They are never left out

When Anne Belden caught a cross-court pass in her left palm and immediately fired a hard, sure shot to give the Newport Harbor girls’ water polo team a 5-3 lead late in the third quarter of a recent game, she deftly and dramatically demonstrated her own classic form and the benefit of having a southpaw in the pool.

“It’s a huge advantage,” Belden said. “Sometimes a person comes up to me, and it’s just really easy to turn and shoot.”

Long Beach Wilson defenders who were crossed up on the play put the clamps on Belden otherwise, leaving them proud of their defensive effort despite losing the nonleague game, 6-3, at Long Beach Belmont Plaza.

“That’s going to happen sometimes when you’re playing a lefty,” Wilson junior Maddie Welty said. “It’s a tricky situation because you’re used to right-handers, and when you throw in a lefty, it really messes things up. At least she only got one goal.”

Belden, a junior driver regarded by coaches as the best left-hander in the Southland, has been shut out only once this season, in an 11-5 loss to Santa Barbara. With 44 goals, she is the Sailors’ second-leading scorer.

Such offensive threats and defensive challenges make left-handers as precious an asset in water polo as they are in baseball, and for similar reasons.

“It’s the same thing as having a left-handed pitcher,” said Kyle Kopp, assistant coach of the U.S. national women’s water polo team. “They do something a little bit different and just present a little different look than what people are used to.”

Having lefties eliminates what would otherwise be considered a team’s weak side, helping to keep defenses honest. By playing on the right side, where their strong hand is inside, lefties also afford teams more offensive balance and strength while attacking the middle, a prime objective in water polo.

The ability to provide such edges and the relative paucity of left-handers in the sport places a southpaw high on teams’ wish lists.

Santa Margarita, for example, annually has as many as 60 players in its program but has had just one lefty on the varsity level in seven years.

“We have tons of girls out there, but for whatever reason, we have none,” Santa Margarita Coach Kevin Ricks said of left-handers. “I might have to go out to the softball field and steal one, or something.”

Lefties are equally coveted at the next level of competition, and talented ones have an advantage in the recruiting game.

“They’re a very hot commodity,” said UCLA Coach Adam Krikorian, who guided the Bruin women’s water polo team to the NCAA championship last season. “They just have certain advantages, and that makes them a little more valuable.”

Krikorian, who coaches Belden’s older brother and sister at UCLA, estimates the ratio of right-handers to left-handers in the sport at about 10 to 1.

The differences lefties may make in a game are similarly definitive.

Left-handers on the right side can catch cross-court passes and get shots off without coming or going across their bodies, making them quicker on the draw, in the same way lefties in baseball have quicker pickoff moves to first base.

Another advantage occurs in six-on-five situations, in which lefties serve as an extra-man offensive option for close-range shots from the right side or as a cross-court passer to right-handers on the other side of the goalie cage.

The latter accounts for lefties’ frequent status as team leaders in assists.

If left-handers play the two-meter offensive position, where the offensive and defensive players typically are shoulder to shoulder and facing the same direction, they spin to what would normally be the open side, increasing their scoring chances.

“Everything’s backward from what you’re used to doing,” Long Beach Wilson junior Lauren Silver said. “It’s something you really have to be aware of and think about.”

For the chance to gain such advantages, coaches may be willing to accept less from a left-hander in other areas of the game.

“With lefties, it’s all about offense,” Kopp said. “You might overlook a couple other aspects of the game just because they bring so much to the table offensively.”

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Left-Handed Complements

A scarce commodity in girls’ water polo, left-handed players provide offensive threats and defensive challenges. In addition to Newport Harbor’s Anne Belden, some of the best lefties in the Southland include:

* Meredith Brandon, Irvine Woodbridge, Sr.

The 6-foot winger is second on team with 27 goals and has 21 steals.

* Brandy Bray, Pico Rivera El Rancho, Sr.

Two-meter standout has 62 goals and 34 steals.

* Sharon Diaz, Montebello, So.

Adept at creating own shots at the two-meter position.

* Amy Lamb, Long Beach Wilson, Jr.

Left side of Bruins’ right-left combo with twin sister, Allie.

* Megan O’Linn, Agoura, Sr.

Two-year starter guides Chargers’ offense, leads team in assists.

* Grace Quintana, Montebello, So.

Pure shooter shares offensive load with teammate Diaz.

* Roxanne Rovenger, Santa Ana Foothill, Sr.

A solid starter with 31 assists, 22 steals.

-- Lauren Peterson