Bolling Finally in Right Place at Right Time

First, Kirk Bolling waited a year just to play baseball in college. He waited another year to play the position he wanted.

Now, everything is in place for the Saddleback sophomore, who is benefiting from having confidence at the plate and in the field.

He’s having his best season on offense, including getting 11 hits in 15 at-bats in three games last week to raise his average to .480. He also has Orange County bests in home runs (10) and runs batted in (43).

“I know what my job is on this team,” Bolling said. “It’s to hit home runs and drive in runs.”

Bolling has hit 24 homers at Saddleback, leaving him four short of the college’s career record of 28 held by Steve DeAngelis (1983-84). Bolling has 109 RBIs at Saddleback and needs six more to surpass DeAngelis’ all-time mark.

He already is No. 1 at the college in career doubles with 29.

“We’ve had a lot of good players,” Saddleback Coach Jack Hodges said, “but we’ve never had this kind of job done two years in a row.”

Bolling’s collegiate baseball journey started when he got a scholarship to Cal State Fullerton after a standout 1995 season at West Torrance High.

Bolling had played third and shortstop in high school, but Cal State Fullerton also recruited him as a pitcher because of his strong arm. But he had no real place on the team so he was a redshirt.

After waiting a year, Bolling said he wanted to try something different and chose Saddleback partly because his family moved from Torrance to Rancho Santa Margarita.

Still, Bolling’s year with the Titans wasn’t a waste of time.

“I learned a lot about the game mentally at Fullerton from Coach [Augie] Garrido,” he said, “and I’m twice as good a hitter as before I went there.”

Bolling came to Saddleback to find another experienced player--Danny Rivas--at third.

“I told [Coach Hodges] I’d play anywhere he wanted me to,” Bolling said.

Saddleback needed to fill a hole at first and Bolling did that and more. He hit .381 with 14 home runs and 66 RBIs.

“First base is always labeled as the lazy man’s position,” Bolling said, “which really isn’t true. I had a lot of fun there.”

He spent the summer going to school and working on not chasing bad pitches. When practice started in the fall at Saddleback, Bolling asked Hodges for a chance to play third.

“He certainly earned the right to request a spot,” Hodges said.