START TO FINISH; YOUTH FOES REUNITE AS ALL-STAR TEAMMATES FOR ONE LAST HURRAH.Byline: Vincent Bonsignore Daily News Staff Writer It happened six years ago, but for Canoga Park High's Jenny Pitillo it remains one of her greatest memories. It was the day Pitillo stood above the best young pitchers in the San Fernando Valley San Fernando Valley Valley, southern California, U.S. Northwest of central Los Angeles, the valley is bounded by the San Gabriel, Santa Susana, and Santa Monica mountains and the Simi Hills. , a day she can justifiably jus·ti·fi·a·ble adj. Having sufficient grounds for justification; possible to justify: justifiable resentment. jus claim as her own. On that day, Pitillo, who is representing the West in Monday's Daily News All-Star all-star adj. Made up wholly of star performers: an all-star cast. n. Sports One chosen for a team of star players. 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' Game, pitched back-to-back back-to-back adj. Consecutive; successive: back-to-back performances; back-to-back home runs. Adj. 1. shutouts to beat Ashley Redlin's team to win the West Valley Softball League championship. Redlin, who went on to star at 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:
In addition to winning a coveted cov·et v. cov·et·ed, cov·et·ing, cov·ets v.tr. 1. To feel blameworthy desire for (that which is another's). See Synonyms at envy. 2. To wish for longingly. See Synonyms at desire. championship, Pitillo learned two valuable lessons that day, messages that most young athletes figure out sooner or later: Sometimes the best team doesn't always win, and there's always room in the champion's circle for a team that believes in itself. ``I learned to never quit and to never doubt yourself,'' Pitillo said. ``And if you work hard, good things can happen.'' It was considered an upset. After all, Redlin's team - the Rampage - had dominated during the season without a loss, then breezed through the double-elimination playoff play·off also play-off n. Sports 1. A final game or series of games played to break a tie. 2. A series of games played to determine a championship. Noun 1. tournament undefeated. Pitillo's team - the Attitude - finished the regular season with a .500 record then lost the first game of the playoffs, meaning they had to climb through the losers' bracket In programming, brackets (the [ and ] characters) are used to enclose numbers and subscripts. For example, in the C statement int menustart [4] = ; the [4] indicates the number of elements in the array, and the contents are enclosed in curly braces. in order to face the Rampage for the title. ``They were basically just lying in wait,'' said Joe Pitillo, Jennifer's father and an assistant coach for the Attitude. ``They hadn't lost all year up to that point, and all they had to do was win the first game and the championship was theirs.'' Jennifer Pitillo thinks losing the first game of the tournament was a blessing. It forced the Attitude to focus over the next four games, knowing that one loss would end the season. ``All of a sudden we got on a roll,'' Pitillo said. Pitillo made sure the Rampage didn't win the title with a victory in Game 1. From the outset, she had her good stuff working. A hard-throwing left-hander, Pitillo's 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. was particularly effective, and she used it often to weave a one-hitter, stifling the Rampage 5-0 to force an all-or-nothing second game. ``When her screwball is on, it's her money pitch,'' her father said. ``And it was definitely working on that day.'' The Attitude caught a break in the playoffs, since the rule that limited individual pitchers to seven innings INNINGS, estates. Lands gained from the sea by draining. Cunn. L. Dict. h. t.; Law of Sewers, 31. of work each week was waived. That meant Pitillo could pitch again in Game 2. Another factor working in their favor was that the second game was played about 20 minutes after the first one. ``We were all so pumped up after winning game one, so it helped that we had to come right back and play the next one,'' Pitillo remembers. ``If we would have had to wait another day, we may have lost a little bit of our excitement.'' Redlin's coach, Earl Roth, called his team together between games. Roth wanted to remind the Rampage that all the pressure was on Pitillo's team. ``I told them (Pitillo) had pitched the game of her life, what were the chances she'd do it again on the same day?'' Roth said. ``Show's you how much I know. She came back and pitched just as good, if not better.'' Pitillo was unaware of Roth's comments, but she laughed when told he predicted she wouldn't have anything left for the second game. Ironically i·ron·ic also i·ron·i·cal adj. 1. Characterized by or constituting irony. 2. Given to the use of irony. See Synonyms at sarcastic. 3. , Roth was an assistant coach at Canoga Park when Pitillo played there. He's also an assistant for the West All-Stars. Game 2 was much like the first. Pitillo's screwball kept the Rampage off balance throughout. In a 5-0 win, Pitillo threw a no-hitter with 10 strikeouts. Interestingly, Redlin's only recollection of the game was striking out Jemma Santos Santos (sän`t  s), city (1996 pop. 412,288), São Paulo state, SE Brazil, on the island of São Vicente in the Atlantic just off the mainland. , who went on to play at Louisville High.
``I remember that because she was a good player,'' Redlin said. Other than that, she has only hazy haz·y adj. haz·i·er, haz·i·est 1. Marked by the presence of haze; misty: hazy sunshine. 2. memories. ``It was seven years ago,'' Redlin said, laughing. It's fitting that LeCocq, Redlin and Pitillo will end their high school careers Monday as teammates. They grew up together at the West Valley Softball League. Even then, they had an idea they'd go on to successful high school careers. ``You could tell because we played together on all-star teams and I guess we were always considered some of the best players,'' Redlin said. ``I think it's awesome that we can get together one last time as teammates.'' Joe Pitillo remembers those days fondly fond 1 adj. fond·er, fond·est 1. Having a strong liking, inclination, or affection: fond of ballet; fond of my nieces and nephews. 2. . ``All three were really good players, so you knew they'd go on and do well as they grew up,'' he said. ``And they did. Ashley had a great high school career, and (Pitillo) did well, even though she didn't get as much publicity playing (at Canoga Park). And then Maureen, well, we all knew she was good, but she turned out to be great.'' THE GIRLS OF SUMMER JENNIFER PITILLO West Valley Team: The Attitude High School: Canoga Park Notable: Pitched the Rampage to the West Valley Softball League championship . . . Left-hander helped lead Canoga Park into the playoffs for the first time in four years . . . Playing in Monday's 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 . ASHLEY REDLIN West Valley Team: The Rampage High School: El Camino Real Notable: Led the Rampage to an undefeated record in 1993 regular season . . . Right-hander has pitched El Camino Real to two City Championships . . . Playing in Monday's Daily News All-Star Game. MAUREEN LeCOCQ West Valley Team: Purple Pirettes High School: Chaminade Notable: Gatorade National Softball Player of the Year . . . Right-hander LeCocq led Chaminade to the Southern Section Division IV championship this season . . . Playing in Monday's Daily News All-Star Game. CAPTION(S): 7 Photos, Box PHOTO (1--2) Ashley Redlin, left, and Jennifer Pitillo, right, squared off for the West Valley Sofball league championship in the summer of 1993. Six years later, the two are teammates in the Daily News All-Star Game. (3--4) Above: scorecards from Pitillo's two championship-round shutouts and the Attitude team photo. (5) Jennifer Pitillo (6) Ashley Redlin (7) Maureen LeCocq Photos Special to the Daily News BOX: THE GIRLS OF SUMMER (see text) |
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