U.S. OLYMPIC FESTIVAL : These Players Are Locked in Battle of the Ages : Softball: Amateur veterans competing against college standouts for 15 spots on 1996 Olympic Games roster.

Jenny Dalton looks at the injury and sees more than scratches, a huge bandage and a shin swollen to twice its normal size.

Dalton looks at Barbara Jordan’s leg and sees commitment.

“That right there shows what’s in her heart,” Dalton said. “Desire, that’s what it is.”

Softball’s debut as an Olympic medal sport is still two years away, but Dalton, Jordan and other top players know Big Brother already is watching from behind the backstop screen.

Since late last week when the most talented college and touring amateur players in the nation converged at the Fountain Park Athletic Complex to compete in the Olympic Festival, eight people have sat behind home plate, sipping cold drinks and occasionally scribbling notes.

They are the U.S. Olympic team selection committee, those who eventually will determine a career path for the likes of Dalton and Jordan.

Sixty players are participating in the Olympic Festival. Only 15 will make the Olympic team.

No wonder Jordan won’t come out of the lineup. She is 29 and has been waiting too long to ease up now.

She is not alone. Sheila Cornell, Barb Booth, Priscilla Rouse and Karen Walker are other local players in similar circumstances.

Cornell, 32, a former Taft High and UCLA standout, is a nine-time Amateur Softball Assn. All-American. Booth, from Glendale, is 32. Rouse, a former teammate of Jordan’s at Cal State Northridge, is 30. Walker, a former UCLA All-American from Woodland Hills, is 27.

Each has their own tale of sacrifice when it comes to pursuing their Olympic goal.

And then there is the other set: Dalton, 20, the home run hitter from Glendale High; Amy Chellevold, 22, the slick-fielding first baseman from Thousand Oaks, and Nancy Evans, 19, the phenom pitcher from Hoover High.

Dalton, Chellevold and Evans all play for the University of Arizona, reigning two-time NCAA Division I champion.

They are so much younger. But is a spot on the Olympic team any less important to them?

Dalton says it is not, but she can’t help being a bit in awe of the veterans.

“You can see it in their eyes, how important softball really is to them,” she said.

Dalton watches Jordan and is amazed at her determination. Jordan has rarely been seen without bulky ice bags strapped to her leg since she was struck squarely on the tibia bone in her first game last Saturday.

Yet she hasn’t missed a beat, batting leadoff and playing center field for the East team .

When the East played Dalton’s South team on Sunday evening, Jordan stripped off her bandages and started the game by drawing a catcher’s interference call.

It was a typically crafty, veteran play. On the first pitch, Jordan moved forward in the batter’s box, looking to slap the ball past an infielder as she started her charge down the first base line.

With the catcher leaning forward in anticipation of a similar effort on the next pitch, Jordan stepped back and took a full swing, nipping her opponent’s glove.

Out out later, with Jordan on second, Cornell launched a home run far over the fence in right-center field. Two-zip, just like that.

This is what Dalton and the rest of the newcomers are up against.

“It has to be in your heart to stay in it that long,” Dalton said of the older players. “To be out of college and still pursue the dream is something that takes a lot of guts, a lot of courage and a lot of pride.”

Not to mention considerable sacrifice.

Jordan’s circumstance is typical among the more established players. She is on unpaid leave from her job as a private investigator in order to take part in the Festival.

“I’ve reached a stage where I think a lot more now, ‘Why am I still here?’ ” Rouse said. “I should be at work, making money. But I want to push myself to see how far I can go, how good I can get.”

Making the Olympic team would be reaching the pinnacle. Softball doesn’t have a professional league.

“Unlike a lot of other sports, softball is pure dedication,” Cornell said. “That and perhaps stupidity is what keeps us coming out here.”

A competition between players of different ages is the best-case scenario for U.S. softball. The older players are being athletically challenged by their youthful counterparts and the college-age players are learning from their more experienced rivals.

“It’s good for the sport and it’s good for the individual competitors,” Cornell said. “When you don’t have anybody pushing you, what is there to make you a better player?”

Usually, participants in the Olympic Festival are not playing in peak condition. The amateur softball season doesn’t begin until June, with competition climaxing in August at a national tournament.

Not so this year. “From June 1, everyone was ready to go,” Rouse said.

Rouse hit a two-run home run in a Sunday game, but afterward was discouraged because she struck out later in the game with runners on base. “There’s a certain amount of pressure we’re all feeling,” Jordan said.

The strain isn’t unique to veteran players whose age in all likelihood limits their future in the sport.

Dalton and Chellevold both say they will make only one attempt at making the Olympic team.

Chellevold is on schedule to graduate next May. If she doesn’t make the U.S. team she said she will “get on with life.”

Ditto for Dalton, who doubts that her body will hold up under the yearly wear and tear of top-flight competition. She also doubts she would be able to budget time for training around a full-time job.

Should they quit the sport after their college careers, several softball experts say Dalton and Chellevold will never reach their prime.

“Players coming out of college are really just starting to get to the level where they’re reaching maturity,” said Irene Shea, the only NCAA representative on the selection committee.

In amateur softball, pitchers are 40 feet away--three feet closer than in college. But the biggest difference is the level of experience among players. “The veterans will make very few mistakes,” said Ralph Raymond, who has guided the Raybestos Brakettes of Stratford, Conn. to 17 national ASA championships.

“The youngster is go, go, go, but in going sometimes they make mental mistakes that can cost you a ballgame.”

Raymond, who may have the inside track to becoming the U.S. Olympic coach, said a mixture of youth and experience is likely to form the nation’s first Olympic team.

With only 15 spots on the squad, versatility is another key consideration. For that reason, Booth, a career catcher, is working to also improve as an outfielder.

Three years ago, Booth quit the sport, thinking she had gone as far as possible after being a member of the U.S. Pan-American Games champion that year. Then came news of the Olympics. Friends convinced her to resume training.

“It’s a tough thing to do, to try to stay at the top of a sport for that long,” Booth said. “But if you have once chance in life, even it’s a slim chance, you go for it.”