Chapman’s Cancilla Determined to Avoid Going Out on Strikes

Chapman softball player Lisa Cancilla cannot remember the last time she struck out. “I honestly have no idea,” she said.

It’s certain that in two seasons with the Panthers, Cancilla hasn’t struck out, a streak that has reached 241 at-bats and occasionally gives co-Coach Janet Lloyd another reason to be nervous.

“It’s pretty funny,” Lloyd said. “She’ll get two strikes against her and she’ll look horrible doing it. Then she’ll look over at me and start smiling like she’s playing games. Then she’ll get a base hit.”

Cancilla says she enjoys the extra pressure. “I can tell Janet gets a little paranoid,” Cancilla said. “But I’ve always been a pressure hitter--I like hitting with two strikes on me, it kind of pumps me up.

“Growing up I was taught to be really disciplined at the plate. To not strike out is this long-term goal that I have.”

Cancilla is doing much more than merely making contact. She is batting a team-high .539 with an .892 slugging percentage, five home runs and 31 runs batted in for the Panthers, the defending NCAA Division III champions. She also excels in the field at shortstop, committing only three errors for a .973 fielding percentage this season.

Cancilla hopes to help the Panthers add another championship in her final year of eligibility. It would be the perfect culmination of a college career that was interrupted for four years.

After helping West Valley College near San Jose to the community college state title in 1990, Cancilla decided to go to work instead of transferring to a four-year school. She turned down several scholarship offers that would have taken her away from home and went to work at a grocery store.

“I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do and where I wanted go, so I decided to take a break for a while,” she said.

By the time she decided to go back to college her eligibility to play for a Division I or Division II program had expired. That led her to Chapman, a program that won the national title last year in its first season in Division III.

Not coincidentally, it also was the first season at Chapman for Cancilla, a first-team All-American. “You can’t get any better than that,” Cancilla said. “Well, except we are getting another one, I hope.”

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Chapman (26-7) remains top-ranked in the nation and in the West Region, but the Panthers have struggled in second games of doubleheaders recently. They split doubleheaders with Western Washington and Buena Vista (Iowa), and it took them nine innings to beat La Verne, 6-5, last week.

“We’ve dominated the first games and we have these mental lapses in the second,” Cancilla said. “I honestly don’t know why.

“But I don’t have any doubt that our team is getting ready to peak. We know what we need to do and now it’s just a matter of doing it.”

Lloyd said teams are gunning for the Panthers more this season. “You feel it every time we go out there,” she said. “We are going to work hard the last month and then go for it. Basically, we are not going to let anybody beat us that shouldn’t beat us. That’s our goal.”

Chapman is considering a bid to host the West Regional May 10-12. The Panthers’ home field at Hart Park, however, isn’t suitable and Cal State Fullerton is hosting the Big West Conference baseball tournament at the same time and doesn’t want another event, so Chapman is contacting local community colleges.

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The Concordia softball team broke into the NAIA Top 25 for perhaps the first time in school history this week, but the Eagles probably won’t be staying long.

No. 25 Concordia (27-19, 6-8 in the Golden State Athletic Conference) has lost four consecutive conference games, dropping into a fourth-place tie with Point Loma Nazarene. Three teams qualify for the postseason and third-place Cal Baptist (21-17, 9-5) is three games ahead with six games remaining. Ninth-ranked Azusa Pacific (33-9, 10-2) is in first and Southern California College (21-17-2, 9-3) is in second.

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With the two victories over Concordia, the SCC softball team kept pace with Azusa Pacific, one game behind before a doubleheader between the teams today.

The Vanguards, seeking their fourth consecutive conference title, aren’t as dominating as they have been and this week dropped out of the NAIA national poll for the first time in several seasons.

But Coach Bekki Turner said she has a young team that is still learning to win consistently. “When we are playing well, nobody’s going to beat us,” Turner said. “We have an outstanding defense, a good offense and we have a great pitcher [sophomore Jen Houston]. The thing is we’ve got to be consistent.”

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Turner, in her sixth season as coach, announced last week she would step down after this season so she could devote more time to other pursuits, namely to try to become a professional artist.

Turner said the decision had nothing to do with the team’s struggles after finishing third nationally last season. “Even last year when we were as successful as we were, I was considering it,” she said.

“It’s a risk but you’ll never find out what’s away from the shore unless you wade out into the water.”