GROOVE OF WINDSOR BASEBALL SWING PREPARED SISTERS.

Byline: Gideon Rubin Staff Writer

VALENCIA - When Sarah Windsor and her younger sister Ashley were the only girls playing Canyon Country Little League a few years ago, many didn't like it.

Their presence on the baseball field bruised the egos of some of the boys they beat out for starting jobs, and it wasn't just the kids who openly complained about their being on the team. Shockingly, parents were among their most vocal critics.

``They kept on saying that we should be playing softball, where all the girls were, that this was a boys' sport,'' Sarah Windsor said.

Sarah Windsor was just an 8-year-old at the time of her first Little League tryout, and she didn't quite know how to take the snide remarks, especially coming from so-called ``grown-ups.''

``I went crying back to my dad,'' she said. ``I had never played baseball or softball so I really didn't know the difference, but he told me that it was OK, that I could be out there if I wanted to.''

The Windsor sisters never blinked, playing about four years of Little League ball until Sarah was 12 and Ashley was 10, by which time they'd made it to the Triple-A Dodgers club.

Now they're glad they put up with all the snickering and unkind remarks.

As it happened, it was on the baseball diamond where they developed swings that with a little bit of tinkering under the tutelage of their father, Michael Windsor, have made them two of the Santa Clarita Valley's most intriguing high school golf prospects.

Just more than two years after picking up a club, Sarah Windsor, now a Canyon High junior, is the Cowboys' No. 2 golfer. Last season, she placed fifth in the Foothill League individual championship match, barely missing out on a chance to advance to the Southern Section individual championships.

This year, she and Ashley, a Canyon freshman, are teammates again for the first time since Little League. Ashley Windsor is the Cowboys' No. 4 golfer.

And after struggling in recent years just to field a team, Canyon (2-1) is off to its best start since girls' golf was sanctioned by CIF in 1999.

Both admittedly lack polish but have come a long way since Sarah Windsor launched a club across their yard, shattering a neighbor's light fixture on one of her first attempted swings in her garage about 2 1/2 years ago.

And they seem to be going in the right direction with their homespun swings, which have them taking a nearly vertical path from their backswing through the point of impact, creating what Michael Windsor believes is more clubhead speed.

``I just took that bat swing and converted it into a golf swing,'' said Michael Windsor, who played golf as a freshman at Cal State Northridge for a year and is hopeful his daughters can earn scholarships in the sport if they achieve their potential.

Their swings have raised a few eyebrows at area driving ranges, where seasoned golfers have approached Sarah Windsor telling her how fluid her swing looks.

``It's very unique to them,'' Canyon senior Kelsey Kirkpatrick, the Cowboys' No. 1 golfer, said of the Windsor sisters' swing. ``I know exactly what it looks like. It's kind of hard to explain, but it's like vertical. I guess you could say their dad built it.''

Canyon coach Bob Meyers said Sarah Windsor already has made a significant contribution to the program, and because Ashley Windsor will have had more time to develop her game - she'll have played the sport for six years by the time she's a senior - her potential upside is even greater.

Despite a sisterly rivalry Meyers thinks Sarah and Ashley sometimes take a bit too far, the Windsor sisters are glad to be teammates again, especially now that they're in a less hostile environment.

``We can come out here and just be sisters now,'' Ashley Windsor said. ``We've gotten a lot closer the last couple of months since we've been on the team, so it's a lot of fun.''

Gideon Rubin [phone]

gideon.rubin(at)dailynews.com

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Photo:

Canyon High's Ashley, left, and Sarah Windsor took grief for playing Little League baseball, but it led to effective golf swings.

John Lazar/Staff Photographer