STEPPING UP TO BAT OLYMPIC SOFTBALL VISIT IS A BIG HIT.

Byline: Ramona Shelburne  Staff Writer

Jonsie Ross was a star softball pitcher at Annandale High (Va.) in 1974. Her teams never lost a game in four years.

But after she graduated, there was no college or professional league to play in, and there certainly weren't any Olympic gold medalists for her to look up to.

Ross would have given anything to meet an Olympic hero when she was a kid, so there was no way she was going to let a little thing like showing up on the wrong day keep her 8-year-old daughter, Jessica, from meeting United States Olympic softball players Lisa Fernandez, Jessica Mendoza and Nicole Giordano.

The three Olympians signed autographs and pictures for about 100 local softball players Sunday at Big League Sports in Santa Clarita.

``I read the flyer wrong and came (Saturday). But there was no way we were going to miss it, so we just came back down (Sunday),'' Jonsie Ross said. ``We watched all the games in the Olympics. If they were on late, we taped them and watched them in the morning. But we love softball.''

Jessica Ross, who plays softball at Hart Little League, said her new favorite player is Fernandez, a three-time gold medalist.

``She asked me some questions about what to do at second base,'' Ross said. ``A few of them were hard. ... But maybe if I work hard I can play like her.''

Fernandez does hundreds of events such as Sunday's every year, but she makes a point to make a connection with each person she meets.

``I remember back in the day when I used to idolize different people and I just wished they say one word to me,'' Fernandez said. ``So when a kid comes up, you want to hopefully make an impression on their life, and if you can be a positive role model, I think that's what it's all about.''

Kim Kalinowski and Bonnie Jenkins brought their daughters, Hailey Jenkins and Sierra Quinala, to meet the Olympians to inspire and motivate them. Jenkins, Quinala and Haley Hineman, 10, all play for the Reds in the minor division at Hart Little League.

``If they put their minds to it, they could do anything,'' said Kalinowski, who played tennis at Kennedy High of Granada Hills in the mid 1980s. ``It's nice that they're out here locally and take the time to meet the girls. It's not everyday you get to meet an Olympic gold medalist.''

Giordano, who played at Saugus High and coached at Hart High, reminisced with some of the local girls about her time playing in Hart Little League.

``I always try to tell them, 'Hey, I started out at the little league down here, that's where I learned ot love the game,' '' she said. ``Sometimes, we just go out there and play and you don't realize how many kids really look up to you.''

Ramona Shelburne, [phone]

ramona.shelburne(at)dailynews.com

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2 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) U.S. Olympic softball players Nicole Giordano a Saugus High graduate, Jessica Mendoza and Lisa Fernandez, from left, sign autographs Sunday. The gold medalists were appearing at Big League Sports, a new sporting goods store in Newhall.

(2 -- color) Eight-year-old Jacey Massette, with her dad, Craig, gets a book signed by one of the players from the U.S. Olympic softball team.

Joel P. Lugavere/Special to the Daily News