Five years ago, Amanda Peek led Crescenta Valley's Apgar Optical to
the Little League District 16 Tri-Cities Major Baseball championship.
That same summer, Peek also earned all-tournament honors at the
United States Specialty Sports Assn. Major Division World Series in
Kansas as a member of the Sun Valley Park Bums. And she teamed with
CV standout Trevor Bell on a Glendale Knights squad that won the
Cooperstown Dreams Park Tournament in New York, hitting a
tournament-record 15 home runs in 12 games.
So, what is a player with such an impressive baseball resume doing
these days?
Well, the 17-year-old can still be found spending the majority of
her time on the diamond.
The recent CV graduate has matured into a legitimate Division I
college prospect. Her arm is still one of her most impressive
physical assets. And her swing is even more remarkable now than it
was in 1999.
But instead of pitching a little white ball with tiny red
stitching, Peek is now catching a larger fluorescent yellow sphere
with bigger stitching.
And no longer is she hitting overhand curveballs out of parks
across the country. Now, it's windmilled screwballs and drop balls
over fences throughout the state.
For Peek, baseball was her past. But during the summer of 2002,
she decided to make a change that would help shape her future by
taking up softball.
"I [had] played baseball every day since I was 8. It became my
life," said Peek, who competed for a La Crescenta Babe Ruth
15-year-old squad one day and attended her first CV varsity softball
practice the next.
"I chose [softball] for my future. Baseball made me very
competitive. And who knows, if I never played baseball, maybe I
wouldn't have the same intensity or be as competitive."
It's scary to think what Peek could have accomplished had she
started playing softball as a freshman, but the numbers she posted
during her two seasons -- .480 average, .881 slugging percentage, 84
runs batted in, 23 doubles, eight triples and 11 home runs -- were
still better than the four-year totals of most of her peers.
So, when it came time for the writers and editors of the Burbank
Leader and News-Press to choose the All-Area Player of the Year, Peek
was the unanimous choice, becoming the first catcher to be selected
since former Crescenta Valley star Deneil Dover was honored in 1987.
"I think she brought some chemistry to the team," said Crescenta
Valley Coach Dan Berry, who was voted All-Area Coach of the Year for
the second straight season.
