, and her roommate had just finished grabbing a late-night snack at a local Honolulu eatery. They jumped on their mopeds--without helmets--and headed back to the dorms.

Without warning at an intersection, a masonry truck hit Weil and her roommate broadside, throwing them violently to the pavement.

Weil doesn’t remember much about the particulars of the accident, but she is acutely aware of the damage.

She suffered multiple head injuries. A concussion, a skull fracture, stitches. . . . she had them all. Cranial nerve damage took away her sense of taste and smell forever.

Remarkably, none of those injuries kept her from pitching again. Within months, Weil was back in action for Hawaii.

But she clearly was not the same pitcher who had won 87 games in her high school career, a Southern Section record. She was not the same pitcher who struck out 328 in 208 1/3 innings and won 26 games her senior season.

She knew she hadn’t fully recovered from the accident, but she wasn’t letting anyone know. She had numbness in her chest and arms while she pitched, but to tell someone was to end her season.

“I wanted to play at all costs,” she said. “That’s why I didn’t tell anyone (about the numbness). I didn’t want to be held back from playing. That was my goal--to pitch and to pitch well.”

She pitched in only 13 games her freshman year. She is anything but proud of her stats: In 60 1/3 innings, she gave up 47 hits, 24 walks and 18 earned runs. She was 6-6 with a career high earned-run average of 2.09. It was a far cry from the 0.11 ERA she sported as a senior at Hart.

With the disappointing season behind her and the numbness cured after physical therapy, Weil could hardly wait to get back on track and start her sophomore season.

But December has proved to be a most unlucky month for Weil.

While on a skiing vacation at Mt. Bachelor in Oregon with her family last December, Weil had another accident.

She was making the last run of her winter vacation. It was a run just like hundreds of others she has skied since she was 4 years old.

While she was executing a turn, Weil’s right ski hit a patch of ice, dislocating her knee. Being the shake-it-off athlete her father Al has taught her to be, she refused to be taken down the hill by ski patrol. Instead she popped her knee back into place and skied down the hill by keeping pressure on just her left leg.

“It took a long time,” said Weil of her one-legged trip down the mountain. “I can tell you that.”

A knee examination showed a severed tendon that required surgery. She was forced to use her sophomore season as a redshirt year.

Weil opted to remain awake for the 2 1/2-hour surgery. After all, she is majoring in sports medicine and found it interesting.

Three screws and six months of rehabilitation helped get Weil back on her feet.

Since her medical release in June, Weil has returned to full workouts.

“I’m way ahead of schedule,” Weil said. “Everything looks really good.”

Although Weil left her mark as a high school pitcher in Southern Section record books, she wants to prove her best stuff is still to come.

Barring any unforeseen accidents, she will get her chance to prove it.

Hart-Hawaii connection: When Weil flew to Hawaii to begin her college career in 1990, Hart teammate Stephanie Keeler, a catcher, went with her. As a sophomore last season, Keeler batted .188 and was the team’s second-leading run producer with 16 runs batted in.

Hart’s Jamie Dean, who signed a letter of intent to play for Hawaii next year, will be the third former Hart player on the roster next season.

Dean (1989-92) is the second-most prolific hitter in Southern Section history with 190 hits.

More money: So, you want to start a female Amateur Softball Assn. travel team.

Word to the wise: Look before you leap.

First, you will need a generous sponsor. Without one, you will need a very deep pocket.

Current budgets for a summer season range from $15,000 to as much as $25,000.

Larry Mays, coach of Gordon’s Panthers, said the team will have spent nearly $25,000 this summer for travel, lodging and tournament fees.

Fortunately for Mays and the Panthers, team owner Gordon Mullens, who owns a cabinet shop, is a generous donor. For every dollar the Panthers raise, Mullens matches it.

It’s a safe bet the team has been versed on the economics of the organization.

“They’ve sold just about everything you’ve ever heard of,” Mays said.

Doing anything for a buck this season has included Christmas gift-wrapping, selling raffle tickets and running snack shacks.

While some ASA teams require members to pay a fee, the Panthers and the Shilos--two locally based teams teams--do not.

Travel is by far the greatest expenditure, and most teams travel to out-of-town tournaments as many as three times a season.

Although teams save money by booking flights weeks or months in advance, teams must qualify for the season-ending national tournament, making it tough for coaches to plan on and pay for.

For example: The Panthers waited until they won a qualifying tournament before booking flights to Chattanooga, Tenn., for the national tournament. Their cost per ticket: $306.

The Shilos, however, decided to gamble. They bought airline tickets long before they qualified for the national tournament. Their cost per ticket: $215.

The Shilos saved nearly $1,500.

“We never thought we weren’t going to qualify,” said Rick St. Pierre, coach of the Shilos. “That never crossed our minds.”

Considering the amount of money that is involved in running an ASA team, it should come as no surprise that team selection is by invitation only.

Add Shilos: The 18-and-under team will leave for the national tournament in Tennessee on Monday. The tournament runs Aug. 5-9.

Michelle St. Pierre (12-1), the two-time Southern Section 1-A Division player of the year for La Reina High, will take a streak of 48 scoreless innings into the tournament. St. Pierre, who has thrown seven consecutive shutouts, has struck out 82 in 91 innings and sports a 0.31 ERA.

Hotbed: Fifteen years ago, Orange County produced more talented players than any other region in California, according to Mays, an Orange County resident.

But he said the tide has turned the past five years.

The “Northridge strip,” as Mays likes to call the Valley area, has become the hotbed for rising softball stars.

“Whenever you have girls coming out that talented at age 15, it means there has to be an outstanding youth program in the area,” Mays said. “Someone is definitely teaching fundamentals out there.”

Of the 10 high school teams that reached Southern Section championships in five divisions this spring, five were from the Valley area. Four were from Orange County.