Suddenly, This Summer : Versatile Display Allows Chellevold to Emerge From Her Sister’s Shadow

Amy Chellevold had spent two years answering her sister Julie’s phone calls and being put on hold whenever she tried to crawl from under Julie’s shadows.

But Amy got the call she’d been waiting for at thA. Games in June, and she responded with an MVP performance in softball. Then she plugged in the answering machine, headed for the Junior Olympic National Volleyball Championships in Fort Collins, Colo., and returned with All-American honors.

Quite a summer, but it took performances that startling to grab the limelight from Julie, one of the Valley-area’s finest athletes as a devastating hitter in both softball and volleyball at Thousand Oaks High before accepting a volleyball scholarship to Ohio State.

“It seemed like everyone always knew me as Julie’s little sister,” said Amy, who will be a junior this fall.

Sure, Amy earned All-Southern Section honors in softball and volleyball, and was All-Marmonte League in soccer. But when her graduation day comes, much of her success will be based on how well she kept up the family name.

Julie was the Southern Section 2-A most valuable volleyball player last season and led Thousand Oaks to back-to-back 2-A titles. With Julie at catcher and Amy in left field, the Lancers also advanced deep into the softball playoffs the past two years.

The L. A. Games, which included 10 of the top teams in Southern California, marked the first time in two years that two Chellevolds weren’t in the Thousand Oaks’ softball lineup. It was Amy’s chance to stand alone in the sun, yet at first, the heat was hard to take without Julie.

“It kind of felt strange not having her behind the plate,” Amy said.

Also unusual was Amy taking the mound--she had pitched only once in two years before starting in an L. A. Games semifinal. Although she practiced pitching every day for a week before the game, she was rusty, allowing four runs in three innings of a 7-4 win over Rubidoux.

“I was sore and tired. I didn’t do too well,” said Chellevold, a modest sort who keeps her comments to a minimum.

Sore? Tired? Later that afternoon, Coach Chuck Brown gave her the ball again in the final and Chellevold responded by pitching a two-hitter in a 15-2 win over Leuzinger. She also batted .500 in the tournament and was named MVP.

“That’s a pretty good sign of her athletic ability,” Brown said.

But it takes more than athletic skills to win a championship game the same day she couldn’t get out of the third inning in a semifinal. And it takes more than talent for a high school sophomore to switch-hit, as Chellevold does.

“Amy is all-out blood and guts,” said Larry Chellevold, Amy’s father.

Chellevold, who throws left-handed but is a natural right-handed batter, led Thousand Oaks with a .391 batting average last season. She learned to switch-hit after her freshman year by taking extra batting practice from the left side of the plate, where she slaps the ball into the ground to utilize her speed.

“A couple times last year she was on second base and there was a wild pitch or error or something with somebody else on third,” Brown said. “Amy came chugging right around third and scored. She wasn’t going to stop.”

She goes after challenges the same way, building a head of steam and running straight through obstacles. That attitude is why Brown didn’t hesitate to have her pitch in the L. A. Games.

“A lot of players wouldn’t have taken the chance of not succeeding at a new thing when they know that they can do well with what they were already doing,” Brown said. “She never once questioned it.”

Chellevold brings the same package of tenacity and tools to the volleyball court. She earned All-American honors as a setter during SoCal’s seventh-place showing in 16-and-under play at the Junior Olympic Championships. But her toolbox also includes a strong serve and some stingy defense.

“When you get up to that caliber of play, where there are All-American honors to be earned, you’re talking about a performer who does everything well,” SoCal Coach Mora Kamin said. “Amy can do it all, and that’s what sets her apart from the others.”

Although statistics reveal only a hint of a setter’s value, Chellevold made an obvious impression upon the All-American selection committee.

“It’s not like baseball, where you can be a .300 hitter and everyone sees you’re pretty good,” Kamin said. “In volleyball, they look at her hands and the decisions she makes on the court.”

Chellevold can take a team to new heights despite being 5 feet, 6 inches, a couple of inches shorter than the average front-line player.

“Her work ethic makes up for any disadvantages she might have,” Kamin said.

But sometimes her eagerness can be a disadvantage in itself. During the spring, she sometimes must divide her time between the gymnasium and the softball field in the same afternoon. Last year she competed in a SoCal volleyball tournament in Texas during the high school softball season. She nearly missed a softball game, but luckily, rain caused the game to be postponed until she returned.

“It all worked out, but it was a touchy situation for a couple days,” Brown said. “I don’t want things like that to happen again.”

Chellevold and Brown have discussed avoiding future conflicts to make sure he can use pencil her into the leadoff spot every game next season. Whether Chellevold pitches--which she says she’d be happy to do--or plays in left field, she’s likely to bring home a uniform that makes a box of Tide work overtime.

And she’ll gladly work overtime to hold up the weight of her sister’s legacy.

Thousand Oaks volleyball Coach Ron Beick says Amy needn’t worry. It’s strictly a case of Amy’s apples and Julie’s oranges.

“They are alike in that they are two very good athletes and are very competitive,” Beick said. “But Amy has her own set of goals and expectations and they don’t have anything to do with Julie.”

But they have everything to do with being a Chellevold.