SOFTBALL / PAIGE A. LEECH : LeCocq, 12, Shows Stuff, Not Her Age

Maureen LeCocq is five years away from competing at the college level, but she is already commanding the attention of one of the top collegiate coaches in the country.

Arizona Coach Mike Candrea had trouble believing his eyes at his softball camp last December in Tucson. There on the pitching rubber stood LeCocq, throwing rise balls at speeds in the mid- to high 50s. The aftershock came moments later.

“Then when he found out she was only going into the eighth grade, he took her father aside and said, ‘Now, don’t let her go to UCLA,’ ” said Don Harris, coach of the Woodland Hills-based Southern California Stealth, a 12-and-under Amateur Softball Assn. fast-pitch travel team that includes LeCocq.

But keeping LeCocq away from perennial power UCLA might be more difficult than Candrea thinks. LeCocq’s pitching instructor is Samantha Ford, who pitched for Hart High and UCLA (1986-89).

While LeCocq, 12, is making a name for herself with college coaches, Stealth is reaping the benefits of her talent. Pitching against players her age this summer, LeCocq is 30-7 with 336 strikeouts in 232 1/3 innings and a 0.51 earned-run average. Her numbers are staggering despite pitching as many as five games in a day and sometimes eight games during a weekend tournament. Stealth, like other ASA travel teams, competes on the weekends in tournaments in and out of state.

LeCocq, who is batting a team-high .357 with 32 runs batted in, and her 10 Stealth teammates are bound for the 12-and-under ASA national tournament in Greenwood, Ind., Aug. 10-14.

This year marks the first national appearance for the four-team Stealth organization that Harris developed four years ago. The 18-and-under and 16-and-under Stealth teams also qualified for nationals.

The 18-and-under team is led by pitchers Jamie Johnston (Paraclete High), who has accepted a scholarship to Central Michigan, and Lindsay Harris of Louisville High in Woodland Hills, the eldest of Don Harris’ three daughters.

Jamie Gillies, the 1993 Southern Section Division II pitcher of the year from Saugus, leads the 16-and-under team.

There will be little rest for Stealth when the teams return from the national tournaments. The 18-, 14- and 12-and-under teams will compete in the Junior Olympic Invitational in Honolulu, Aug. 16-25.

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Up and at ‘em: Sleeping late on Saturday mornings is a luxury Bill Holt, coach of a 16-and-under ASA travel team based in Valencia, forgoes nine months a year. Too much work to do.

Holt is on a crusade. While most ASA travel teams play during only the summer months, the Raiders also compete in winter, September through February. Holt’s mission is to train softball players and prepare them for college competition--preferably with an athletic scholarship.

“Every year you get a new crop to train and the goal is to get them into college,” said Holt, who is in his sixth season with the Raiders.

Those weekend days must seem an eternity. The Raiders (51-12), who have qualified for the ASA national tournament, Aug. 10-14, at Illinois State in Normal, Ill., have played 63 games in 10 weekends. That’s an average of more than three games a day--six a weekend.

Although Holt has helped several players hone their skills and earn scholarships--Arizona’s Nancy Evans (Hoover) and UCLA’s Nicole Odom (South Torrance) are two--he refuses to take credit.

“The girls are great,” Holt said. “They are the heroes. They give up their boyfriends, their lives, for this game.”

The Raiders qualified for the nationals nearly two weeks ago by winning the Southern California ASA regional tournament in Mission Viejo behind the pitching of Tina Kinney (Hoover) and Jessie Davenport (Thousand Oaks).

Davenport (14-6), who has 80 strikeouts and a 0.79 ERA in 115 2/3 innings, did not allow a run in four appearances--including three complete games--in the Southern California tournament.

Kinney (14-3) has given up only 62 hits in 121 innings and has 77 strikeouts.

Camarillo’s Jessica Ziese leads the Raiders with a .347 average and 20 RBIs.

The Raiders, who finished third in the national tournament last year, are making their fourth consecutive appearance. Holt hopes the fourth is a charm.

“With 74 teams in the tournament, anything can happen,” he said. “If you get a good draw and don’t have to play some hot team right off the bat, who knows. . . .”

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Take a bow: Need proof that this region produces a surplus of softball talent? Consider: Five of the 12 women on the 1994 Women’s College World Series all-tournament team played at area high schools.

Arizona’s Amy Chellevold (first base) and Jenny Dalton (second base) played at Thousand Oaks and Glendale. UCLA walk-on Ginny Mike played for Camarillo. And Cal State Northridge outfielders Jen Fleming and Beth Calcante played for El Camino Real and Newbury Park.