Dream Season Just Keeps Getting Better for Little

Stephenie Little said she wasn’t surprised when the Cal State Fullerton softball team was assigned to play in the NCAA regional softball tournament hosted by Washington in Seattle this week.

“I’ve felt so blessed this season that I just thought if we went to a regional, it would be there,” said Little, who was this week named Big West Conference player of the year.

Little grew up in nearby Olympia, Wash., and said she is delighted to be returning to Washington for the playoffs. The Titans play Tennessee today in the first round.

“It’s fabulous for me,” she said.

But it has been that kind of season for Little.

She has gone from the despair of sitting on the bench a year ago at Fullerton to setting a Big West home run record and leading the Titans in hitting this season.

Little, a senior catcher who bats and throws left-handed, has hit 22 home runs, breaking the conference mark of 15 set by Kim Rondina of Nevada Las Vegas in 1995. Little ranks second in the nation in homers behind UCLA’s Stacy Nuveman, who has 27, and is fourth in homers per game.

Little also leads the Big West in runs batted in with 55, and is fourth in hitting (.378). She has struck out only 21 times in 180 at-bats.

“She’s had a great year,” Titan Coach Judi Garman said. “One of the nicest compliments you can get is to hear the coach of the other team say, ‘Watch this girl swing.’ That has happened this year.”

It’s a striking contrast to last season, when Little batted .167 with one home run in 30 at-bats.

“I didn’t come into school until the second semester and missed fall practice,” Little said. “I got a late start, and that didn’t help. I was thrown mainly into a pinch-hitting role. That was hard for me last year. I turned real bitter and didn’t have a good attitude. I had never sat on the bench before.”

Little had been an all-conference player for two years at Oklahoma State, but ran into academic problems there and left school after her sophomore season. She moved to Torrance to live with her older sister, Brandy, and didn’t play for one season. After a semester at Mt. San Antonio College, she transferred to Fullerton.

Last fall brought another change in her life.

“My sister told me about a [motivational] seminar she went to that really helped her,” Little said. “I saw what a big difference it had made in her life, so I went to the seminar. It gave me so many insights on life, and how to concentrate, and things like that.

“It helped me focus on what I want out of life, rather than what everyone else wants from me, and it helped me control my nervousness, and stay focused. I had a lot of inner turmoil when I was at Oklahoma State, and I thought I could do better someplace else. I wasn’t happy there, but I think it was because I was an unhappy person then.”

Little thinks her new attitude has helped her as a softball player.

“I think I always had the talent, but a lot of it has to do with confidence,” she said. “I’m a more confident hitter now.”

One of the reasons Little chose Fullerton was the opportunity to work with Titan assistant coach Michelle Gromacki, a catcher on several medal-winning U.S. national teams.

“I’ve seen a lot of growth and maturity in her as a player in the last year,” Gromacki said. “She’s a lot more knowledgeable about handling pitchers, and she’s going to continue to get better as she keeps playing.”

Little has been drafted by the Durham (N.C.) Dragons in the women’s professional fast-pitch softball league, and is planning to sign and join the team after her college career ends.

But first she wants to do well in this week’s regional tournament.

“I’m really looking forward to the regional,” she said. “Most of my family still lives in that area, and I know they’re going to be excited about seeing me play there. When I was at Oklahoma State, we also played at Washington in a regional, and I did real well.”

WALLACH TO HELP

Former Titan star Tim Wallach, a five-time National League All-Star with the Montreal Expos, will join the Fullerton baseball coaching staff next season as a volunteer assistant coach, Coach George Horton said.

Wallach will replace Mike Kirby, who is seeking a full-time coaching position.

“Mike has been an important part of our staff for eight of the nine years I’ve been coaching at Fullerton,” Horton said. “We’ll miss him, but we’re excited about having Tim on our staff.”

Wallach led Fullerton to its first national championship in 1979, winning the Golden Spikes award as player of the year. He holds Titan season records for runs batted in (102) and runs scored (98).

Wallach managed the Dodgers’ San Bernardino team in the California League in the second half of the 1998 season.

Titan Notes

Jason Corapci, a shortstop at Canyon High School who led Orange County in hitting during the regular season, has committed to play at Fullerton. Corapci hit .586 with nine home runs and 38 runs batted in. He led the county in hits (51) and runs (45). . . . Titan pitcher Jon Smith has been selected to the District 8 Academic All-American baseball team. . . . Fullerton had the third-highest grade-point average among Division I wrestling teams in a survey conducted by the National Wrestling Coaches Assn. The Titans’ 3.1267 average on a 4.0 scale finished behind only Princeton and Boston College.