Granger Looking Ahead, Not Back : Pitcher Plans Future Without Softball

It wasn’t as if it was the middle of an Olympic gold-medal game. It was just an early-season, round-robin tournament. And it wasn’t exactly a pressure-packed, bases-loaded jam.

Michele Granger was cruising toward her hundredsomething lifetime shutout when she struck out the leadoff hitter in the fifth inning three weeks ago to become the all-time NCAA career strikeout leader.

Northwestern’s Tracy Hockutt became victim No. 1,235.

So you figure Granger would take the time to stop and smell the resin bag.

Yeah, sure.

“They stopped the game and everything but, it was the middle of the game and I just wanted to get it over with,” she said. “When you’re pitching, you just want to pitch.”

That single-mindedness has kept Granger on the mound and on top of hitters for more than two-thirds of her life. Now, at 23, she is facing her final season of content at Cal, a last spring that literally could mean a last fling.

She’s not sure if she will ever sling another softball past a hitter after her final collegiate game sometime in May.

But don’t expect a sentimental farewell tour.

“Don’t get me wrong, I think the record is great,” she said, cheerfully. “I’m sure once I graduate and I’m done with softball, I’ll look back at it as one of my greatest accomplishments. Records are great and they’re fun, but they’re something to look back on when you’re done.

“I’m not thinking much about it during the season. I’ll worry about it after the season. If you’re looking ahead past the next game, that hurts your concentration.”

Michele Granger, the first fiddle of focus.

She doesn’t see the hitter. “They’re just sort of a blob.” She doesn’t look at the catcher’s mitt. “I’ve never been a big worrier about location. I just throw the thing.” But she doesn’t really try to strike out every batter, does she? “Absolutely, ab-so-lutely .”

Her mastery of mindset has earned her more than her ration of Ks, not to mention Ws, no-hitters and perfect games. At Valencia High, she pitched three no-hitters in a week . . . twice . At Cal, she struck out 21 hitters in a seven-inning game.

“I’ve been pitching a long time and, to tell you the truth, I like the attention and I love being competitive,” she said. “Now, I can’t even really imagine what it will be like, but I’m sure there will be a lot about it I’ll miss.”

She could spend her time lamenting her fate, wondering what life would be like if she had been born a male or if softball was big business.

How much money does Roger Clemens make?

“It would be great to make millions doing what you like, but life doesn’t always work that way,” she said. “And I’ve gotten a lot of great things out of playing softball. I’ve gotten an education, been able to travel . . .

“There’s definite pluses. You just can’t make any money.

“Actually, I’m more bummed because it’s finally in the Olympics and I would have loved to go to the Olympics. I guess time just wasn’t on my side this time. I don’t feel like practicing every day for the next four years.”

Granger says her laurels won’t be worth much to the Olympic selection committee in 1996 and Cal Coach Diane Ninemire admits that she is probably right.

“Michele is the greatest pitcher I’ve ever seen, but she’s the type of pitcher who has to throw a lot every day to stay sharp,” Ninemire said. “She’s certainly more than capable and she has the talent to be there, but Michele’s a perfectionist and I don’t think she would even try to go out there unless she knew she was the best pitcher she could be.”

Half that good might be good enough for most, but not for Granger, who believes she might have been at her best in her early- and mid-teens.

As a 16-year-old, she pitched a perfect game and a no-hitter to lead the United States to the Women’s World Championship. The next year, she had a no-hitter and three one-hitters and won a gold medal at the Pan-Am Games; pitched the U.S. to its first Junior World Championships title; played for the Amateur Softball Assn. national championship team, and also pitched a no-hitter in the Olympic Festival.

Her delivery was different then--she used her hips more to increase her arm speed at the point of release--but the motion also caused a severe inflammation of the tendon and tendon sheath in her left hand.

The constant swelling forced her to redshirt during her freshman year at Cal and change her throwing motion to relieve the pressure on her hand.

“I don’t think my low rise, the pitch that really strikes people out, is as consistently good as it once was,” she says. “I used to have a really nice low rise. The important thing for me is that when I was younger, I had a lot more time. I used to practice twice a day.

“I’m pleased with how I’ve thrown in college, but the more I practice, the better I become, and that kind of time just isn’t available any more.”

Don’t tell that to Tracy Hockutt and the hundreds of other college players who couldn’t manage to put the ball in play against Granger’s less-than-best stuff, even after the NCAA moved the mound back to 43 feet from 40 feet and introduced a livelier ball.

“Let me say that she’s still pretty awesome,” Ninemire said. “She’s been averaging 15 strikeouts a game recently and for her to be doing that at this level, at a new distance, with a new ball, is really quite remarkable.”

Granger reached the pinnacle of her sport not only because she was gifted with a slingshot for a left arm, she also got a lot of help from a father who didn’t mind standing out in the rain.

“I used to have an endurance-type workout in the morning and a fine tuning later,” she said. “Now, if it’s raining, I’ll probably take the day off. Before, my dad would say, ‘Let’s go,’ and I’d be throwing from under an eave at a school somewhere and he’d be out in the pouring rain catching.”

She says she never resented a minute of it, either, never wished she could be at the mall with her friends instead of trying to knock over her dad with 70-m.p.h. fastballs.

“I really do still enjoy the game,” she said. “I think what gets you burned out is the stuff that surrounds the game, the political games you see going on, but I think that’s true in any sport.

“But the game itself, the pitching, I really do enjoy it.”

The competitive fire isn’t extinguished, but Granger is running low on time.

“Michele sets goals and then moves on,” said Karen Gallagher, Cal assistant coach. “But she would like to get back to the World Series and help us win it. I think she really wants to end her career on a high note like that and then get on with her life.”

The final pitch is near, but Granger says she’s prepared to mow down a new lineup:

* Concentrate on her studies and contemplate grad school.

* Spend more time with her husband, lawyer John Poulos.

* Maybe start a family.

* Make her way in the working world.

Clearly, there are new mounds to climb.

“Actually, I’m kind of looking forward to putting my energies into something else,” she said. “I’ve put so much time and effort into softball that I don’t really know what else I’ll be good at.

“But I can’t imagine that my arm is my best attribute.”