1994 LOS ANGELES TIMES : All-Valley Softball Team : Pitcher & Player of the Year : Students of the Game : Crystl Bustos: Canyon shortstop exploited opposition weaknesses and interested college recruiters.

The recruiting letters started arriving before her junior season, which means one thing: Canyon High’s Crystl Bustos is no secret.

Division I college coaches hoping to land the shortstop during the early signing period next November must take a number and stand in line. Bustos, the Times’ Valley player of the year, is as good as it gets at the high school level.

Bustos, who played organized baseball until age 10, is an aggressive player who looks for weaknesses in the opponent’s defense. Of the 51 hits Bustos rapped out this season, 25 went for extra bases.

“If I get a base hit and I see that they are off guard and I feel I can take the base, then I’ll just go and I’ll take it,” Bustos said. “My dad always said, ‘If they give you something, you have to take the chance and make something more out of it.’ ”

It would seem that Foothill League opponents would be aware of Bustos. But Bustos probably studies her opponents better than they do her.

“If I watch close enough, they’ll slip,” Bustos said. “Anger and frustration can set in (with them). If you get them that far, it will open doors.”

Bustos opened eyes with the numbers she put up in her junior season, batting .573. She was named the league’s player of the year after she scored 41 runs, stole 31 bases in 34 attempts and had 27 runs batted in.

“There are no more (school) records for her to set,” Canyon Coach Greg Hayes said.

Bustos is a career .468 hitter with 63 RBIs, 91 runs, 20 doubles, 13 triples, 19 home runs and 62 stolen bases. Still, she’s not satisfied.

“I try to improve because there’s always room for improvement,” she said.

Strange as it sounds, her love for the game of softball started on the bench, when she was 10. She watched her Amateur Softball Assn. teammates as a reserve for an entire summer. Although a fine little athlete at the time, little was the operative word.

“I was a midget,” she said.

But Bustos benefited from her bench time. “Most people don’t want to sit the bench,” she said. “But if you sit and watch and learn, it can benefit you.”

Take it from Bustos, a former bench warmer who will have her pick of colleges.

1st-Team All-Stars Invited to Times’ Awards Ceremony

Players selected to the All-Valley and All-Ventura County baseball and softball teams are invited to a Times’ awards brunch Sunday at 9 a.m. at the Warner Center Marriott in Woodland Hills. The guest speaker is Rich Hill, baseball coach at University of San Francisco who formerly coached at Cal Lutheran.