Akamine family rule preserves Sarah's career

06-0-2006

By Tom Shanahan, San Diego Hall of Champions

Escondido High’s Sarah Akamine first tried softball as a 7-year-old and hated it.

She admits she only played because her parents, Alex and Carla, wanted her involved in a sport for the exercise more so than because they’re rabid sports fans. But Sarah didn’t understand the force-out rules and once ran to third instead of first after hitting the ball.

She wanted to quit the game and even enlisted the support of her teachers to help her convince her parents she didn’t want to play anymore. But when softball season came around again as an 8-year-old, she was reminded of a family rule – she had to try something twice before she was permitted to give up on it.

Escondido softball -- and more than likely the University of Arizona softball the next four years -- can give thanks for the family rule. Akamine, who committed early with national-power Arizona, has developed into one of San Diego’s finest softball players for perennial power Escondido.

“The second year I got on a great team, I loved the coach and I started to pitch,” Akamine said. “I loved pitching and I loved softball.”

That doesn’t mean she was a natural, though.

“It was a good game when I didn’t hit somebody,” she said. “I got very emotional if I couldn’t throw strikes or if I hit somebody. I was a crybaby sometimes.”

Now, the only ones shedding tears are batters returning to the dugout hitless or pitchers giving up prodigious shots from her bat. Akamine led the Cougars to the CIF San Diego Section Division I title when they defeated Patrick Henry, 3-1, on May 27. She finished the year with a 13-2 record on the mound.

In the regular season, Akamine led North County players with a batting average of .493 (34-of-69) and on the mound with an ERA of 0.20 for 71 innings. She was among the leaders with a record of 10-2 and in home runs (4) and RBI (20).

“She’s a very talented player,” Escondido coach Cary Weiler said. “She hits for power and has a better eye for hitting than most power hitters. Arizona recruited her as a third baseman, but I think she could also pitch in the Pac-10.”

Akamine led the Cougars to a share of the Valley League title with Mission Hills as the two Valley League schools were the highest ranked teams from San Diego in the CalHiSports.com state poll.

The Cougars had won four straight outright Valley League titles before tying Mission Hills this year and have been the Division II runner-up the past two years after winning the Division II title her freshman year. That’s a lot of hardware for the Escondido trophy case.

The irony of Akamine continuing her college career as a third baseman instead of sticking with her first love for the game is Arizona didn’t recruit her as a pitcher.

“They saw her in a travel ball tournament last summer in Colorado and she hit five home runs,” Weiler said. “They loved her power and think she can come in and play third base right away.”

They may have told Weiler she can play as a freshman, but that’s not what convinced Akamine to commit to the Wildcats.

“A lot of schools made me promises if I came to their school,” Akamine said. “Every other school recruited me as a pitcher and they said I could play any position I wanted. But Arizona said I had to earn a spot. I liked that.”

Weiler said he worries when one of his players commits early to a scholarship that they might coast through their senior season, but he says Akamine’s work ethic and leadership on the team has been the best of her career.

Another reason Weiler can be thankful Sarah stuck with softball as an 8-year-old is her two younger sisters followed her into the sport. Lisa Akamine, a sophomore, finished the regular season with a 9-0 record and played the outfield when Sarah pitched. But Sarah says her youngest sister, Hannah, a 7th-grader, might be the best player of the trio.

“I love playing with Lisa,” Sarah said. “She’s a good player and she makes me work harder. But Hannah might be better than both of us. She’s catcher, she’s as tall as I am and she can already hit the ball farther than me.”