THE HIGH SCHOOLS / VINCE KOWALICK : Camarillo’s ‘Late,’ Great Richardson Still Going

Don’t call us, we’ll call you.

The job of No. 1 pitcher for the Camarillo High softball team is Laura Richardson’s to lose. And dozens of would-be pitchers with their applications on file have been waiting four years for that day to arrive.

On Tuesday, it looked for a moment like it had.

Richardson, Southern Section 5-A Division player of the year in 1991, was benched by Coach Darwin Tolzin after she missed the team bus for a Marmonte League game at Thousand Oaks.

“If you don’t make the bus, don’t plan on starting,” Tolzin said, simply. “It’s a team rule.”

And so Richardson sat--for a while. She entered in the fifth inning of a scoreless tie and, like that wind-up rabbit on those flashlight-battery commercials, kept going and going . . .

In one of the longest softball games in Southern Section history, Camarillo edged Thousand Oaks, 1-0, when Julie Borchard scored on a passed ball in the 23rd inning. Richardson pitched the final 19 innings, striking out a school-record 27 batters. The section record for longest game is 29 innings, a 1-0 victory by St. Joseph over Gahr in 1986.

By week’s end, after a three-game, 34-inning tour of duty in which Richardson recorded three wins and 57 strikeouts, and did not allow a runner to advance past first base, it was more apparent than ever that there were no openings for a pitcher.

“I’m always the late person,” Richardson said. “I tried hard to get there in time, I just didn’t. It’s never happened before and, hopefully, it will never happen again.”

On Monday, Richardson struck out 13 in eight innings in a 13-inning, 3-1 win over Westlake. On Thursday, she hurled a one-hitter with 17 strikeouts and also hit a solo home run in a 4-0 win over Channel Islands.

For the season, Richardson is 7-2 with 114 strikeouts in 80 innings and appears to have recovered fully after a junior season in which she was plagued by tendinitis in her shoulder. Last season, Richardson was 13-6 with 204 strikeouts and an earned-run average of 0.37 in 130 innings.

“If I can get through that many innings, my shoulder has to be getting better,” she said.

That Richardson is relied on to get the job done speaks volumes. Tolzin has others to call on. Lots.

Tryouts this season attracted 72 pitchers. The first cut reduced the field to 55, a second to 33. Tolzin carries 13 pitchers on the varsity and 20 on the junior varsity. In the program, 19 are freshmen.

Seems like everyone wants to pitch for Camarillo, especially after Richardson, whose overall record is 39-17, led the Scorpions to the 5-A championship as a sophomore.

“You get a lot of visibility when you win a (Southern Section) title,” Tolzin said. “I think that’s the reason so many girls want to pitch. It’s the toughest job in the world to have to say, ‘I’m sorry, try next year.’ And you have to do it 30 times.”

There is hope for the hopefuls. After the season, Richardson will clean out her locker and head to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo on a scholarship.

Nobody’s perfect: Nancy Evans of Hoover can count the number of perfect games she has thrown on, well, three hands. It takes five to count her no-hitters.

But who’s counting?

“Gee, I’m not exactly sure,” Evans said when asked about her totals. “It’s not like I keep track.”

It would be difficult if she did.

On Tuesday, Evans notched her 14th perfect game in a 3-0 victory over Burbank.

On Wednesday, she missed another perfect game by virtue of a lone walk in a 5-0 win over Eisenhower. Evans, who has signed to attend Arizona, struck out 20 en route to recording her 22nd no-hitter.

Not much of a challenge. But it holds Evans’ interest.

“I guess some of the fielders might be getting bored,” Evans said. “But it isn’t boring for me and my catcher.”

They said it: Overheard on area diamonds:

* Those Marmonte League trips can be brutal .

Channel Islands baseball Coach Al Tarazon, whose team played its first nine games on the road before defeating Agoura, 3-2, Wednesday at Channel Islands: “Now we’re looking at home-cooked meals, sleeping in our own beds and playing on our own field.”

* Statistics can be manipulated to prove anything.

Ventura baseball Coach Dan Smith, after his team’s 3-1 victory Tuesday over Santa Barbara evened its overall record at 5-5: “It’s always good to reach the .500 mark because you’re never going to have a winning record until you get your record past that.”

Blast off!

Hart baseball Coach Bud Murray, on his young and inexperienced players: “Sometimes I look at these guys and I don’t think they’re going to be building any rockets and sending them to the moon.”

* Take two aspirin . . . and a week off.

Thousand Oaks softball Coach Chuck Brown, when asked about the condition of pitcher Carrie Russell’s arm after Tuesday’s 23-inning, 1-0 loss to Camarillo: “It’s long.”

* Hocus-focus .

Taft baseball Coach Rich McKeon, after watching his team go belly up Wednesday on a game-ending triple play against Granada Hills: “I don’t know how it happened or why it happened. It’s all a blur.”

* Up, up and away

Royal junior right-hander David Vicari, who began Wednesday’s seventh inning against Thousand Oaks by throwing seven consecutive balls, most of them collar-high: “I guess I got the ball up a little. . . . Well, maybe a lot.”