LAKEPORT — Brittany Rumfelt isn”t the first or even the second Clear Lake High School pitcher to be honored as the Lake County Record-Bee”s female Athlete of the Year. But she is the first junior to receive the award.
Rumfelt, a hard-throwing left-hander and a standout on the basketball court as well for the Cardinals, is the Record-Bee”s top pick for the recently completed 2005-06 sports season.
A two-sport athlete unlike both Mackey and Mills, who starred in three sports for Clear Lake, the 17-year-old Rumfelt dropped her fall sport — soccer — this past season because of commitments to the sport that will likely land her a college scholarship next year: softball.
While basketball is her favorite sport, the 5-foot-9 Rumfelt has been nothing short of spectacular on the mound for the Cardinals three seasons running. In 2006, she was 14-2 with 140 strikeouts in 104 innings … in other words more of the same for Clear Lake”s staff ace, who is 44-10 in her 54 high school starts, with 479 strikeouts in 347 1/3 innings — or close to 1.4 strikeouts per inning.
Where Rumfelt really separated herself from previous seasons was at the plate. Batting clean-up for the Cardinals this season, she batted .525 with five doubles, a triple and three home runs — two of those coming in a dramatic 4-3 win over Cloverdale on April 25 at Lakeport, where her second blast, a solo shot with two outs in the bottom of the 11th, was the game winner.
“That was the greatest game,” said Rumfelt, still smiling more than two months after losing pitcher Vanessa Fitzgerald, Rumfelt”s chief pitching rival in the North Central League I South, was trying to pitch to her carefully, but left one too close to the outside corner.
The result? Rumfelt hit a high-arcing home run that barely cleared the fence in left field, snapping a 3-3 tie and launching the Cardinals toward an undisputed NCL I South championship at 8-0.
“I didn”t know it was out and I was running hard until I was halfway between second and third. That”s when I saw Gary (Pickle, Clear Lake”s coach) jumping up and down,” Rumfelt said. “Then I knew it was a home run.”
Rumfelt also connected in the bottom of the sixth inning, a towering blast to right field that tied the game at 3-3, just a half-inning after Clear Lake had lost a 2-1 lead.
“That one I knew was gone when I hit it,” Rumfelt said.
And Rumfelt just missed another home run earlier in the game, driving the ball to the fence.
It”s the first time Pickle, who took over the program in 1993, has had a player homer twice in the same game.
And that was just the beginning of the firsts for Rumfelt, Pickle and Clear Lake.
When Clear Lake traveled to Cloverdale 17 days later for a critical rematch against the Eagles, with first place riding on the line, Fitzgerald wanted no part of Rumfelt, intentionally walking her four times. But it didn”t work. Rumfelt tossed a six-hitter, struck out eight and walked one in a 4-1 victory that wrapped up the South title. In the Cardinals” 11-inning win at Lakeport, she struck out 16.
Playing in the realigned NCL I South, which included softball powerhouse St. Vincent as well as Cloverdale this season, Clear Lake played its best ball when it had to and so did Rumfelt. She was the pitcher of record in 4-3 and 3-2 wins over St. Vincent, striking out 13 and walking none in those two victories, and she also contributed at the plate in both wins.
“I really didn”t care much about hitting early on,” Rumfelt said of her softball career, which began back in the sixth grade.
A hard thrower from the start, Rumfelt has refined her pitching skills over the years and most recently her hitting skills as well she led Clear Lake in most offensive categories this past season, including batting average, on-base average (.635) and slugging percentage (.925).
“Now I really love it (hitting),” she said. “I can still get better … you can always improve.”
Rumfelt began her high school career playing soccer, basketball and softball but dropped soccer after her sophomore year.
“I dropped it because it interfered with softball,” said Rumfelt, who plays for the traveling California Haze team during the summer and into the fall. “But I like playing soccer,” said Rumfelt, the one-time keeper for the Cardinals.
While softball dominates most of her time these days, she still plays basketball for the Cardinals and the center is a force to be reckoned with, usually the target of double- and even triple-teams by opponents. She averaged a Lake County-best 17.8 points a game for the Cardinals last season and was named to the All-League and All-Redwood Empire first teams. She also is closing in on 1,000 career points. In softball, Rumfelt earned co-MVP honors on the All-NCL I South team but solo MVP honors on the All-Redwood Empire team.
Playing Kelseyville is Rumfelt”s biggest thrill during the basketball season even though the Knights have dominated the series in recent seasons.
“We”re rivals and I love playing against them,” Rumfelt said. “Kelseyville in basketball and Cloverdale in softball … I”m looking forward to those games a week in advance.”
The Cardinals had an interesting softball season in more than one way in 2006. Constant rainfall in late March and throughout much of April wiped out nearly half of Clear Lake”s schedule.
“There”s only so much you can do in the gym,” said Rumfelt, who said the Cardinals” struggles at the plate during the season might have been because they didn”t see as much live pitching as they would have, had the weather cooperated.
During a road trip to Ukiah in late March, Rumfelt had a most memorable experience while seated in the passenger-side front seat of the school van.
“I was listening to music … I had headphones on and suddenly there was glass in my lap, a lot of it,” Rumfelt said.
The team van had wandered a bit too close to a gate pole and the mirror on the passenger side was shoved back into the window, breaking it and leaving Rumfelt with a lap full of safety glass.
“It didn”t cut me … I was surprised more than anything else,” Rumfelt said.
In fact, Rumfelt came out unscathed, which is more than you can say for Pickle, the van”s driver, who took some good-natured ribbing for months after the minor accident.
“We went back to Ukiah later in the season (to compete in a tournament) and when we were traveling down the same road, someone passed a helmet up to me,” Rumfelt said. “Some of the other girls were telling him (Pickle), Watch out for the pole, watch out for the pole.””
Pickle missed it the second time around.
“He makes it fun,” Rumfelt said of her high school coach. “But he runs a tight ship. If you screw up, he”s going to let you know it.”
Rumfelt”s California Haze coach, John Heliotes, also is her pitching coach.
“He”s very encouraging and easy to learn from,” Rumfelt said. “He”s taught me the drop, curve and screwball. He”s helped me all around.”
Rumfelt said the curve is the favorite pitch in her four-pitcher repertoire, which includes a rise ball.
The Haze play several games every weekend.
“We play three games on Saturday and you don”t know how many on Sunday,” said Rumfelt who is one of four pitchers on the team. And yes, there are plenty of innings to go around, according to Rumfelt, who travels to San Marin High School in Novato for twice-a-week and sometimes three-times-a-week practices.
“I put a lot of miles on my car,” she said.
A good student in the classroom, time management is the key, according to Rumfelt, who does a lot of her homework en route to and on the way home from games.
With precious little free time for anything else but sports and school, Rumfelt said she enjoys hanging out with her best friend and basketball and softball teammate, Emilee Meyer, whenever possible.
And the one thing Rumfelt can never find enough time for is sleep.
“I can never get enough,” she said.
Though Rumfelt doesn”t have to make a hard choice yet about her college plans, that time is drawing near. Several schools have noticed her abilities and offers should follow early next year for the senior-to-be.
If she had her choice of colleges, Rumfelt said it would be the University of Arizona. She recently returned from a camp in Arizona, where she was throwing the ball at 64 mph.
“I did pretty well,” she said. “I had fun and learned quite a bit.”
Rumfelt still hasn”t settled on a major, not with so much unfinished business left in high school, such as bringing another section title to Clear Lake in softball.
“I think we can do it,” Rumfelt said of Clear Lake”s chances next season. “We”re only losing one player (to graduation).”
Rumfelt is one of only five juniors to receive Athlete of the Year honors since the award was introduced following the 1987-88 season, joining Upper Lake”s Jen Bryant (1992-93), Clear Lake”s Steve Stutsman (2002-03) and Cassidy Kotte (1988-89), and Upper Lake”s Shannon Melville (1988-89), the only two-time winner of the award.
