SCC’s Borders Concentrating on Game, Not History

Southern California College freshman Ila Borders will make history when she takes the mound for the Vanguard baseball team, but she is more concerned with getting outs.

Borders, expected to start the Vanguards’ home opener Tuesday against Claremont-Mudd and become the first woman to pitch in a college baseball game, is trying to avoid thinking about the attention she is attracting. The college has alerted national and local media, and ESPN, Sports Illustrated, Collegiate Baseball magazine and local television stations appear to be interested, according to Pat Guillen, SCC sports information director.

Said Borders: “I tell (SCC Coach) Charlie (Phillips), ‘You take care of it all, because all I want to think about is pitching.’

“If I’m thinking about other people in my surroundings, I’m not going to do good at all. I’m just concentrating on the catcher’s mitt. Everything else is on Charlie’s hands, which I really like.”

Phillips, who offered Borders a partial scholarship before her senior season at Whittier Christian, has had to answer some skeptical questions about Borders.

Some ask whether signing Borders, who was 16-7 with a 2.31 earned-run average at Whittier Christian, was a publicity stunt.

“People say, ‘Why did you recruit her?’ ” Phillips said. “I recruited her because she can throw strikes, and how many times do you find a left-hander who can throw strikes?”

Phillips said Borders, who is 5 feet 10, 165 pounds, proved she could be an effective pitcher in preseason scrimmages against community college teams. Last summer while experimenting with a split-finger fastball, she was hit hard, but she adjusted and in 18 innings after Christmas, she gave up only four earned runs.

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Borders says she has made the transition to college life easily. She’s a psychology major but plans to switch to physical education.

On the field, she’s having the time of her life. High school practices were limited to about three hours; at SCC, she often stays on the field for six hours.

“I’m just having a blast playing ball all day,” she said.

She said there is more camaraderie on this team than in high school.

“It’s like we’re all together, especially the pitchers,” she said. “It’s like a family. I hang around with them at school. It’s really nice that way. I’m not putting down Whittier Christian, but I just get along with the people here a lot better.”

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SCC, which plays at Cal State Dominguez Hills Saturday and Redlands Monday, has lost its first three games of the season--7-3 to Cal State San Bernardino, 17-9 to Cal Poly Pomona (after leading 8-0 in the fourth) and 3-2 to UC Riverside. The Vanguards have only six pitchers, including senior shortstop Jason Brissey, who will be used as the closer.

Jeff Beckley, a 6-4 senior left-hander, is expected to be the ace. The other pitchers are Paul Gutierrez, a 6-3 right-handed transfer from San Joaquin Delta College, Rick Homutoff, a sophomore returner, and Augie Pena, a senior who was a reliever last season.

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Jamie Zitterkopf, a senior center for the Southern California College women’s basketball team, was named the Golden State Athletic Conference player of the week. Zitterkopf averaged 20.5 points and 12 rebounds as the Vanguards beat Point Loma Nazarene and lost to Azusa Pacific. She scored 28 points against Azusa Pacific.

Notes

The Chapman baseball game against Cal Baptist Wednesday was suspended because of darkness after nine innings with the score tied, 2-2. . . . Southern California College’s top scholar athletes were honored Wednesday at a banquet at Newport Rib Company in Costa Mesa. They are: Christine Ackerman (women’s volleyball), Jason Allen (men’s soccer), Ross Andel (men’s tennis), Wendy Andel (women’s tennis), Cheri Mills-Bowling (women’s cross-country), Tina Demarsh (women’s basketball), Joel Kuipers (men’s basketball), Content Lyke (women’s basketball), Tedla Mekonnen (men’s cross-country), Carrie Nelson (softball), Andrea Oleson (women’s soccer), Ryan Seidel (baseball), KaraJean Stephenson (women’s volleyball), Tiffany Worthy (women’s volleyball) and Genevie Wright (women’s volleyball).