Wilburn's pitching hits a winning note
CARMEL VALLEY ---- Just before entering Torrey Pines High as a freshman three years ago, Karla Wilburn was torn. She was in her fifth season as a softball pitcher. She always had played tennis. And she also studied the piano. Everything was just taking up too much time.
"I had to pick one of them because I couldn't keep up,'' said Wilburn.
She stayed with softball.
"My parents weren't too happy about giving up the piano, but they realized softball was my passion,'' she said.
It wasn't so much softball as it was her pitching that fueled her fire.
"I'm a fun, energetic person off the field, but when I step onto the field I put my poker face on,'' said Wilburn. "I'm totally focused on the field.
"The thing about pitching is I love having the game in my hands. When I'm in the circle everyone is watching me to see what I do.''
The results speak for themselves. While pitching for the San Diego Thunder, Wilburn led her team to national championships in 1999 with the 12-and-under team and in 2001 with the 14-and-under squad.
Now a 5-foot-11 senior, Wilburn has been a major driving force behind the emergence of the softball fortunes at Torrey Pines.
It started in her freshman year, when she logged 108 innings and compiled a 9-8 record with an 0.65 ERA. She also batted .337 with 12 RBIs that year and posted a .362 mark with 19 RBIs last season.
As a sophomore, Wilburn got most of her work at first base, although she did manage a 7-1 record with an 0.92 ERA.
Last season Wilburn took over the mound duties again and posted a 16-9 record with a 0.49 ERA, 246 strikeouts and only 28 walks in 197 innings.
In three full seasons, the Falcons are 66-30-5 with her in the lineup.
"She's just a winner,'' said Torrey Pines coach Jon Moore. "She handled herself so well that first year, almost like she belonged right from the start.
"To show what kind of person she is, when Erin Snyder came back from her back injury in the first game of the (2001) playoffs, Karla, just a freshman who had pitched all season, said Erin should get the start. That showed a lot of class and maturity rarely found in freshmen."
There was also the Palomar League co-championship the following year, 2002, the first such title in school history. Wilburn still longs to hoist a CIF championship banner up into the crowded rafters of the Falcons' gym.
"It would complete the package," she said. "This is my last chance to get one before I leave Torrey Pines. It would make me feel like softball was considered a real sport at Torrey since we're about the only sport there without a CIF banner.
"Also it would be nice to know what winning CIF feels like. I've seen some championship games and I've talked with players who have won CIF titles, but I really would like to find out how that feels for myself."
Next year, Wilburn, who turns 18 on March 25, will be playing softball for the University of Virginia. The Cavaliers were Wilburn's choice over Kansas and Pacific. She also had interest from Yale and Stanford.
In the end, the recruiting trip to Virginia convinced her.
"You can't just pick the biggest name school,'' said Wilburn, who lived in Baja California for three years and speaks Spanish. "The Virginia team made me feel comfortable and at home.
"One of my friends saw me the day after I got back from Virginia, and she told she knew I'd pick Virginia. She said she could see in my face that it was all wrapped up, that I'd fallen in love with Virginia."
Wilburn will have company with the Cavs. Escondido third baseman Whitney Holstun, whose team won the CIF Division II title last spring, also chose Virginia.
In college, Wilburn will major in speech and hearing pathology in order to become a speech therapist working with children.
"I love children,'' she said. "I volunteer at elementary schools every chance I get.
Contact staff writer Terry Monahan at (760) 739-6648 or tmonahan@nctimes.com.
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