COLLEGE SOFTBALL: SMALL WONDER : GOLDWATER LACKS SIZE, NOT ABILITY.Byline: Gerry Gittelson Daily News Staff Writer It must be frustrating frus·trate tr.v. frus·trat·ed, frus·trat·ing, frus·trates 1. a. To prevent from accomplishing a purpose or fulfilling a desire; thwart: , perhaps even maddening, to be the other team when Mikki Goldwater takes the mound. In an era when 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' players keep getting bigger and stronger, Goldwater, just 5-feet tall and barely 100 pounds, has established herself as one of California's top community college pitchers. Mixing in a variety of spinning pitches with a sneaky fastball that is a lot faster than one would expect, Goldwater, an Antelope Valley College Antelope Valley College is a comprehensive community college located in Lancaster, California, USA. It is operated by the Antelope Valley Community College District, with a primary service area of 1,945 square miles covering portions of Los Angeles and Kern counties. freshman, is the Foothill Conference's win leader at 20-11 with a 2.76 ERA. The little pitcher is a big reason the Marauders are 32-14-1, tied for first place in the divisionand poised to make an impact when playoff pairings are announced on Saturday. Goldwater, who went 3-1 last weekend to help Antelope Valley College win its own tournament, has never let her size - or lack of it - get in the way of success. She was always a star player in youth softball and in high school at Palmdale High, where she was a three-time All-Golden Leaguer lea·guer 1 n. 1. A siege. 2. The camp especially of a besieging army. tr.v. lea·guered, lea·guer·ing, lea·guers Archaic To besiege; beleaguer. who won 16 games and batting .392 her senior year. She was the High Desert area's top high-school senior last season, along with Boron's Summer Richardson. They were teammates in the Daily News All-Star Game An all-star game is an exhibition game played by the best players in their sports league. The players are often chosen by a popular vote of fans of the sport and the game often occurs at the halfway point of the regular season, although this is not the case for some all-star games last June, an interesting contrast because Richardson is 5-foot-9, very muscular and relies on a blurring fastball. Goldwater and Richardson then united on the District 51 Big League all-star team (18-and-under) over the summer, leading the team to the World Series in Kalamazoo, Mich. Goldwater is successful because she compensates for her physical limitations with pitching savvy. ``What I do is I just mix it up and keep the other team off-balance,'' Goldwater said. ``I know I am never going to overpower o·ver·pow·er tr.v. o·ver·pow·ered, o·ver·pow·er·ing, o·ver·pow·ers 1. To overcome or vanquish by superior force; subdue. 2. To affect so strongly as to make helpless or ineffective; overwhelm. 3. anybody, that's for sure. So I just try to out think them.'' Antelope Valley College center fielder Kristi DiMarco, a longtime friend, was a teammate of Goldwater at Palmdale High along with current AVC (1) (Advanced Video Coding) The video compression techniques used in the H.264 standard, jointly developed by ISO and the ITU-T. See H.264. (2) (Audio Visual C starters Nadine Klemenz (catcher) and Amanda Kauffman (second baseman second baseman n. Baseball The infielder who is positioned near and to the first-base side of second base. Noun 1. second baseman - (baseball) the person who plays second base second sacker ). DiMarco has been watching Goldwater dominate hitters for a long time. ``Mikki is doing so great because she is such a smart pitcher that they don't know Don't know (DK, DKed) "Don't know the trade." A Street expression used whenever one party lacks knowledge of a trade or receives conflicting instructions from the other party. what to expect,'' DiMarco said. ``She kind of baffles them and keeps them off-balance.'' Goldwater leads the Foothill Conference in wins, appearances, innings - and saves, with two. She has just 47 strikeouts in 180 innings, but she said she puts a lot of faith in her defense. ``My catcher Nadine Klemenz is just awesome,'' Goldwater said. ``She has been my catcher for so many years that I never even have to shake her off. She hustles so much and has the best arm I have ever seen. She throws out a lot of runners and when that happens, it's like a pitcher's best friend.'' Goldwater said having so many familiar faces on her team has made the transition to junior college much easier. ``I love being on this team,'' she said. ``It really is a lot of fun. We have a lot of closeness, and that's something that other teams just don't have. It's easier for us because we know what we can all do and what we can't do. It's great.'' Goldwater said her favorite pitch is her changeup change·up n. Baseball A pitch intended to look like a fastball, which actually approaches the plate at a slow speed, thereby causing the batter to swing prematurely. [Alteration of change-of-pace.] . Interestingly, her fastball is actually her outpitch. She uses it primarily to surprise hitters. Goldwater credits her coaches and her father, Jeff Goldwater, for much of her success. She said her dad has doubled as her personal pitching coach since she was 8 years old. ``My daughter is only 100 pounds but she's pitched almost 200 innings this season,'' Jeff Goldwater said. ``So she's actually very strong even though she is so small. But this is nothing new. Mikki has always been the smallest one on the team, ever since she started playing organized softball. But she's pretty good.'' Note: Antelope Valley This article is about the Los Angeles County region. For the census-designated place in Wyoming, see Antelope Valley-Crestview, Wyoming. The Antelope Valley College's last regular-season game against Mt. San Jacinto San Jacinto, river, c.130 mi (210 km) long, rising in SE Texas as the West Fork and flowing S to Galveston Bay. Its chief tributary is Buffalo Bayou, and both the bayou and the lower river are used for the Houston ship channel. , scheduled for last Wednesday, has been postponed. The new date was not available at press time. GOOD AS GOLDWATER Name: Mikki Goldwater Year: Freshman College: Antelope Valley Stats: 20-11 record, 2.76 ERA Ht/Wt: 5-0, 100 pounds Throws/bats: R/R R/R Rest & Relaxation R/R Remove/Replace R/R Race Replica R/R Rise Over Run (mathematics) R/R Retention/Retirement R/R Repeat/Recur High school: Three-time All-Golden League at Palmdale High; won 16 games and batted .392 as a senior; winning pitcher in the Daily News All-Star Game Quick quote: ``I know I am never going to overpower anybody, that is for sure. So I just try to out think them.'' CAPTION(S): Photo, Box PHOTO (Color) Mikki Goldwater of Antelope Valley College is only 5 feet but is one of the region's top pitchers. Daily News File Photo BOX: GOOD AS GOLDWATER (See text) |
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