VALLEY / VENTURA COUNTY SPORTS : CLUB SCENE / PAIGE A. LEECH : Russell Sure Not Finished as Starter

Not so fast Elena Ferrero.

Anna Russell has another season left at Harvard-Westlake High and intends to make the most of it.

Based on her recent performance at a national softball tournament, Russell won’t be relinquishing her starting position any time soon.

Russell led the Valley Breeze to a runner-up finish last month in the Amateur Softball Assn.’s 18-and-under national championships in Sioux Falls, S.D., allowing 10 hits and no runs in 55 2/3 innings.

Although Russell has been among the region’s most notable pitchers since her freshman season when she struck out 161 in 162 innings, she hasn’t garnered much attention from area media or college recruiters since.

“She’s got to be the most underrated pitcher in the United States,” said Gary Fetman, co-coach of the Valley Breeze.

Russell, a senior right-hander, led Harvard-Westlake to its first playoff victory and to the Division IV semifinals as a sophomore.

But last season, Russell seemed overshadowed by Ferrero, a freshman who has been a mainstay in newspaper articles since leading the Southern California Stealth to a 12-and-under national title in 1995.

“I don’t know why I’ve been overlooked because bottom line is I have led [Harvard-Westlake],” Russell said. “I guess I just don’t do what her family does to get the attention. It’s not as important to me to get the press.”

Ferrero, whose father Chuck is athletic director at Valley College, was 10-6 with a 1.12 earned-run average at Harvard-Westlake last season.

Russell, who is a distant cousin of Ferrero’s, battled a hamstring injury since the Mission League opener and finished 5-9 with a 1.94 ERA.

“This kid is sick of having lived in the shadow of Maureen LeCocq [of Chaminade] all this time and then along comes Elena Ferrero,” Fetman said. “But [competition] fires her up.”

Terry Elledge, coach at Harvard-Westlake, said he showed no preference for one particular pitcher last season, alternating starts until Russell was weakened by the hamstring injury.

“I don’t know that they were happy about it but I was comfortable with [alternating starts],” Elledge said. “I think they’re both quality pitchers.”

Based on how Elledge’s pitchers did this summer, picking one over the other remains impossible. Ferrero led her travel ball team--the Panthers Gold--to a runner-up finish in the 16-and-under national championships in Marietta, Ga.

Considering Russell’s performance this summer, Fetman is surprised college recruiters aren’t swarming with scholarship offers.

“Because I think she can pitch with anybody,” Fetman said.

Russell hopes to attract interest during ASA tournament play in October. Until then, she is dreaming of a scholarship offer from Washington.

“It’s a stretch, but it’s a goal,” she said.

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Seven women who played high school softball in the region are among 39 competing in the U.S. Olympic team trials Thursday through Saturday in Midland, Mich.

The players will vie for 15 spots on the national team, which will compete at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia.

The roster will be announced in San Diego on Monday.

Candidates include Crystl Bustos of Canyon; Amy Chellevold of Thousand Oaks; Sheila (Cornell) Douty of Taft; Nancy Evans of Hoover; Barbara Jordan of Granada Hills; Kim Maher of Buena and Becky Witt of Louisville.

Douty and Maher played for the 1996 gold-medal winners; Jordan was an alternate.