Second to None

Amie Barnes trotted gingerly on sore ankles to her second-base position Wednesday at Camino Real Park in Orange, where Chapman is hosting the month-long Sun West softball tournament.

Earlier in the game against small-school power Linfield (Ore.), Barnes walked and eventually scored. A few innings later, she spent Chapman’s turn at bat in the trainer’s tent, having her ankles iced and massaged.

But the senior never left the game.

As the Panthers’ leadoff batter, Barnes, 22, is working herself back into playing shape after spending seven months studying in Australia.

She hadn’t touched a softball during her time abroad, but only a few days after returning she was in the starting lineup for Chapman, which is aiming for its third consecutive trip to the NCAA Division III tournament.

Chapman (13-5) appears more balanced this season than last, when it finished 35-10, losing to Simpson College, 6-0, in the national title game. Five of the Panthers’ losses were to teams in higher divisions, where players can receive scholarships.

Barnes will be key to Chapman’s success this season.

“She’s one of the best second basemen I’ve ever coached,” Chapman Coach Janet Lloyd said. “What I expect from her is to be consistent at the plate. She needs to get on base and have a leadership role on this team.”

Barnes, from Foothill High, is among the Panthers’ leaders in several offensive categories with a .451 batting average and a .537 on-base average. But she also has already committed seven errors compared to three all last season and said her layoff took its toll early on.

“That first week back I couldn’t get out of bed,” she said. “My ankles were so sore. I couldn’t believe little things like that could hurt so much.”

But she’s rounding into shape, rapidly. Through 16 Sun West tournament games, including Wednesday’s 4-0 victory over Linfield (13-3), a team expected to challenge Chapman for a regional playoff berth, Barnes is setting a torrid pace. She is among the tournament leaders with 28 total bases 21 hits, nine walks, an on-base average of .537 and 50 at-bats.

Barnes wasn’t known for her batting prowess at Foothill, where she was voted the team’s best defensive player in 1996.

“I had a low batting average in high school,” she said. “When I came here, no one had ever heard of my offensive skills.”

Barnes quickly developed into one of Chapman’s most consistent players.

“She played so well her first three seasons,” Lloyd said. “Her performances were overlooked in the region and that hurt her for a chance at being an All-American. But she has been very steady for us.”

Barnes, who has been playing softball since age 4, decided to expand her horizons by spending the fall semester in Australia.

“I had lived in Southern California all my life and all the traveling I had done was around softball,” she said. “I had really never been anywhere else. I was ready for something different and this seemed like the perfect time.”

Lloyd agreed. Barnes needed a break.

“You’re only in college four years and this is Division III softball,” Lloyd said. “I always tell the kids that if they have a chance to study abroad, they should go do it.”

But Lloyd also warned Barnes not to expect an easy time of it after she returned home.

“Seems like when you’re a freshman or sophomore, even some juniors, you can bounce back,” Lloyd said. “When you’re a senior, old age starts to set in and things become more difficult.”

A communications major, Barnes attended Bond University in Surfer’s Paradise, a cozy township that lives up to its laid-back name in the Province of Queensland in Southern Australia. Barnes enjoyed the slower pace and friendly atmosphere.

“It was very different to go to school without athletics in your life for a change,” Barnes said. “You get a chance to see and experience things that you wouldn’t otherwise get to do and kind of grow as a person.”

Lloyd expected Barnes to return more mature, and now that her game is rounding into shape, her new-found outlook can only help the team.

“She’s been in the NCAA tournament twice and she knows what it takes to get there and how much fun you have when you do get there,” Lloyd said. “I want her to keep the fire in these guys so we can get back to the final eight.”

Barnes acknowledges her coach’s expectations, but for the first time, she said, she has a grasp on how to achieve them.