Seeing best in Olympic softball

JEFF TULLY

One of the most talent-rich squads competing at the 2004 Athens

Summer Olympics is the U.S. softball team.

The team is on a quest to repeat as Olympic champion, as the

Americans boast the most successful and celebrated bunch at the

Games.

In a testament to the quality of softball players developed in

California, 14 of Team USA’s 18 players are from the state.

Although none of the players hail from the immediate area, some

competed in the city with their high-school teams.

During my tenure as a sports reporter and editor for the Leader

and the Long Beach Press- Telegram, I have had the opportunity to

cover three players who are playing for Team USA.

Unfortunately for the Burbank and Burroughs softball teams, two of

the players competed for rival Foothill League schools, and they did

their share of damage when they faced the local teams.

Chrystal Bustos -- who attended Canyon High -- was one of the best

high school hitters I ever saw. She has a great deal of raw power,

which paid dividends during her career with the Cowboys.

Bustos, an infielder, was on the U.S. team that won a gold medal

at the 2000 Games in Sydney, leading the squad with 10 hits, three

home runs and five runs.

Bustos is one of six former 2000 Olympians on the 2004 National

Team.

Another pure hitter is outfielder Nicole Giordano, who played at

Saugus High.

Along with being an accomplished hitter, Giordano is also a fine

fielder and a good baserunner.

A three-time All-American honoree, Giordano helped lead the

University of Arizona to a Women’s College World Series championship

in 2001.

As good as Bustos and Giordano were in high school, neither was as

incredible as Lisa Fernandez.

At Lakewood St. Joseph High, Fernandez became the most successful

pitcher in California history.

Along with sharing the CIF Southern Section record with Cerritos

Gahr High’s De De Weiman -- who I also had the pleasure of seeing

play -- for career no-hitters with 37, Fernandez also holds the mark

of career perfect games with 12.

She also had 69 career shutouts, a career 0.07 earned-run average

and 1,503 career strikeouts.

I remember watching Fernandez pitch, and she was just amazing. It

was like she was on a totally different level than almost of all the

players she faced.

If St. Joseph was playing a game and one of our Press-Telegram

reporters wasn’t there to cover it, the Jesters’ coach would always

call in with the team’s results.

However, when the coach identified himself, our first questions

for him were usually: “Did Lisa pitch a no-hitter or a perfect game?”

Or “How many did Lisa strike out this time?”

She was just a pitching machine that mowed down opposing batters

with remarkable efficiency.

Fernandez was also on the 2000 U.S. gold-medal team, where she

established an Olympic record with 25 strikeouts in game against

Australia, as well as posting an 0.47 ERA.

She was also on the 1996 team that captured gold at the Atlanta

Summer Olympics. At the Games, she had a 1-1 record and an 0.33 ERA.

In college, Fernandez led UCLA to two national championships and

was a four-time NCAA All-American.

The Americans have been able to roll in Athens, outscoring their

opponents, 24-0. They defeated Italy, 7-0, Australia, 10-0, Japan,

3-0 (in eight innings) and China on Tuesday, 4-0, in pool play.

*

A few years ago, Burbank did have a softball player compete in the

Olympics. Although Sheila Cornell Douty didn’t grow up locally, she

was a resident in 1996 when she was an infielder on the U.S. team

that brought home the gold.

In Atlanta, she had the second-highest batting average for the

Americans (.393), and had a team-high 11 hits and nine RBI. She

collected her third home run of the Olympics with a game-winning

blast against China.

Also a standout for UCLA, Cornell Douty helped the Bruins win

national titles in 1982 and 1984.

With the 2008 Summer Games scheduled for Beijing, China, the area

could possibly have another Olympic representative.

If she continues to do well, former Burroughs High standout Sara

Larquier could take her place among the nation’s best players.

In just two years at University of Virginia, Larquier has already

earned All-American accolades, and she is a rising star in the

collegiate ranks.

However, that possibility is a long four years away. But it’s fun

to speculate anyway.

* JEFF TULLY is the sports editor of the Burbank Leader. He can be

reached at 637-3245, or by e-mail at jeff.tully@latimes.com.