Borders’ College Pitching Career to End Against SCC

Ila Borders will end her college baseball career by pitching against the team that gave her her start.

Whittier College Coach Jim Pigott said Borders will start the Poets’ season finale April 29 against Southern California College at Whittier.

“She’s our only senior starting pitcher so I think it’s a great way to end her career, pitching at home,” Pigott said. “It’s kind of ironic that it’s against SCC because the schedule was set way before she decided to transfer to Whittier.”

Borders, who accepted a scholarship to SCC and in 1994 became the first woman to win a college baseball game, was scheduled to start Tuesday against the Vanguards in Costa Mesa, but an hour and a half before game time she learned that a family friend had been admitted to Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian. Borders did not start and left for the hospital after the first inning of an 8-6 SCC victory.

Borders has been the most consistent starter for Whittier, (9-19, 5-7 in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference). She is 2-5 with a 4.89 earned-run average, 29 strikeouts and 18 walks in 60 2/3 innings. She is 2-2 with a 3.00 ERA in conference play.

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More baseball: The rivalry between the Chapman and Cal Lutheran baseball teams could reach a new level if the teams meet in the two-team NCAA Division III West Regional next month.

Cal Lutheran has reached the playoffs the last three seasons and reached the Division III World Series in 1994 and ‘96, finishing as national runner-up last season.

But Chapman Coach Rex Peters said the Kingsmen could stand some lessons in sportsmanship. Players in the Cal Lutheran dugout maintain a steady stream of banter throughout the game. Peters says about 75% of the talk gives encouragement to teammates, but some can be abusive to opponents.

“They’re a real arrogant bunch,” Peters said. “They’re good, no question about it, but they are mouthy and they try to intimidate with their mouths. They try to get you out of your game, which is kind of bush league.

“It’s difficult for a team not to say something back. We here are always going to win or lose with class and dignity. I don’t know if I could ever say that about them.”

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Softball: Stephanie Carew continues to improve her batting statistics for Chapman. She is batting .549, 15th in Division III, with a national-high 56 hits, 11 home runs, 51 runs batted in, 13 doubles and seven triples. Chapman’s .387 team batting average ranks eighth.

Carew was named the most valuable player of the UC San Diego tournament after going 10 for 19 with nine RBIs in six games, leading the Panthers to the title. Amie Barnes, who batted .632 (12 for 19), was named the tournament’s best hitter.

The Panthers are 29-6, with an 11-game winning streak, and ranked seventh in the nation in this week’s National Fastpitch Coaches Assn. poll.