Little Bruiser Behind Plate

Welcome to show-and-tell, courtesy of freshman catcher Christina Enea of El Camino Real High.

She has more scars than a boxer and more scabs than a 5-year-old. She wears a catcher’s mask to protect her face during softball games, but the rest of her is susceptible to turning black and blue.

“I remember one time I was playing for a club team,” she said. “There were runners on first and third. The girl was coming home. I was standing right in front of the plate. Before the ball was in my glove, the girl knocked me over and I flew.”

At nutrition break, entire conversations can revolve around her latest collision with a fence, ball or bat.

“I usually don’t show guys the scars,” Enea said. “They just ask me, ‘What happened to your arm?’ I was diving and caught the ball.”

There are few 14-year-old catchers who hit, field and play the game as well as Enea.

El Camino Real Coach Neils Ludlow has guided the Conquistadores to 11 City 4-A championships in 14 years. Two of his best players were catchers Ramona Shelburne of Stanford and Jen Fleming of Cal State Northridge.

“Christina is better than both at this point,” Ludlow said. “We’ve never had a catcher who throws as hard or as accurately to second base. She’s amazing. She throws a frozen rope.”

Enea is batting .559 (38 for 68) with a region-leading eight home runs going into El Camino Real’s 4-A semifinal game against Banning today at South Gate Park. She’s only 5 feet 4 1/2.

“She’s hit more home runs than anybody has hit since I’ve been here,” Ludlow said. “You look at her and say, ‘Holy Cow, how does she hit the ball so far?’ It’s her bat speed. She has tremendous bat speed and quick wrists.”

It’s not as if Ludlow didn’t know what he was getting when Enea arrived at the Woodland Hills campus last fall. She played on the Stealth 12-and-under American Softball Assn. national championship team in 1996. She catches eighth-grade pitching sensation Elena Ferrero for the Panthers Gold club team.

“I had heard [Enea] was quite a talent, but you hear a lot of stories,” Ludlow said. “Everything I heard was true.”

Enea plays the game with a fearless attitude. Her parents, Sal and Terry, encourage her to play hard, even when she’s using her head to knock down pitches.

“My dad is very happy,” she said. “He loves to see me dirty.”

As for her mom, Terry has been known to get a little excited during games.

“When she hits home runs, I climb the fence and all her teammates go, ‘Look at your mother,’ ” Terry said. “I’ve calmed down.”

Ferrero has never had more confidence in a catcher.

“She goes all out for everything every time,” Ferrero said. “She’s always diving for foul balls going into fences. I know I can throw any pitch and she’ll stop it.”

It’s easy to predict that UCLA, Arizona, Michigan, Fresno State--all the top college softball programs--will be trying to sign Enea in the fall of 2000.

Now, if only Enea can exercise a little restraint to avoid bruising her elbows, knees, thighs, arms and hands.

“I’ve hurt my pinkie finger 20 million times,” she said.

Dustin Lee, a freshman junior varsity baseball player for El Camino Real, said he’s seen a couple of Enea’s scars.

“They’re pretty big,” he said.

Fortunately, her mother is a physical therapist.

“If I do real good, I get an automatic massage,” she said. . . .

Like Jerry Seinfeld, Campbell Hall baseball Coach Joe Sciuto is leaving while on top. Sciuto, 32, guided the Vikings to their first Delphic League baseball title in school history this season. But he’s retiring from coaching to become a dean at the North Hollywood campus. What a job he did. He took over a program four years ago that went 1-21 and built the Vikings into a championship team. . . .

Crespi has the best chance in years to become the first local school since Hoover in 1975 to win a Southern Section Division I baseball title. There are no unbeatable Orange County powers lurking ahead similar to Esperanza, which eliminated the Jeff Suppan-led Celts in the 1993 Division I semifinals. All it will take is for Crespi junior pitchers Tim Leveque and Michael Jackson to reach peak form. I predict it’s going to happen. . . .

With the support of Coach Jamie Quaglino, all 14 members of the Alemany boys’ volleyball team bleached their hair before the season. Now the school is considering a ban of bleached hair because too many students are doing it. “We’ll be the last hurrah,” Quaglino said. . . .

Brian Jacobsen, a junior third baseman from Agoura, reached base in his last 12 plate appearances this season--two home runs, two singles, a double and seven walks. He finished with a .487 average. . . .

There’s no way North Hollywood will beat Sylmar pitcher Ivan Hernandez in today’s East Valley League title finale at Sylmar.

Eric Sondheimer’s local column appears Wednesday and Sunday. He can be reached at (818) 772-3422.