Lessons in Sportsmanship

As sports rivalries go, they don’t get much hotter than Thousand Oaks High School versus Newbury Park High School. For years, competition between them has been fierce--occasionally boiling over into animosity, vandalism, even violence.

But when the best women’s softball players from the two schools joined together in a new league team, something miraculous happened:

The archrival players discovered that they liked each other a lot. And they proceeded to beat every team in sight.

Later this month, the Ventura County Riptides will represent California in the national tournament of the American Softball Assn. For a team that played its first game together less than two months ago, that’s amazing.

The Riptides team was formed in part to give the players a greater opportunity to be seen by college scouts, those magical bestowers of athletic scholarships. Because most of the scouts are busy with their college teams during the high school softball season, they do most of their scouting in the fast-pitch travel club leagues that play during other months.

Last winter, two local fathers decided to start a team that would capitalize on the Conejo Valley’s rich history of top-notch women’s softball programs. They lured championship coach Dale Okinaka out of retirement in Santa Barbara and held tryouts in January. Among the 35 women who tried out were top pitchers from both high schools. Key players from Camarillo, Moorpark, Chaminade and St. Bonaventure high schools made the cut too.

“These girls had heard all these awful things about kids who went to the other school,” says Gerry Kiffe, one of the dads. “But once they got on the same team, they found out they really liked each other. They achieved such a level of sportsmanship and goodwill that the rivalry didn’t make sense any more.”

And so, on Aug. 10 the Riptides will take the field in Sioux Falls, S.D., with a decent shot at becoming national champs in their first season. The Thousand Oaks City Council contributed to the team’s travel fund but they could use a few thousand more. For information, call 499-9689.

Ventura County has a lot to be proud of. We offer three cheers and best of luck to the women of the Riptides. Go out there and give ‘em hell.

Together.