THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, April 7, 1996 TAG: 9604050206
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 25 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Sports
SOURCE: BY JAMI FRANKENBERRY, SUN SPORTS EDITOR
DATELINE: SUFFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 91 lines
LEA WILSON strolls to the area behind home plate between innings at Nansemond-Suffolk Academy softball games with confidence. She yells, ``Shake it off'' when her team falls behind and informs the infield when there's an easy force play at second. And she regularly guns down runners trying to steal second.
These days, Wilson has little problem with being a catcher in fast pitch softball. In fact, she makes it look easy. But she was skeptical when N-SA coach Mike Putnam approached her about becoming a catcher in the eighth grade.
``Fast pitch was new to me and I wasn't sure of myself,'' says Wilson, who played first base before moving to catcher. ``I was kind of scared because I had never (played catcher) before. I was clueless. I guess Mr. Putnam saw something in me that made him think I could be a good catcher.''
Putnam did.
``She had the personality of a catcher,'' he says. ``She was a little bit loud and not shy at all. But she wasn't really for it because in slow pitch (which Wilson had played since she was four) catcher is not a glamorous job. It's not a challenge, but in fast pitch, she's one of the keys on the field.''
Since Wilson's first game as catcher when all she ``did was sit back there and catch the ball,'' the senior has in fact become one of the Saints' keys on the field. Wilson batted .421 last season with 37 RBIs and helped lead the Saints to a Tidewater Conference of Independent Schools title and a state championship. This week, the 18-year-old verbally agreed to attend the University of North Carolina-Wilmington to play softball.
``I love (catching) now,'' says Wilson, a first team All-TCIS and all-state selection last year who also considered attending Mary Washington and Emory and Henry. ``There's nothing I'd rather be doing. It's definitely intense. It's the position on the field, other than pitcher, that gets the most action and you're into everything. There's not a boring moment. You're in every play no matter what.''
Part of her development as a catcher, says Wilson, was her decision to focus on one sport. At Nansemond-Suffolk Academy, she had played basketball and been a member of the swim team and split her summers between the three sports. Then last summer, Wilson played with the Lady Tides, an area Amateur Softball Association team after spending the previous two breaks in AAU basketball and on a swim team.
``I had never concentrated on one thing,'' says Wilson, who also played ASA ball after the eighth grade. ``I could have gone to a small college to play basketball and do everything or decide on a big school and do one thing. Just recently I've decided that softball's what I want to do. I had never done that, so it took a lot off my mind.''
Another part of her improvement was learning from teammate Sarah Putnam, an all-state and all-TCIS pitcher since the ninth grade who signed in November with the University of Maryland to be a catcher. Sarah Putnam is a catcher in AAU ball.
``I watched Sarah and learned from her (during the summer),'' says Wilson, whose N-SA team had a 3-3 record (two losses to Group AAA teams) as of Wednesday. ``She's taught me a lot.''
Wilson adds that having Sarah, the Saints pitching ace with a 22-4 record and ERA below 1.00 last season, as her battery mate hasn't hurt.
``We're best friends, so it's easy to work together,'' Wilson says. ``We know what to expect from each other. That's the best thing to have. It'll be a big change for me next year.''
Wilson, who has a career batting average at N-SA of .500, is quick to point out that she's not disappointed about playing most of her career in Sarah's shadow.
``Who wouldn't be (overshadowed) with Sarah on the same team?'' Wilson says. ``I don't think about that at all.''
Says Sarah, ``I didn't want her to ever think that she had to compete with me because that would tear us up.''
Wilson also says she doesn't think about individual honors. You'd have to ask her coach if she earned all-conference honors last season, because Wilson doesn't know.
``I don't think they're important,'' she says of individual awards. ``It's only important when the team does well. I won't remember whether I got MVP, but I'll remember if the team does well.''
And if the Saints do well again this year, it will likely come with help from Wilson, who reluctantly became a catcher on that fateful day when she says she was a ``clueless'' eighth-grader. ILLUSTRATION: TIDEWATER CONFERENCE SOFTBALL
File photo by L. TODD SPENCER
Lea Wilson was a proud teammate when Nansemond-Suffolk Academy won
the Tidewater Conference of Independent Schools title last year. The
Saints also took the state title in '95.
by CNB