A Perfect Day : Five Orange County Athletes Recall Sparkling Moments on High School Diamonds

The games lend themselves to perfection and symmetry. Three outs. Nine players. Three bases. Nine innings--adjusted to seven for high school.

You get the idea.

The goal for pitchers is to keep everyone off the bases, though they rarely make a conscious effort to pitch a perfect game when they step on the rubber.

The goal for batters is to get on base every at-bat, even though a 40% success rate is considered phenomenal.

Sometimes, it all comes together perfectly under an afternoon sky.

The Runaround

The games blur together for Julie Hedrick, who was a freshman leadoff hitter for Whittier Christian in 1978. Bunting and base stealing were her forte, but the game that sticks out in the Southern Section record book--if not her own recollection--is when she scored nine runs against Garden Grove Bethel Christian. That, by the way, is two-fifths of a mile.

She also had a county-record seven hits that day.

Hedrick, 31, was shocked when told she still held a record--one that may never be broken because there was no mercy rule in 1978 and all games were played to an often-lopsided completion.

“I remember it being 30-something to zero,” Hedrick said. “It was a really bad game. It wasn’t too hard to score nine runs.

“It was a very sad game for those poor girls. In small schools, you have some good teams, but you also had some that weren’t very competitive.”

Bethel Christian wasn’t very competitive that day; Hedrick’s teammate, Martha Beattie, scored eight times.

“The pitcher was slow and easy and just melted the ball right over the plate, and you could pick where you wanted to hit it,” Hedrick said. “We tried to be nice, but we were having fun.”

Hedrick was 5 feet 2 inches and quick, a good athlete who played shortstop all four seasons. She was all-league selection each year, and was All-Southern Section that year, her sophomore year, batting in the .400s.

“I would get these little poke hits or bunts, and walked a lot,” Hedrick said. “I swung hard and got a triple once (in that game); I usually got singles, and a few doubles. And I think I got a triple because you could really just pick your spot.

“The way I recall feeling, it was fun, but because the team wasn’t competitive, it wasn’t as enjoyable as some of the tighter games. There was no challenge on that day.”

Those came later. She married her high school sweetheart, Alan Martin, in 1984, and graduated from Biola with a degree in English literature. On her birthday, April 20, 1987, Hedrick was told by her doctor that she had miscarried her first child. A party was scheduled for her that night, but there was no celebrating.

She went through the grieving process and began writing poetry and thoughts about her feelings. An editor with Thomas Nelson Publishers saw the work at a writers’ conference the next summer. Her book, “A Time to be Born,” a collection of poems and vignettes covering the loss of her first child to the birth of Erica on March 21, 1988, was published in 1990.

She now has three daughters and is expecting another child this year, and recently wrote a children’s book and is trying to sell it to a publisher.

Hedrick is still active, running 12-15 miles a week, but the last time she played softball was five years ago at a church picnic.

“I don’t know how many runs I scored that day,” she said, “but not nine.”

The Art of Dominance

Michele Granger’s strength might be her focus--to a fault.

“I go batter by batter, and throw to each hitter as they come up. If the bases are loaded, it doesn’t matter to me because I’m only concentrating on the person who’s at bat,” Granger said. “I think that’s why I’ve been able to be successful, why I don’t break down and get nervous--because my focus is purely on the hitter. I have the ability to block everything else out.”

She can block out a lot.

Reporter: Do you remember the game in which you struck out 21 batters in high school?

Granger: “I really don’t. I’m kinda famous for not remembering a game I threw yesterday, much less seven or eight years ago. . . . If I remember something, it has to be absolutely amazing.”

The game she pitched in 1986 was as perfect as they come--she faced 21 batters and struck out all of them. It’s not surprising, because strikeouts were an indelible part of the Granger legacy. She averaged 17.2 strikeouts per game on her way to establishing national high school records for most in a career (1,635). Her total for a season (509 in 1987) is also a national record, and her 449 in 1988 ranks fourth.

But it was in 1986, during her sophomore year at Valencia, that she was perfect in every way in a 5-0 victory over Troy.

Granger, who lives in Anchorage, Alaska, with her husband of five years, John Poulos, needed a scrapbook her parents gave her to discover that she also hit a two-run homer in the game, driving in her older sister, Angela.

“That doesn’t happen very often,” she said. “Usually I would remember the home run part because I don’t get to hit very often.”

But strikeouts do happen often. The left-hander matched that 21-strikeout performance in college and in international competition, as well.

With her memory jostled by the scrapbook, she did recall one peculiarity about the game.

“I remember my third baseman, Lynee McIntyre, when I had 20 strikeouts, she came up to me and said, ‘You have 20, all you need is one more.’ I remember that part of it because everyone yelled at her for it,” Granger said. “They gave her a hard time the rest of the season; once you mess up, everyone remembers. It would have been worse if I hadn’t struck out the last batter--everyone would have blamed her, but it wouldn’t have been her fault.”

Instead it’s a footnote in history, the only thing Granger, 25, found memorable about a game that has been forgotten like so many others. She won four games last month at the Pan American Games for the gold medal-winning U.S. national team, and has her sights set on playing in the Summer Olympics in 1996--the first Games in which softball is a sanctioned sport.

She thought about retiring in 1993 after graduating from Cal with a double major in history and mass communications--and the NCAA record for career strikeouts (1,640), shutouts (94) and victories (94)--but the lure of the Olympics as a way to end a spectacular career was too much.

“My husband has been supportive,” Granger said, “but I’ll consider the last three years a waste of time for me if I don’t get on the (Olympic) team or we don’t win the gold.”

Again, she’s striving for perfection.

Keeping Up

Tiffany Boyd battled Granger’s legend as much as opposing teams. This was largely because of her classmates, who kept close track of Granger’s performances in the papers, then laid down the challenge to Boyd.

“I can remember coming to school and the guys saying, ‘You only had 18 strikeouts, Tiffany, what’s wrong?’, and thinking to myself, one of these days, I’m going to get 21,” Boyd said.

It happened on April 8, 1987, in Woodbridge’s 8-0 victory over Laguna Beach.

Twenty-one strikeouts in seven innings.

Although she matched Granger, it still wasn’t quite Granger. A dropped third strike in the second inning prevented her from a perfect game--she still struck out four in the inning--but one batter bunted in the third and was thrown out. It was the only non-strikeout of the game--a game Boyd didn’t realize was so special until the end.

“I can remember thinking, ‘My God, I finally did it,’ ” she said.

It was one of her nine no-hitters that season--a season during which she had four in a row at one stretch, one short of the Southern Section record. She was the section 2-A player of the year (and again in 1988) and it preceded a dramatic senior season in which she struck out 425 (sixth-best nationally) and didn’t allow an earned run. She was The Times’ player of the year in 1988.

“I always went out with the intent to strike out 21 a game, it just didn’t always happen,” Boyd said. “You set goals for yourself, you go out every day, and after you’ve struck out the first 12, it’s easy to get in a lull or not go for it because you know you’re going to win, and to stay focused for 21 batters is difficult for anyone--to be on top of your game for 21 batters.

“It was really difficult for me in high school to stay focused.”

Boyd, 23, skipped two grades and was only 15 when she threw her 21-strikeout game her junior year.

As a freshman at UCLA, she was the MVP of the College World Series. But she injured her knee and didn’t want to be a redshirt for a season. The Bruins were stocked with pitching, having recruited pitchers De De Weiman, Lisa Fernandez and Heather Compton to join returning senior Lisa Longaker. So Boyd took a semester off and ended up at Cal State Fullerton.

She finished her collegiate career as a two-time first team All-American and Big West Conference pitcher of year. She played for and coached the Italian national team for two months in 1993, and returned from a similar stint in France last September.

“When I came back from Paris after doing softball for only five months, I was tired and it was time to start thinking about the Olympics,” Boyd said. “I had to ask myself, ‘Do I want to put my life on hold for another two years?’ The answer’s no.”

She’s now a commercial insurance broker with the family business in Tustin.

“Luckily, right down the road was Michele Granger,” Boyd said. “She inspired me and pushed me.

“If there wasn’t Michele, maybe there wouldn’t have been as much for Tiffany.”

Lucky 7

Brian Criss’ recollection of his Southern Section record-setting day is flawed. But his bat was perfect on March 26, 1988.

Criss, a catcher who went on to play at UCLA, went seven for seven with seven runs scored and 10 runs batted in to lead Servite to a 36-0 victory over Downey Pius X. Criss set single-game section records for hits and runs scored.

“The game itself was uneventful,” said Criss, who is now the pitching coach for Cal State Los Angeles. “It was a mismatch. The only eventful thing about it was the record.

“Most of our starters were already out of the game by the fourth inning. But I was the only catcher we had, so . . .”

Criss feasted on Pius X’s pitching. That was no surprise, considering the Friars (19-7) finished second and Pius X (1-18) last in the Angelus League that season.

“I don’t even remember the first six hits,” Criss said. “But someone told me before my seventh at-bat that no one had seven hits in a game before.”

Criss’ final hit was a single to left. He also had three doubles and a home run. Criss finished the season hitting .430 with a team-high 35 RBIs and was named the Angelus League co-MVP with Mater Dei’s Jim Austin.

Criss signed a letter of intent with St. Mary’s but only spent one season with the Gaels. In 1990, he transferred to Rancho Santiago, where he split time at catcher with John Weber. Criss hit .267 with two home runs and 14 RBIs while playing in 30 of 47 games. He still earned a spot on the UCLA roster, and played sparingly with the Bruins in 1991 and ’92.

Criss hit .231 in his career at UCLA and had only 18 hits while playing in 74 of 122 games. But he still enjoyed the experience.

“We reached the regional finals in ‘92,” Criss said. “That was a real exciting time for me. But from an individual achievement standpoint, going seven for seven is certainly at the top of the list.”

After finishing his collegiate career, Criss went into coaching and is in his third season at Los Angeles.

“I wasn’t drafted,” Criss said. “But it’s never a shock or anything. I had a realistic perspective and coaching was where I saw myself headed.”

Ed’s 11

March 7, 1989 would be a special day for Brea Olinda center fielder Ed Garcia. But he sure didn’t feel as if he was going to make history.

“Ed said before the game started that he wasn’t feeling good about his swing,” said Joe Zink, Brea Olinda’s third baseman on the 1989 team. “So he set up a practice tee and just started taking practice swings. He just wanted to take more and more before the game.

“And then he ends up hitting three home runs?”

Garcia hit two grand slams and a three-run home run to highlight Brea Olinda’s 18-hit attack in a 21-9 nonleague victory over La Habra at Brea High. Garcia finished three for three with 11 RBIs--still an Orange County single-game record--and five runs scored.

“Everything I did I just did it right,” Garcia said. “I remember before my last home run the umpire said to me, ‘Well, the bases are loaded so I guess they have to pitch to you.’ The whole day I couldn’t believe it myself.”

Garcia could not sustain that level. He finished the season with a team-high 21 RBIs and 21 runs scored and only hit two more home runs. After graduating from Brea Olinda, he played at Fullerton College. He has since moved to Ft. Lauderdale, where he lives on a farm with his older brother, Manny, and runs a roofing company.

In high school, Garcia was a powerful free-swinger who lacked consistency. But everything was perfect on that March afternoon.

“Ed had one of those days,” Brea Coach Steve Hiskey said. “Everything they threw, he hit.”

Garcia hit his grand slams in the first and fifth innings and the three-run home run in the second. He was hit by a pitch and intentionally walked in his other two plate appearances.

“That was the most dominating offensive performance I’ve seen,” said Hiskey, who has coached at Brea for 15 years. “He kept coming up with men on base, so there weren’t many places to put him . . . and they fed him his pitch. Sometimes you get on a roll.”