BIG LEAGUE WORLD SERIES NOTEBOOK WEATHER WATCH A.V. GIRLS SURVIVE CHANGING CONDITIONS.

Byline: Lee Lamberts Special to the Daily News

KALAMAZOO, Mich. - The trip to the Big League Softball World Series continues to be a learning experience for the Antelope Valley District 51 All-Stars.

If the girls thought they had seen it all on the weather watch, Thursday morning provided a completely different surprise.

A cold front that moved through western Michigan overnight collided with an existing warm front, punching out nearly an inch of rain, then forcing the temperature to drop more than 10 degrees from the day before.

So, instead of playing under sunny skies and in the low 80s as they did with two victories Wednesday, the girls experienced what is typically an early-spring day in Michigan - lots of clouds, no evidence of sun and temperatures that don't even threaten 70.

It was yet another set of conditions that they had not yet seen, but they managed to overcome them.

To top it off, Thursday's game was moved back an hour and even when the teams took the field, Antelope Valley and the team from Victoria, B.C., had to play on wet grass, soggy infield dirt and with softballs that remained damp throughout the game.

Yet Marciea Ball endured, limiting the Canadians to just three hits as Antelope Valley rolled to a 4-1 victory, improving to 4-1 with one game to go in the round-robin tournament.

Ball struck out four but walked five, a combination, her coach said, of the slippery ball and the slippery strike zone.

``She was battling wet balls and a very inconsistent strike zone all day,'' Lester Ball said. ``But both teams were getting frustrated with it, and we just had to make the best of things.

``We really battled the elements today. We told the girls before the game to make sure they got a good grip on the ball and to make sure they kept it down if they didn't have a good grip.''

Canada scored its only run in the third inning, but Marciea Ball's biggest struggle came in the sixth after A.V. had increased its lead to 4-1.

An error, a fielder's choice grounder and a walk left runners on first and second and prompted Coach Ball to give his daughter a brief pep talk.

``I told her that though she was struggling with the wet ball and the strike zone, (Florida) didn't demonstrate that they had a lot of power, so I just told her to throw it across the plate,'' he said.

She did. After striking out the leadoff batter in the seventh, Ball walked leadoff hitter Mel Wilson, but then got a couple of groundouts to end the game.

--Defense: Though Ball struggled on the mound, the Antelope Valley defense remained as staunch as it had been throughout the week. The all- stars committed just one error Thursday that had no effect on the outcome.

Sayoko Rutledge was particularly outstanding in center field, chasing down two deep fly balls from Canada batters that, in Marciea Ball's words, saved the game for A.V.

``She hates it when I say this because she's an infielder at heart, but she's an outstanding center fielder,'' Ball said, ``I mean, those two were over-the-shoulder catches that would have been doubles for sure. In fact, all the girls were awesome out there today.''

--Just hit the ball: Thursday's 11-hit game was the team's best since arriving in Michigan and the Antelope Valley girls didn't waste any time warming up the bats despite the cooler temperatures.

The team scored three runs on four hits and three walks, and never trailed.

With two hits Thursday, Erin Yasumoto has six hits in the past three games. Shortstop Heather Nix leads the way with seven hits and has hit safely in all five of the team's games.

--Oh-oh: A.V. failed to negotiate a double play on Thursday, making this the first time in 10 tournament games - five each during regional and World Series play - that the team has failed to get a double play in a game.

A.V. has turned 12 double plays through nine games, including eight in five games before they left the West Coast.