BASEBALL NOTEBOOK: LEAVITT HAS A SOFT SPOT FOR SOFTBALL.

Byline: Heather Gripp Staff Writer

ACTON - The same players who spent the past spring watching Curtis Leavitt play baseball well enough to be drafted by the Minnesota Twins greeted him with laughter and good-natured teasing when Leavitt asked them to join him on the diamond.

That's because the diamond Leavitt was talking about was a softball field.

Leavitt is a standout baseball player, but he is also a master of fast-pitch softball. The recent Vasquez High graduate is a member of the 19-under USA Softball men's junior national team. He spent last week in Canada competing in the ISF World Softball Championships.

``I've grown up around (softball),'' Leavitt said. ``My dad used to play every weekend, and I'd be the bat boy. I always wanted to play, but I had to wait until I was 16.''

Leavitt, 17, grew up playing baseball. He batted .583 with 13 home runs and 64 RBI as a senior at Vasquez, adding 70 strikeouts and a 0.98 ERA in 43 innings on the mound. The Twins made him their 22nd-round draft pick.

Leavitt likely will play baseball at a junior college next season, possibly turning pro after the season, but he hopes softball remains a part of his life long after his baseball playing days are done.

Finding other boys in the area with a similar passion is difficult, leaving Leavitt struggling to find anyone to practice with. He remembers what happened when he tried to get his baseball teammates to try softball.

``They said softball's for girls,'' Leavitt said. ``They won't play. They like to give me a hard time about it.''

Although boys' softball is big enough in other parts of the country that many high schools field teams - most of the players in the national program are from such schools - Leavitt resorts to playing with adults more than twice his age on a men's travel team. He played his first softball game just days after turning 16, the minimum age to join his father's travel team.

He quickly learned the sport was more than a scaled-down version of baseball.

``The pitching, there's no straight pitches,'' he said. ``Everything breaks - and differently than baseball - so you never get that straight fastball. And the game is so much quicker.''

One of the pitchers he faced at last week's tournament was clocked at 81 mph, a speed some of his high school baseball opponents reached from a much further distance.

``It was insane,'' Leavitt said.

There is a noticeable adjustment period when he switches between sports, but Leavitt said it rarely lasts more than a few at-bats.

Going from softball to baseball ``makes the game look a lot slower,'' Leavitt said. ``It takes a while to get used to looking at a little ball instead of a big yellow ball.''

Leavitt's pitching is what got him drafted by the Twins. One attempt at softball pitching was enough to make him realize he should stay out of the circle. He tried out for the national team as a catcher and ended up as the team's third baseman.

Among Leavitt's highlights at the World Championships was a home run for the lone U.S. run in a loss to New Zealand. The U.S. placed fifth of nine teams at the 10-day event, its highest finish in 20 years.

``It was a once-in-a-lifetime thing,'' Leavitt said. ``Baseball comes first, but I do love softball and want to play it as long as I can.''

Heather Gripp, [phone]

heather.gripp(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

photo

Photo:

Former Vasquez High baseball player Curtis Leavitt also plays softball.

Jeff Goldwater/Staff Photographer