Premier Area Players Have Double-Date This Summer

The 1996 Olympics in Atlanta have certainly caused a commotion this summer for a Valley-based women’s softball team.

The California Commotion, which last year finished second in the Amateur Softball Assn. women’s open division national tournament, features five players and an alternate from the USA Olympic team.

The five Olympians include Gillian Boxx, Sheila Cornell, Lisa Fernandez, Lori Harrigan and Dot Richardson. Jennifer Brundage is one of five alternates for the Olympic team and will also compete for the Commotion.

Cornell, a former UCLA star, is a graduate of Taft High.

Other area athletes playing for the Commotion include former Arizona players Amy Chellevold (Thousand Oaks High) and Jenny Dalton (Glendale), and former UCLA player Karen Walker-Deegan (El Camino Real).

So, with his pitching staff and nearly half of his team competing all over the country in exhibition games since April and at the Olympic site in Columbus, Ga., later this month, Commotion Coach Kirk Walker had little choice but to skip summer competition--for now.

“We made the decision in January based upon the fact that we wouldn’t have a pitching staff and we didn’t want to just pick up players to play when the others wanted to come back [after the Olympics],” he said.

The decision to skip the summer season was made much easier by the Commotion already having an automatic bid to this year’s national tournament in Stratford, Conn., Aug. 16-21. The Commotion was runner-up to the Redding Rebels in last year’s national tournament in Decatur, Ill. The top two finishers from each division receive automatic bids for the following year. All other teams are forced to qualify at sanctioned tournaments throughout the summer.

Instead of coaching the Commotion in tournaments every weekend, Walker, a graduate of the San Fernando Valley Academy in Northridge, has filled the void with recruiting for his job as head coach at Oregon State. Nearly every weekend Walker goes to 18-and-under tournaments and checks out who’s available.

Walker, in his fifth season with the Commotion, was an assistant at UCLA for nine seasons before landing the position at Oregon State two years ago.

His connections at UCLA helped him build one of the best ASA teams in the country, but he is still looking for his first national title. If he gets his team to play together with only a couple of weeks of practice, this could be the year.

“What will be difficult for [Olympic team members] is just continuing to stay motivated and that intense for another two weeks to win a national title,” he said.

“[But] after finishing second in the tournament last year, these players are highly motivated. They are very adamant to bring back a national title to Southern California.”

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The Commotion, Olympians included, and the Baseball Development Center in Woodland Hills will host a softball clinic Aug. 11, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., at a site to be determined.

“Hopefully it will be the first clinic after they win the gold medal,” Walker said. “But I guess I shouldn’t say that yet.”

Cost is $50 per player and the clinic is open to all age groups.

Information: 800-479-HITS.

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Ashlie Hayes, a 1995 graduate of Chaminade and a former infielder for University of Massachusetts, said she will be returning to play softball in the Valley.

Hayes asked for and received a release from Massachusetts, where she was on scholarship, and will join the ranks of Cal State Northridge, which recruited her out of high school.

“We are currently recruiting her,” said Northridge Coach Janet Sherman, who is restricted by NCAA rules to say anything more.

Hayes, a shortstop who batted .269 with nine doubles and 25 runs batted in for Massachusetts (38-15-1) as a freshman, said she was “homesick” and missed her family and friends.

“My heart was here,” she said. “[Massachusetts] didn’t really suit me. I needed to come home.”

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The Southern California Stealth 14-and-under team has played host to a junior national team from Australia for the past two weeks. Australian players have been matched up with Stealth players for a three-week stay.

Last week, the Stealth welcomed the Australians with a 12-0 thrashing at Cal State Northridge.

But few other teams are having any better luck. The Stealth (32-4) has outscored opponents, 207-25.

Ace pitcher Maureen LeCocq, who will be a sophomore at Chaminade, is leading the charge with a 0.22 earned-run average. LeCocq has struck out 126 in 125 innings and notched 18 of the team’s 25 shutout victories.

The Australians, who are playing nearly every day against Southern California teams during their stay and in a tournament in Newbury Park this week, are having a great time.

“They’re out terrorizing the city in the day and playing doubleheaders at night,” said Lori Hall, manager of the Stealth.

The Stealth will visit Australia for a 10-day tour in November.