SOUTHERN SECTION SOFTBALL CHAMPIONSHIPS : 3-A : Mission Viejo’s Bond Feels a Tie to This Game

Amy Bond, Mission Viejo High School center fielder, asks that we ignore her if she rambles on about baseball. It’s just that she is a self-proclaimed “nut” about the sport.

A sample: “I have always been brought up on the glory of the underdog. Ever since I was about 7, I have been brought up knowing the ballplayers on the 1955 Brooklyn Dodgers. They were the boys of summer. They faced the Yankees and they won (the World Series).

“I guess the excitement of the Brooklyn Dodgers was that it was a ball club made up of all kinds of--I like to call ‘em winkies--not the greatest hitters and not a whole lot of talented players, but with a lot of heart and hustle, they pulled it together and that is the motto I like to live by.”

It is obvious that Bond doesn’t just enjoy baseball and softball, she reveres them. And, like some of the players on that 1955 Dodger team, she considers herself a bit of a winkie and Mission Viejo a bit of an underdog.

The Diablos (18-10), who got an at-large berth and then upset top-seeded La Mirada in the second round, are playing second-seeded Covina (25-0-1) for the Southern Section 3-A title at 5:30 tonight at Mayfair Park in Lakewood.

Bond, with a sacrifice bunt here and a few highlight-film catches there, has been a major factor in Mission Viejo’s success this season.

“Basically she is the consummate team player,” Diablo Coach Jeff Cunningham said. “She has sacrificed herself consistently throughout the year. In her position in the batting order we ask her to do a lot, instead of just trying to pull the ball or go for her own individual stats.”

Bond follows co-captain Renee Pina, whom Cunningham calls the “prototype leadoff hitter for softball--someone who gets the ball on the ground, who is left-handed with good speed, who can slap and has great bat control.”

Pina, a first baseman, hit .400, scored 19 runs and stole 10 bases this season. She is hitting .363 in the playoffs. Bond is hitting .197 this season, but has scored 12 runs, driven in eight and has 13 sacrifice bunts.

Pina is the catalyst of the offense, but Bond has given the team a boost with spectacular game-saving catches in three of four playoff games.

Against top-seeded La Mirada, with runners on second and third and two outs, she made a diving catch to save the Diablos’ 2-1 victory. Against Montclair, she charged a ball in shallow center field and rifled a perfect throw to get a runner at the plate.

When conversation turns to defense, Bond hagain goes into her rambling reverie:

“I used to be a big Chicago Cub fan. There was an outfielder by the name of Mel Hall. I used to watch him play and he made some of the most fantastic diving catches I have ever seen . . .

“I have always analyzed outfielders and watched their moves. I have learned a lot about the unseen things that go on in a baseball game.

“When I’m really on when the ball is in flight, I can see the seams. It’s kind of a strange phenomenon. When a ball is hit, it’s almost as if something inside clicks. At the time I’m not even sure where I’m going or what I’m doing, and all of a sudden I’m in mid-air. And I will look over into the web of my glove and I will have caught it. Everything is in complete slow motion.”

The key to Bond’s success in the outfield is her intensity.

“Every single play, every single pitch of every game, she is 100 percent into it,” Cunningham said. “She might go two games without making a play, but she is never mentally out of it.”

Bond’s love of the game and defense were instilled in her by her dad, Mike Bond.

“I used to go out to the parks and my dad used to throw balls and chuck the ball over my head and I would run and catch the ball. I get really teary-eyed over it,” she said.

Making the catch is almost an out-of-body experience for Bond.

“When you snag it in the web and hit the grass and slide, and you can feel it in the web of the glove and you know you have caught it. To me, if I can make one of those, I feel my job has been done,” she said. “It feels unbelievable. Sometimes the adrenaline gets going so much I feel like I could turn back flips and still catch the ball.”

Her teammates have come to accept her great catches as routine. They also have gotten comfortable with success.

“It’s hard to believe we’ve come this far, being the underdogs,” Pina said. “Just at practice today (Friday) . . . we don’t even think about losing. We think about getting those patches and playing our game. We want that CIF win.”