Perfect Game Proof Turner Feels at Home
By JJ Fiddler, Grunion Gazette
March 23, 2006 Stepping onto the pitching rubber, right foot then left, Long Beach State pitcher Michelle Turner's squinted stare is locked in.
She digs into the dirt with her left toe, while gripping the ball firmly across the seams. Her eyes don't leave the target as she rears back and whips in a pitch.
She looks cool, calm and collected on the softball field. That's what 17 years of experience can do.
Destiny, it seems, works in mysterious ways.
In 1989, a 5-year-old Turner moved with her family into a new home in Buena Park. For Turner's parents, it was difficult to make a home while taking care of a rambunctious child.
"I was a little hyper," Turner, now a junior at Long Beach State, chuckles. "(My parents) wanted something to keep me busy, something to get me out of the house. They put me in baseball, and it kind of stuck."
Turner started her career on the youth T-ball fields. A year later, she was on the softball field, and she hasn't left since.
When she started at John F. Kennedy High School, after years of winning youth softball accolades, Turner had made the decision: she was going to get a scholarship to play softball in college.
"I thought about college in sixth grade, but I really considered it my freshman year," said Turner, who knew the decision meant a dedication to the sport. "I knew it was going to be hard work, but I wanted to go to school (and play softball)."
The hard work paid dividends, and Turner suited up for the varsity softball squad all four years in high school, winning four first-team all-league selections and three team MVP awards.
"We had a tight group," said Turner of her high school teammates. "My senior year we had eight seniors. ä Those were the girls I grew up with."
Turner led that team to the CIF championship game her senior year, collecting her second straight High School Softball Player of the Year award from the Los Angeles Times and the Orange County Register.
Her No. 6 jersey was retired at JFK that summer, but it was time for Turner to make another decision.
Where would the best softball pitcher in Southern California go to college?
"I wanted to play UCLA softball," Turner said. "The history and just the program — when you tell people you play softball for UCLA, they don't believe you."
She thrived on the field for UCLA, posting a 14-0 record and a .083 ERA in '03. She also pitched eight complete-game shutouts that year, helping the Bruins win the national championship.
But off the field, Turner was not happy. She needed a change of pace, a change of scenery, and left UCLA.
Enter Long Beach State Head Coach Pete Manarino.
In order to get her "name out there again," Turner wrote letters to schools across the state, and the first one to reply was Coach Manarino. Turner spoke with Manarino and came to visit the campus.
"It was a good fit from the beginning," she said. "Pete knows there is more to life than just softball. We are young and should be able to have fun — it's not just eat, sleep, breathe, die softball."
A happy athlete is an effective athlete, and the proof is in the pudding.
On March 10, Turner pitched the seventh perfect game in school history, and was named Big West Player of the Week, her second of the year.
Then last Sunday, Turner pitched seven strong innings, giving up no runs and three hits to go along with six strikeouts and no walks in a Long Beach win.
It was her fifth shutout of the season, and she was named Big West Player of the Week for the third time.
Whatever it is that Coach Manarino has, it has served Turner and the team well.
"We have played well recently," Turner said. "Heading into conference play, we feel like we're getting better every time we take the field."
It took a little longer than some, but Turner has found her spot, and it looks like she was meant to be here all along.
The 49ers are home this weekend, with a doubleheader Friday against Ohio State and a single game Saturday against Northwestern.
Both days start at 1 p.m. at the 49ers' softball complex on campus. |
