PITCHERS WORKING OUTSIDE THE LINES; TOP PLAYERS SEEK PERSONAL INSTRUCTION.

Byline: Rizza Yap Daily News Staff Writer

Like any aspiring musician or artist, softball pitchers Jamie Gillies, Jennifer Sharron and Amanda Fortune felt the need to take personal instruction.

``From the start, I wanted to be a really good pitcher,'' Sharron, the Thousand Oaks graduate who began taking lessons at age 11, said. ``If you're going to learn, you might as well learn right and right away. There was no other way not to develop bad habits.''

To help them succeed, Gillies, Fortune and Sharron are just three of the countless athletes looking to improve their game by taking private lessons.

Gillies, who now pitches for the University of Michigan, has been instructed by Hart High science teacher and former softball coach Dennis Ford for the last eight years. Since moving away to college, the sophomore-to-be no longer sees Ford on a weekly basis but makes sure the lessons continue in the summer and holidays.

``Even when I go back home for Thanksgiving or Christmas, I'd see him once or twice,'' Gillies, a Saugus High graduate said. ``That's how valuable he is to me.''

After registering a fair 7-6 record during her first year of college softball - also her first year of pitching away from Ford - Gillies said her summer ball performance has already improved, partly because she's back at home with her coach.

``I haven't lost this summer yet,'' said Gillies, who plays for the Hurricanes in Riverside. ``I think a lot of it is I'm more comfortable with me seeing him every week. He knows what I do, he knows my style, he's gotten me through a lot.''

Fortune, an upcoming sophomore at Hart High, also began taking lessons with the Ford family and was first coached by Samantha Dusenberry, Ford's daughter, as a sixth grader. Dusenberry, 30, began instructing after playing softball at UCLA. She and Ford have teamed up, with Dusenberry working usually with the younger students. Dusenberry lives a mile away from her father in Newall, where Ford's backyard is set up for pitching lessons.

Most of Dusenberry's students are 8 to 10 years old. Ford, 57, works mostly with teenagers, although he once gave lessons to a 32-year-old woman and a 46-year-old man who played in a league.

``At some point, I try to give my students to (my dad) because they've been with me for so long,'' Dusenberry said. ``I spend a lot of time working with skills, mechanics and different pitches. He concentrates more on game philosophy and advanced pitches.''

Ford has been coaching for almost three decades, as well as Orange County-based Don Sarno, highly regarded by many Valley athletes. But Dusenberry, who's coached for nine years, said interest in private coaching truly rocketed in the early '90s.

``Pitching lessons took off about five or six years ago,'' she said. ``That was my absolute, extreme busiest time. But it really hasn't slowed down.''

Ford said about 15 students visit him once a week during the summer. Lessons range from 20 to 30 minutes and cost $20 each.

Darwin Tolzin, Westlake High softball coach who offers pitching clinics to his players, said he comes across many interested athletes but keeps his schedule light at four students per week.

``If I had 50, 49 of them probably don't get quality coaching,'' Tolzin said. ``I wouldn't remember from week to week what we had already accomplished.''

Sarno, who pitched competitively for 33 years, works with numerous athletes nationwide and overseas. He has been coach to Sharron and Fortune, as well as Olympians and even members of the Japanese national team. Sarno also served as pitching coach for the 1994 World Champion U.S. women's national softball team.

Typically, Sarno charges $25 for a 30-minute session and tries to see his students once every three to four weeks. And that's not only because many of them come from such places as Fresno, Stockton and Reno, Nev.

``My philosophy is they need to become their own best coach,'' Sarno said. ``They always get better working on their own rather than having to come in every week and having the crutch of the instructor being there all the time and telling them what to do.''

Dusenberry said most older students discover independence, but some - along with the younger ones - usually need regularly scheduled instruction.

Whatever type of schedule students follow with their private coaches, many say that one-on-one pitching instruction has been instrumental in their success. High school athletes, in particular, find more individualized attention with a private coach.

``During the season, (high school) coaches have so much more to worry about - infielding, outfielding, hitting and pitching - that (pitchers) have to stay after and work a lot more than anyone else to get what they need,'' Fortune said. ``If you go to a pitching coach, you get what you need in a half hour.''

High school coaches, like Miki Mangan of Camarillo, agree with Fortune.

``It takes so much time to be great pitchers, and a pitching coach will refine and tune them,'' Mangan said. ``How they pitch has nothing to do with how I coach the team. The first year I coached, I called all the games. Last year, I didn't. It comes down to what kind of pitch the pitcher has.

``What they work on with the pitching coach has nothing to do with how the team plays as a whole. I definitely think (lessons) are a good thing.''

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Photo: Dennis Ford has given instruction to pitchers like Jamie Gillies for three decades.

Evan Yee / Daily News