LOOKS CAN BE DECEIVING FIERY DEMEANOR BELIES VISAGE OF VILLAGE CHRISTIAN'S NYDAM.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 Lauren Nydam looks more like a model than an NCAA NCAA abbr. National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I 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' pitcher. At 6-foot, with long, straight blond hair and a thin build, it's hard to imagine she can blow the ball by batters at close to 65 mph. Nydam sounds and acts more like a choir girl than a top pitcher. She's got an effervescent ef·fer·vesce intr.v. ef·fer·vesced, ef·fer·vesc·ing, ef·fer·vesc·es 1. To emit small bubbles of gas, as a carbonated or fermenting liquid. 2. To escape from a liquid as bubbles; bubble up. 3. personality, works with the developmentally disabled, plays the piano and has gone on weekend trips with her church to build orphanages in Mexico. She has a 4.2 grade-point average and scored 1,410 on her SAT and is in the running to be her school's valedictorian. But on the mound, Nydam is a fierce competitor who shows little mercy to opposing batters. ``I can't be nice all the time,'' said Nydam, who has accepted a scholarship to play for Stanford next year. ``I get kind of possessive pos·ses·sive adj. 1. Of or relating to ownership or possession. 2. Having or manifesting a desire to control or dominate another, especially in order to limit that person's relationships with others: of the plate, too. ... But I'm much nicer off the field.'' Village Christian High of Sun Valley coach Jim Stone laughed when asked about Nydam's personality on the mound. ``Sometimes, we have her throw live batting practice to the team and I always tell her, 'Lauren, this isn't for you, it's for the team, just throw BP,' '' Stone said. ``But I know she's not going to be able to help herself. She hates the thought of even letting a batting-practice hitter get hits off of her. She's always sneaking in a 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.] or throwing a drop ball.'' Nydam's competitiveness and pitching talent have made Village Christian a small-school power. The Crusaders won the Southern Section Div. V championship last season and set their sights even higher this year by entering several prestigious tournaments with much larger schools. Village Christian is Christian I (krĭs`chən), 1426–81, king of Denmark (1448–81), Norway (1450–81), and Sweden (1457–64), count of Oldenburg, and founder of the Oldenburg dynasty of Danish kings. ranked No. 2 by the Daily News and No. 1 in the state Div. IV rankings by Cal-Hi Sports after a strong showing at the Foothill tournament two weeks ago. Village Christian is one of the favorites to win the Daily News Victory Spring Classic this weekend. Village Christian was placed in the same pool as San Fernando San Fernando, city, Argentina San Fernando (săn fərnăn`dō), city (1991 pop. 144,761), Buenos Aires prov., E Argentina. It is a district administrative center in the Greater Buenos Aires area. , Agoura and Chaminade of West Hills. They'll open play at 9 a.m. Saturday against San Fernando at Hjelte Sports Complex in Encino. Being favored to win is nothing new for Nydam. She's played for Gordon's Panthers, an elite travel team, the past few summers, including 2003, when the team finished fourth at 18-under Gold Nationals. Nydam is 55-14 with a 0.56 ERA, 32 shutouts, 10 no-hitters and five perfect games in her high school career. But despite those impressive numbers and Village Christian's success, many in the area have privately wondered whether the small school with the skinny (Skinny Station Protocol) Cisco's proprietary implementation of the H.323 IP telephony model. Skinny phones can also be configured for the SIP protocol. See IP telephony. blonde pitcher can really be that good. ``I think people are starting to realize,'' she said. ``We're more well known now. But we're such a small school (600 students), it's hard for some people to take us seriously.'' But as countless opposing batters have learned, there's more to Nydam, and her team, than meets the eye. Ramona Shelburne, (818) 713-3617 ramona.shelburne(at)dailynews.com CAPTION(S): photo Photo: Lauren Nydam is surprisinly fierce when it comes to competition on the softball field for Village Christian of Sun Valley. Joel P. Lugavere/Special to the Daily News |
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