IN POSITION TO SUCCEED: WEARING HER EMOTIONS ON HER SLEEVE SAUGUS FIRST BASEMAN HOOPER EXCELS IN HER NEW ROLE AS A PITCHER.Byline: GIDEON RUBIN Special to the Daily News Sarah Hooper is an intensely competitive 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' player who just happens to pitch. The Saugus High senior, a converted first baseman who took up the position out of necessity, is first to admit her fiery disposition doesn't fit the position's calm, cool and collected prototype. Although she won't hesitate to pump her fist or shrug her shoulders as a game's flow changes, Hooper has excelled in a role that doesn't fit her personality. Heading into Tuesday's Foothill League game against Burroughs High of Burbank, Hooper was 13-4 and ranked third in league with a 1.19 ERA. She has 105 strikeouts and has allowed 70 hits and 32 walks in 106 innings. She also is among her team's leading hitters with a .323 batting average batting average n. Baseball A measure of a batter's performance obtained by dividing the total of base hits by the number of times at bat, not including walks. Noun 1. . ``I know I'm supposed to have a poker face when I'm out there, but I'm really not very good at that,'' Hooper said. ``I'm not going to lie, I'm a very emotional player. I put it all out there when I play.'' Hooper saw limited action in the pitcher's circle early in her travel-ball career. She logged just 21 innings, with a 2-0 record and 0.67 ERA, as a junior. Hooper has played every position but shortstop and second base at Saugus. She played mostly at first base last season and was catcher her sophomore year after Tiffany Huff huff - To compress data using a Huffman code. Various programs that use such methods have been called "HUFF" or some variant thereof. Opposite: puff. Compare crunch, compress. suffered a season-ending ankle injury. Hooper has signed with Division I St. Peter's College St. Peter's College may refer to: Places of education sorted by location Australia
n. Baseball The infielder stationed near third base. Noun 1. third baseman - (baseball) the person who plays third base third sacker . Her playing style has made her a favorite among teammates and coaches. ``You really don't see too many pitchers like that,'' Saugus coach Rich Perez said. ``She just knows how to compete - that's her edge. She's always up for the challenge.'' Hooper is primarily a breaking-ball pitcher who relies on command. Her screwball screw·ball n. 1. Baseball A pitched ball that curves in the direction opposite to that of a normal curve ball. 2. Slang An eccentric, impulsively whimsical, or irrational person. adj. and drop curve are her best pitches. She throws a 60 mph fastball - slightly above average by high school standards - that is sneaky because hitters typically sit on her offspeed stuff. Whatever Hooper lacks in experience or raw pitching ability, she has made up for with her competitiveness. On Thursday, she outpitched Valencia phenom phe·nom n. Slang A phenomenon, especially a remarkable or outstanding person. Jordan Taylor in a 2-0 upset, striking out eight batters in a three-hit shutout that put Saugus (15-9 overall, 4-2 Foothill) back into title contention. She was 3 for 3 at the plate. ``One day, I was better,'' Hooper said proudly. ``As long as I could bring it for that game, that's all I care about.'' She has held her own against elite competition on several occasions, including a season-opening, 2-0 loss to Cactus of Glendale, Ariz, then the No. 2 team in the nation. She pitched a five-hitter. Hooper pitched a five-inning no-hitter in a 8-0 rout over Golden League power Quartz Hill in the March 20 High Desert Classic title game. ``Her attitude is that nobody's going to beat her,'' Huff said. ``She's just very competitive. She's ready to beat any team, it doesn't matter what name's on front of their jerseys.'' Hooper said playing on a cohesive, talent-rich Saugus team has motivated her to elevate her game. She is among three Div. I-bound players - Huff has signed with Tennessee, and slugging junior 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 Victoria Kemp has verbally committed to Arizona - on a list that Perez predicts will grow to five. ``Being around these girls for so long makes me want to pick up my game and be as good as they are,'' she said. She has put her own signature on her game in the process. ``I'm a very emotional person, and I'm a very emotional player,'' Hooper said. ``If I don't like what's going on What's Going On is a record by American soul singer Marvin Gaye. Released on May 21, 1971 (see 1971 in music), What's Going On reflected the beginning of a new trend in soul music. , you'll probably know it. You'll see it in my face. I know that's probably a bad thing for a pitcher, but that's how I am.'' gideon.rubin(at)dailynews.com (818) 713-3607 LEAGUE UPDATES GOLDEN Lancaster sophomore Heather Sandberg pitched the first perfect game in school history Thursday in a 9-0 league victory over Littlerock. Sandberg, who is 7-3 with a 1.72 ERA, has struck out 115 batters and allowed just 14 walks in 77 1/3 innings. She struck out nine batters against Littlerock and has 52 strikeouts in her past four games. PACIFIC Crescenta Valley The Crescenta Valley is a small inland valley in Los Angeles County, California. Its name derives from its crescent-like shape, with the convex portion facing roughly northeast and the concave portion southwest. of La Crescenta freshman phenom Ballie Kirker has obliterated o·blit·er·ate tr.v. o·blit·er·at·ed, o·blit·er·at·ing, o·blit·er·ates 1. To do away with completely so as to leave no trace. See Synonyms at abolish. 2. her school's single-season home run record and is on the brink of setting a state freshman mark. Kirker, who has 12 home runs, broke a school record (8) set 20 years ago by Deniel Dover. She's within one of tying the state freshman record with four regular-season games remaining. SUNSET SIX Verdugo Hills of Tujunga clinched the title outright with Thursday's 4-1 victory over Poly of Sun Valley. Verdugo Hills sophomore infielder Alyssa Johnson went 5 for 5 with two doubles, four RBIs and four runs in Friday's 24-0 thrashing thrashing: see threshing. Excessive paging in a virtual memory computer. If programs are not written to run in a virtual memory environment, the operating system may spend excessive amounts of time swapping program pages in and out of the disk. of Hollywood. Johnson is batting .625 and is tied for second in the City with 10 home runs and 47 RBIs. TRI-VALLEY Oak Park (11-5, 5-1) is tied for first with St. Bonaventure of Ventura (14-4, 5-1). Oak Park defeated third-place La Reina La Reina (Spanish: "The queen") is a commune of Chile located in Santiago Province, Santiago Metropolitan Region. It consistently ranks in the top five communes with the best quality of life in the Metropolitan Region. of Thousand Oaks Thousand Oaks, residential city (1990 pop. 104,352), Ventura co., S Calif., in a farm area; inc. 1964. Avocados, citrus, vegetables, strawberries, and nursery products are grown. (12-3, 4-2) last week to move into first place, but St. Bonaventure pulled even with a 6-1 win Thursday over the Eagles. Oak Park is led by sisters and battery-mates Kayla and Julia Rice. Kayla, a senior catcher, is batting .378. Julia is 7-2 with a 0.70 ERA. WEST VALLEY El Camino Real El Camino Real (Spanish for The Royal Road or The King's Highway) was the name of a series of pre-automobile highways linking the various New World colonies of Spain:
CAPTION(S): photo, 6 boxes Photo: Heading into Tuesday, Saugus High School Saugus High School may refer to:
Hans Gutknecht/Staff Photographer Box: (1) DAILY NEWS TOP 10 (2) SEVEN-DAY FORECAST (3) THEY SAID IT (4) `SUPER JOB' (5) TALENT SHOWCASE (6) TRIPLE CROWN |
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