Clubbing the Competition

Like the bomber of the same name, the Southern California Stealth is far more effective than it is secretive.

Don Harris, 46, with three athletic daughters, founded the Valley-based girls’ softball club only five seasons ago, and today the Stealth is among the most successful and recognized clubs in the country.

That’s why one parent called from as far as San Diego to ask Harris to give her daughter a tryout.

“There are so few elite clubs around,” said Harris, whose club has grown to six fast-pitch teams competing in age divisions 12 through 18. “If you play for one of these [elite] clubs, your chances of getting a college scholarship are dramatically improved.”

For at least the last decade, players who want to attract the attention of college coaches value summer competition. Other club sports such as soccer, basketball and volleyball are similar in that respect. But in softball, the most organized, well-respected clubs that offered several age divisions--such as Gordon’s Panthers and the Bat Busters--have been centered in Orange County.

“The Valley really didn’t have any such thing,” Harris said. “And I thought it was ridiculous that the top players in the Valley would get in their cars and drive to Orange County to play on Orange County teams. It seemed foolish.”

Now, with widespread success, the Stealth has pulled the shades on the Orange Curtain. And Stealth Coach Wes Goodin, who has four Orange County players on his 18-and-under team, is enjoying the turnabout.

“Now all of the kids are coming from Orange County to play with us,” said Goodin, who has coached Stealth teams since its inception in 1992.

Regardless of where players come from, the key to getting noticed is summer exposure. Just ask Cal State Northridge softball Coach Janet Sherman.

Sherman, like most other college coaches, does not watch high school competition because her team is in season at the same time. Instead, she gets a look at who is out there during the summer and then tracks their statistics through newspaper coverage.

And the Stealth, currently more than 100 girls strong with at least a dozen alums who have earned athletic scholarships, is high on her list of teams with top prospects.

“They definitely have the kids to watch,” Sherman said.

Sherman was among 80 college coaches expected to attend the 18-and-under national tournament in Northern California this week.

The 18-and-under teams aren’t the only squads that have Sherman’s interest in the summer. A couple of weeks ago she ran into Harris at a 16-and-under tournament while looking for young stars to fill out her “players to watch” list.

“These young teams are so important because we are always looking down the road,” she said.

The Stealth, composed mostly of Valley and Ventura County athletes, offers Sherman quite a variety--and in her own backyard.

These are not just any athletes, mind you, they are among the finest in the area. In fact, half of the 26 girls honored in June as all-area players by The Times play for the Stealth.

“I think it’s probably the best [softball] organization in the United States,” said Lori Hall, mother of 14-year-old Sara, who has played with the Stealth for four years.

Of the six Stealth teams, five are ranked in the Top 10 in the country in their division by Travelball magazine, and four qualified for national tournaments. The tournaments begin today at various sites around the country with the exception of the 18-and-under Gold (elite) division, which concluded Sunday. The Stealth Gold--which includes area blue-chip players Tina Kinney (Hoover High), Tami Jones and Mo Shelburne (El Camino Real) among others--finished ninth in nationals.

Teams advance to nationals by winning one of several national qualifying tournaments played throughout the country during the summer, or by a first- or second-place finish in the previous national tournament.

No Stealth team has won a national title, but a championship appears imminent. The highest finish was third by a Goodin-coached 16-and-under team two years ago.

The 14-and-under Stealth, coached by Harris, is ranked highest at No. 2. By their athletic size and skill alone, one passerby, who came upon a recent practice at Knapp Ranch Park in West Hills, mistook the young teenagers for something more.

“Are those girls semi-pro or something?” he asked.

To be sure, these are not recreation teams, in which every girl is guaranteed two innings of play--if only to pick daisies in right field. Here, the best play and the rest sit.

“Travel ball is about one thing. It’s about winning,” said Harris, whose team begins national tournament play today in Midland, Texas. “That’s all it’s about.”

Winning and scholarships, Harris said, almost go hand-in-hand at this level. Parents are spending hundreds of dollars each summer to save perhaps thousands down the road.

“Kids at this level want to play for the best possible team they can, to get to nationals [and] to have college coaches see them and get scholarships,” Harris said.

And it isn’t cheap. The 14-and-under Stealth girls, for example, pay $350 each season, covering uniforms, insurance and some tournament entry fees. But it doesn’t end there.

Each girl also is expected to pay for her own air fare, food and lodging for out-of-area tournaments. To afford that, most girls hit the pavement looking for sponsors, or work various fund-raisers throughout the year.

“My daughter raised enough money through fund-raisers to pay for hers and my trip,” Harris said.

Harris estimates that it costs one team about $50,000 for one season, about $3,000 per player.

But some teams have it better than others. Harris’ team secured sponsors to pay for air fare to both the qualifying tournament and nationals the past two years.

“We’ve got a lot of active parents that go beg from their friends,” Harris said.

It’s always nice to have friends, especially when they are connected to companies such as Coppertone, Gatorade, MGM and New Line Cinema--all of which sponsored Harris’ 12-and-under team two years ago.

If it’s worth buying, Harris can sell it. A former president of AMC film marketing for 18 years, Harris jumped ship to DreamWorks in September.

Now, instead of pushing AMC to build a multiscreen movie theater in Woodland Hills (his idea), he is peddling movies made by an entertainment firm owned by Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen.

Harris has a nose for what people want. Seven years ago, he saw the need for a girls’ team that was more competitive than those in the West Valley Girls’ Softball League--his daughters’ first league.

Harris, along with another father, Jerry Hayes, brought together girls from Louisville and Chaminade highs, including Harris’ oldest daughter Lindsay, to form the Royal Eagles.

But after two seasons of getting beat up by established Orange County teams, Harris wanted to expand his program.

“I came to the realization if we were going to be competitive, we needed to have a club,” Harris said.

So Harris recruited a few more coaches and ended up with teams competing in the 12-, 14- and 16-and-under divisions. He changed the teams’ name to Stealth because Lindsay liked the car of the same name.

Since that first year, three more teams--another 14 and two 18s--have been added.

“We give the coaches a lot of latitude to make the decisions they want to make,” Harris said.

Perhaps that’s one reason the Stealth runs like a . . . flashy sports car.

Said Harris: “We’ve way exceeded what I thought we could do.”