New home, sweet home

Michelle Tolfa could feel the change in her feet. Standing barefoot on Corona del Mar High’s outfield grass is no longer a painful proposition.

Last season, just the sight of the 14-year old softball facility hurt, let alone standing on the “prickly” grass. Even sitting in the stands ? with only a 12-foot backstop fence to protect fans ? was risky.

Everybody involved with the softball program knew the field needed to be fixed. The problems didn’t stop there.

The distance from home plate to the backstop and foul line to dugout did not meet CIF Southern Section regulations. Just a couple words of protest from JSerra last season and the Sea Kings would have been forced to move its CIF Southern Section Division IV first-round home game to another site.

“We had one of the worst fields in Orange County,” third-year Coach Nichole Thompson said. “It was like a tee-ball field.”

The dugouts and infield were in similar shape, so the Sea Kings put their softball skills to work, teaming up to raise money with the help of two seasoned fundraisers and gave the field a makeover that would make any plastic surgeon proud.

There’s new grass in the outfield and dirt in the infield, both of which have been leveled by lasers for drainage and the district chipped in to fix the sprinklers. There’s a new 6-foot high outfield fence and 24-foot backstop. Fresh cement, extra seating, regulation foul ground and the cherry on top ? a pole to fly the American and CdM flags.

Thompson could not be happier with the changes.

“Wow, it almost looks like a mini stadium,” Thompson said.

As the Sea Kings’ centerfielder, Holly Van Hiel is probably the biggest beneficiary of new outfield grass. No longer does she fear diving for fly balls and scraping her face on the grass. Base hits are easier to field now, with no random bounces in odd directions.

“It’s nice as an outfielder knowing you can dive without cutting yourself on something random,” the junior said. “You definitely couldn’t walk on it without shoes last year.”

Pitchers should be excited about the new spacious foul ground, though Tolfa and her 1.3 strikeouts per inning don’t plan on making much use of it. Thompson, on the other hand, sees some advantages.

“Those pop fly outs will help,” she said.

The facility drew rave reviews even before the Sea Kings’ first home game.

“The baseball players are jealous,” Van Hiel said. “They know our field is better than theirs.”

For years, it was the baseball team and its powerful booster club making the impressive field upgrades. Now the softball team has experienced fundraisers in Gary Tolfa and John Van Hiel.

The pair raised money for their daughters’ Bobby Sox team and, after being elected to the booster club last year, took to the task of improving the field.

Food sales, door-to-door solicitation, local sponsorship and corporate donations in return for advertising raised $45,000.

With the money, Corona del Mar was also able to field a junior varsity team, and the cost of coaches that comes with it. Still, the Sea Kings are $10-15,000 from completion, with the next step being a scoreboard.

The Sea Kings have also seen improvements from last season’s squad, which lost in the second round of the playoffs.

Tolfa, a junior, returns with her .467 batting average and 1.08 earned-run average, but she will have relief after pitching all but 18 innings last season. Van Hiel, limited to only two innings because of a pinched nerve in her shoulder, is ready to shoulder some of the burden.

“I’m at 100% and I’m looking forward to some pitching,” said Van Hiel. “Being out for so long makes you understand how much you love it.”

Despite Tolfa’s gaudy batting average, the Sea Kings still hit .230 as a team. Thompson is hoping mandatory batting instructors for varsity players will help remedy the problem.

“It’s helped,” senior first baseman Andrea Dort said. “It’s changed my swing. I feel more confident. When I hit, I get more out of it. It makes us a whole lot better.”

The Sea Kings, who averaged nearly three errors a game, will also focus on fielding. Thompson said defensive struggles, combined with the lack of offense, led to half of the team’s losses being two runs or less.

“I’m excited because I think our defense will be strong,” Thompson said. “We lost a lot of close games because we weren’t able to catch up.”