CHATTER: MENDOZA SHOWS TALENT TO WORLD.Byline: RAMONA SHELBURNE Ramona Shelburne is an American sports journalist currently writing for the Los Angeles Daily News. Shelburne was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. She attended El Camino Real High School in Woodland Hills, California where she was a class valedictorian. Staff Writer Batting third seems to agree with Jessica Mendoza Jessica Mendoza (born 11 November 1980) is an American softball player who won a gold medal at the 2004 Athens Olympics. She was a four-time first team All-American at Stanford University from 1999-2002. Mendoza was named Softball player of the year in 2006. . The former Camarillo High softball standout was asked to play a bigger role in the U.S. national team's offense at last week's World Cup of Softball The World Cup of Softball is a softball tournament run by the Amateur Softball Association. It is a round robin format, with 6 teams. Each team plays each other once, then the two teams with the best records play in a one-game, winner-take-all championship. in Oklahoma City Oklahoma City (1990 pop. 444,719), state capital, and seat of Oklahoma co., central Okla., on the North Canadian River; inc. 1890. The state's largest city, it is an important livestock market, a wholesale, distribution, industrial, and financial center, and a farm and responded with a breakout tournament. In six games, Mendoza hit .611 with a team-high three home runs and 16 RBIs in helping the U.S. avenge last year's title-game loss to Japan and win the five-nation tournament. ``I definitely feel like I've matured. I'm not part of the younger group anymore,'' said Mendoza, 25, who has been on the national team since 2001. ``Before, we were the rookies. I was looking to the veteran players like Lisa (Fernandez) and Laura (Berg) and Leah (O'Brien-Amico), saying, `show me how this is done.' Now there's a new group of younger players, and I just want to show them what it's all about to put on this jersey and represent your country.'' Mendoza said that the U.S. was especially motivated for this year's World Cup because it lost 3-1 to Japan and its hard-throwing pitcher, Yukiko Ueno, in the championship game last year. ``We came in like a new team. We trained and prepared so much for this summer knowing that we weren't going to let what happened last year happen again,'' Mendoza said. The U.S. defeated Japan 11-0 in pool play Sunday and 5-2 in Monday's championship game. Former UCLA UCLA University of California at Los Angeles UCLA University Center for Learning Assistance (Illinois State University) UCLA University of Carrollton, TX and Lower Addison, TX third baseman third baseman n. Baseball The infielder stationed near third base. Noun 1. third baseman - (baseball) the person who plays third base third sacker Andrea Duran continued her impressive debut for the national team. Duran started all six games at third, hit .333 and had two home runs. The awards keep coming for Agoura High's Robert Stock. Earlier in the week, Stock -- a senior catcher/pitcher -- was one of three area baseball players recognized as an EA Sports All-American. Thursday, Stock was one of six athletes nominated for the third annual Aflac National High School Player of the Year Award Several sports leagues honor their best player with an award called Player of the Year. In the United States, this type of award is usually called a Most Valuable Player award. The awards with the "player of the year" phrasing include these. , also known as the Jackie Robinson Noun 1. Jackie Robinson - United States baseball player; first Black to play in the major leagues (1919-1972) Jack Roosevelt Robinson, Robinson Award. The winner will be announced at the Aflac All-American Awards Dinner on Aug. 11 at the Town & Country Resort and Convention Center in San Diego San Diego (săn dēā`gō), city (1990 pop. 1,110,549), seat of San Diego co., S Calif., on San Diego Bay; inc. 1850. San Diego includes the unincorporated communities of La Jolla and Spring Valley. Coronado is across the bay. . The following day, Stock -- an all-state first-team selection by Cal-Hi Sports -- will compete for the West team in the fourth annual Aflac All-American High School Baseball Classic at San Diego State's Tony Gwynn Stadium Tony Gwynn Stadium is the home field of the San Diego State University (SDSU) Aztecs college baseball team. In addition, the San Diego Surf Dawgs of the independent Golden Baseball League use the park as their home field. . The game will be televised live nationally at noon on Fox Sports Net. Stock and Chatsworth shortstop Mike Moustakas were two of the 30 players selected to EA Sports All-America first-team roster. Moustakas was selected City Player of the Year and the state's top junior by Cal-Hi Sports. Newbury Park's Andrew Lambo, the Daily News Player of the Year, was among the 30 players recognized on the All-America second-team roster. Chatsworth outfielder Bobby Coyle has committed to Long Beach State. He hit .426 with six home runs and 36 RBIs this year en route to All-City honors. Coyle has also been selected to play in the Area Code Games in August. Harvard-Westlake of Studio City will host a girls' basketball camp for players in 4th-10th grades from Monday through Friday and July 31-Aug. 4. For more information contact coach Melissa Hearlihy at 818-487-6675 or at www.hw.com. La Canada and St. Francis of La Canada Flintridge are co-hosting their third annual 7-on-7 football passing tournament today, with the eight-team field including Alemany of Mission Hills, Burbank, Chatsworth and Thousand Oaks. The final is scheduled for 7 p.m. at St. Francis' Friedman Field. Erik Boal and Heather Gripp contributed ramona.shelburne@dailynews.com (818) 713-3617 CAPTION(S): photo Photo: Former Camarillo High star Jessica Mendoza inpressed at the World Cup of Softball in Oklahoma City. Chris McGrath/Getty Images |
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