A LOOK BACK: TEAMMATES LEARNED AT NEXT LEVEL.Byline: Vincent Bonsignore Daily News Staff Writer When they walked off the field together after last year's Daily News All-Star all-star adj. Made up wholly of star performers: an all-star cast. n. Sports One chosen for a team of star players. Softball softball, variant of baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Invented (1888) in Chicago as an indoor game, it was at various times called indoor baseball, mush ball, playground ball, kitten ball, and, because it was also played by women, ladies' Game - their last as high school players - Thousand Oaks Thousand Oaks, residential city (1990 pop. 104,352), Ventura co., S Calif., in a farm area; inc. 1964. Avocados, citrus, vegetables, strawberries, and nursery products are grown. teammates Jennifer Sharron and Erika Hanson looked forward to bright futures in college. One year later, their careers are no less promising, although Hanson and Sharron had vastly different experiences during their freshman years. Hanson, a first baseman who went on to Arizona Arizona (âr'əzō`nə), state in the southwestern United States. It is bordered by Utah (N), New Mexico (E), Mexico (S), and, across the Colorado R., Nevada and California (W). , played sparingly spar·ing adj. 1. Given to or marked by prudence and restraint in the use of material resources. 2. Deficient or limited in quantity, fullness, or extent. 3. Forbearing; lenient. on a deep, talented team that lost in the College World Series final. Sharron stepped in immediately at Notre Dame Notre Dame IPA: [nɔtʁ dam] is French for Our Lady, referring to the Virgin Mary. In the United States of America, Notre Dame and wound up winning Freshman Pitcher of the Year honors. The two players prove that when it comes to making the jump from high school to college, there are no certainties. Both say they learned a great deal, even if one played a lot and the other only a little. Hanson knew what to expect joining a team that was loaded. She prepared herself for not playing and took advantage of the situation by listening and observing. ``You can learn a lot just by watching from the bench,'' Hanson said. ``I knew this would be a year to improve, from my academics to softball. Basically I just paid attention as much as possible and tried to learn from so many great players.'' Hanson fought off frustration by concentrating on the positives. And that's the advice she would give to any high school player making the jump to college. ``You just have to appreciate the chances you do get,'' Hanson said. ``And you've got to remember that just being (in college) shows how hard you've already worked. There are a million girls playing softball who would have loved to have gotten this far.'' Even though the adjustment for Sharron seemed smoother compared to Hanson's, looks are sometimes deceiving. Sharron struggled at the outset of the year and realized rather quickly that she would no longer be able to blow opponents away with her power pitches. The combination of the livelier college ball, the longer distance from the pitcher's circle to home plate and the improved talent level forced Sharron to become more of a pitcher than a thrower. ``You can't just blow people away at this level,'' Sharron said. ``You've got to outthink out·think tr.v. out·thought , out·think·ing, out·thinks 1. To outdo (another) in thinking. 2. To outwit by thinking. them, too.'' Sharron added some off-speed pitches Noun 1. off-speed pitch - a baseball thrown with little velocity when the batter is expecting a fastball change-of-pace, change-of-pace ball, change-up pitch, delivery - (baseball) the act of throwing a baseball by a pitcher to a batter to complement her rise ball, developed a drop ball and became a more well-rounded pitcher. By the the end of the season she was getting most of the starts. ``If you want to succeed, you can't just expect to do things you were doing,'' Sharron said. ``You have to grow and mature as a player.'' |
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