Siegel Hits Her Stride as a UNLV Walk-On

Nevada Las Vegas catcher Heather Siegel has grown accustomed to beating long odds.

Las Vegas softball Coach Shan McDonald had never heard of Siegel until the former Calabasas High player enrolled at UNLV in the fall of 1992, and McDonald didn’t give her much hope of making the roster.

But a year and a half later, Siegel was wearing a Rebel uniform, facing Arizona--the No. 1 team in the country and the defending NCAA champion--and digging into the batter’s box at Arizona’s Hillenbrand Stadium in front of a sellout crowd.

With one out and runners at first and second in the fifth inning, Siegel blasted an inside pitch from Carrie Dolan over the left-center-field fence for a three-run home run that propelled the No. 7 Rebels (30-16) to a 7-6 upset of the top-ranked Wildcats (50-2).

“Our first base coach (Lea Ann Jarvis) was screaming, ‘Get out of here,’ and it was over the fence by the time I got to first base,” said Siegel, 19, describing the highlight of her young career. “They were No. 1 and it was at their field, which made it even better.”

Rounding second, Siegel glared at Arizona shortstop Laura Espinoza, who has broken the NCAA record with 25 homers this season. Rounding third, she saw an Arizona coach kick a bucket across the dugout.

“He was mad,” said Siegel, a 5-foot-6 sophomore. “I consider myself a contact hitter. I never swing for the fence. I never expected to hit it out.”

Siegel had limited expectations for herself when she first tried out for the UNLV team. She became the only walk-on player to make the team in the last two years.

“I knew about their program and I wanted to challenge myself,” said Siegel, who batted .476 on a Calabasas team that finished second in the Frontier League in 1992. “When I was younger, I always wanted to play college ball.

“I focused on UCLA, (Cal State) Northridge. . . . I went to UC Santa Barbara summer camps, and I watched whatever I could on TV. I never thought I was good enough to play at that level.”

Siegel has put that concern to rest. Her .374 batting average is best on the team and second in the Big West Conference, which has five teams ranked among the top 25.

She led the conference in batting for several weeks earlier in the season with an average near .500 before a knee strain and a one-for-11 slump brought her down to earth.

Siegel bats fourth but has only two home runs. She ranks first on the team in doubles (10) and walks (20), second in slugging percentage (.511) and third in hits (49) and runs batted in (21).

She had a 12-game hitting streak this season, third longest in school history. As a freshman, Siegel caught only one inning last season and batted .152.

Then, last summer, she ran on her own--two miles, three days a week--and worked out at a fitness club. She also worked on her patience and pitch selection during hitting instruction from former CSUN assistant Andy Kim. And she stayed sharp behind the plate while catching UNLV pitcher Amie Stewart on a traveling team.

“I came back to school prepared,” she said. “My coaches took one look at my swing and they didn’t believe it.”

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Medearis strikes CSUN: In a Western Athletic Conference softball game last week, New Mexico’s Heather Medearis (Hart) became the first player this season to hit a home run off a Cal State Northridge pitcher.

Medearis ripped a two-out solo home run off right-hander Amy Windmiller in the first inning of a WAC doubleheader. Fourth-ranked Northridge, however, swept the Lobos, 5-1 and 7-1.

Northridge pitchers had faced 1,144 batters without surrendering a home run before Medearis hit hers, her eighth. Medearis leads is batting .379 with 31 RBIs.

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Checking the fax: After going five for nine in a doubleheader at UCLA last weekend, Arizona first baseman Amy Chellevold raised her batting average to .500. She has 96 hits in 192 at-bats and leads her closest Pacific 10 Conference pursuer by 44 points. As a leadoff hitter, she has 41 RBIs.

Arizona second baseman Jenny Dalton (Glendale) and pitcher-designated player Nancy Evans (Hoover) rank fifth and ninth among Pac-10 hitters with .426 and .358 batting averages.

Hawaii pitcher Kym Weil (Hart) is 21-4 with an 0.90 earned-run average.

In baseball, Long Beach State catcher Casey Snow (Crespi) had surgery on a broken middle finger and is out for the season. The freshman had 17 starts and was batting .236. . . . Stanford right fielder Brodie Van Wagenen (Crespi) is batting .291, .371 over the last 11 games. . . . Cal Poly San Luis Obispo pitcher R.J. Simone (Hart) struck out eight Cal State San Bernardino batters in eight innings to pick up his team-leading eighth victory last week.

Staff writer Paige A. Leech contributed to this column.