Few things exemplified the heart of a champion more than Julie Adams' performance at the 1999 Women's College World Series, where she was named the Most Outstanding Player despite dislocating her left shoulder in the Bruins' opening game. Adams gutted through the injury and hit .667 in the tournament, driving in two RBI in the 3-2 championship game victory over Washington. She was a two-time All-American, four-time All-Pac-10 selection and the Pac-10 Newcomer of the Year in 1996. Adams finished her career hitting .353 with 40 home runs, 166 RBI, 31 doubles, 116 runs scored and 95 walks and ranked in the Top 10 all-time in RBI, walks and home runs. A three-year U.S. National Team member and a National Pro Fastpitch player in 2000, Adams went on to earn a Masters in Athletic Administration and is currently an assistant principal at Bellflower High School. 

Player Bio: Julie Adams - UCLA Official Athletic Site

Overview - An outstanding foul line to foul line hitter who has great command of the plate ... Currently a member of the U.S. National Team Program ... Had off-season surgery on her left shoulder, but is expected to be ready for the 2000 season.

1999 - Most Outstanding Player of the College World Series and UCLA's regional in Los Angeles ... Played the entire CWS after dislocating her left shoulder in the Bruins opening game against DePaul ...?In eight postseason games, batted .565 (13-for-23), with 15 RBI, four home runs, a double and six runs scored ...?First-Team NFCA All-American at third base ...?First-Team All-Pacific Region ...?Second-team All-Pac-10 ...?Finished in the final NCAA statistics ranked 17th in home runs/game (0.24) and 28th with 0.91 RBI/game ... Earned All-Tournament honors at the 1999 Fresno State Classic after blasting a two-run, two-out seventh-inning home run to defeat No. 3 Fresno State in the Classic's championship game on March 7 ... Batted .341 in Pac-10 play with four home runs, 21 RBI and five doubles.

1998 - Redshirted the 1998 season while recovering from shoulder surgery.

1997 - Named to the NCAA Regional All-Tournament team ... Saw action in 42 games, starting 41 ... An honorable mention All-Pac-10 selection after batting .324 with eight home runs and 30 RBI on just 36 hits ... Named Pac-10 Player-of-the-Week after going 5-for-5 with a home run and three RBI in a home upset of No. 1 Arizona on March 29 ... Helped UCLA to a come-from-behind victory after blasting a two-out, sixth inning grand slam to deep center field against Cal State Northridge on March 8 ...Went 42 consecutive games without an error, a streak dating from Apr. 13, 1996, to Mar. 24, 1997 ... Went 1-for-2 with a run scored, an RBI and a home run in the NCAA Championship game vs. Arizona ... Finished third on the team in home runs with eight ... Recorded seven multiple hit and multiple RBI games.

1996 - Named Pac-10 Newcomer of the Year and a first team All-Pac-10 selection ... Garnered third team All-America and second team All-Pacific Region honors ... Started 55 games, primarily at third base, but also played outfield ... Hit safely in 16 of her last 17 games, including seven of eight NCAA tournament games ... Second on the team with .617 slugging percentage, 10 home runs, .455 on-base percentage and 44 runs scored ... Collected multiple hits in 18 games, including four on three occasions ... Registered multiple RBIs 11 times, including a season-high six in NCAA Regionals at Cal State Fullerton on May 19 when she batted 4-for-4 and belted two home runs in the same game ... Scored more than once in 12 games, including a season-high three on three occasions ... Longest hitting streak was 10 games from Apr. 27 through May 17 ... Clutch hitter, batting .433 in RBI situations and .573 with opportunity to advance the runner ... Led the team with 16 two-out RBI ... Hit .371 with a .551 slugging percentage in Pac-10 games ... Ranked fourth in the Pac-10 with a .644 slugging percentage and seventh with 41 conference RBI.

High School - Three-sport athlete at Cypress High ... Named team's MVP in each sport at least once in addition to numerous other team awards ... Earned First Team All-Empire League honors in softball all four years ... Led softball team to 1991-92 CIF Championship ... Maintained a .333 batting average for high school career ... Named Empire League Athlete of the Year for 1994-95 ... Three-time first team All-Empire League in volleyball and basketball ... Named MVP of the Orange County Championships in volleyball ... All-County and All-CIF selection in basketball ... Also captained her volleyball and basketball squads for two years.

Summer Competition - Helped the Southern California Players place third at the 1998 ASA Women's Majors National Championships in Decatur, Ill ... Won a gold medal at the 1998 U.S. National Team Festival in Houston, Texas ... Participated at the 1997 National Team Festival in Michigan ... Member of the 1995 USA Jr. National Team which won the World Championships in Normal, Ill. ... Batted .444 with four home runs in the 15-game tournament ...Played on the gold-medal winning squad at the 1995 Olympic Festival in Colorado ... Invited to Olympic Team tryouts ... Five-time ASA National Champion ... Selected to the 1995 ASA All-Tournament team.

Personal - Full name is Julie Ann Adams ... Born Feb. 22, 1977, in Bellflower, CA ... Parents are Dennis and Linda ...?Older brother is Mike and younger is John ... Enjoys water-skiing, wake boarding and spending time with family and friends ... History major.

Adams Shoulders a Heavy Memory

By ERIC STEPHENS

May 24, 2000 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

Going back to the Women’s College World Series in Oklahoma City means Julie Adams can relive one of the greatest moments of her life--and one of the scariest.

They are moments that the UCLA senior softball player remembers with joy and pain, sometimes at the same time. When she steps onto the field Thursday at Don Porter Hall Of Fame Stadium, the scene where a shoulder dislocation led to another surgery, it is no wonder that she’ll do it with a little trepidation.

“It’s really surreal in my mind,” said the Bruins’ third baseman, who will lead the defending national champions into a first-round game against Alabama. “It’s kind of ironic because I got real hot in the regionals last year.

“Now I got hot at this regional and . . . it is in the back of your mind.”

A year ago, she separated her left shoulder sliding headfirst into second base in UCLA’s opening-round CWS game against DePaul. Forty-eight hours later, she was back at third base. Two days after that, she scored the winning run in the Bruins’ 3-2 title-clinching victory over Washington.

She hit .565 throughout the NCAA playoffs and was named outstanding player of the World Series.

UCLA Coach Sue Enquist said she can remember that entire period as if it was yesterday.

“She was up all night because the treatment had to be done for 24 hours,” Enquist said of Adams and her dislocated shoulder. “To be honest, I didn’t think she’d be able to play.”

That didn’t cross Adams’ mind.

“The doctor there told me that I was done for the rest of the series,” she said. “Of course, that answer wasn’t acceptable for me.”

Hers was a heroic effort--but not without cost. She underwent her second reconstructive surgery on that shoulder that same week.

The first surgery had resulted in Adams redshirting the 1998 season. The second was necessary because she has a future in the sport, first as a member of the Akron Racers of the Women’s Pro Softball League this year and a potential member of the 2004 U.S. Olympic team.

“If I was never going to play softball ever again, the reconstructive surgery was something I could do without,” Adams said. “I’m an athlete and my career is far from over.”

Adams went through an arduous rehabilitation. The initial timetable to return to the field was December.

In November, she felt some lingering discomfort that wouldn’t go away. In an examination, Adams learned that a needle had been left in her shoulder during the June operation.

Dr. Neal ElAttrache of the Kerlan-Jobe Orthopedic Clinic performed another surgery, delicately extracting the needle that rested in her socket without going through the muscle that enables a person to lift his or her arm over the head.

“If they’d had to reconstruct again, I would have had to miss the year,” Adams said. “When I went in for the third time in November, they did what I call an obstacle course repair. They went around the whole bowl.”

Options had been laid out beforehand. If everything went right, returning at the start of the season was possible. If they had to cut through the muscle, the best Adams could hope for would be return in May for the World Series--if the Bruins went that far.

There was also the possibility of a second medical redshirt but Adams says the chances of the NCAA granting it would have been slim.

The surgery was a success but Adams was still scarred emotionally.

“Mentally, it took me a while [to come back],” Adams recalled. “Knowing that I’d gone through reconstructive surgery and did everything I was supposed to do, by the book and even more, and it’s like I’m told everything you’ve just done, just throw that out the door.

“I just took some time away from the field. Mentally, I was a mess.”

Senior catcher Julie Marshall saw what Adams was going through.

“Oh, it was really draining for her emotionally,” Marshall said. “I was there at those times when she had to go under the knife. She was riding a roller coaster and I was riding it myself sometimes.

“But there was no doubt in my mind that she was going to come back. I’m so proud of her because she could have just said, ‘That’s it.’ She’s traveled a tough road.”

Adams made it back in February and has played in all but six of the team’s 55 games. A first-team All-American last year, her comeback hasn’t always been triumphant.

Adams’ numbers--.295 batting average, six home runs, 30 runs batted in--are well off her 1999 totals of .379, 16 homers and 61 RBIs.

Enquist said that doesn’t matter and that she had to make sure Adams knew it didn’t matter.

“She’s a player who thought she was a leader because she got it done on the field,” the coach said. “But she’s done so many things right in this program and she’s been an example of what a student-athlete should be at UCLA.”

Adams is coming off a six-for-11, eight-RBI performance in the NCAA regional at UCLA last weekend. She went four for four with three RBIs in a 6-1 semifinal-round win over Florida State.

Adams said she doesn’t try to do anything special when the games become more important.

“It’s not like I’m trying to take my game to another level because you should always play at that level,” she said. “I’m four to six months behind everyone else and now I’m catching up. I’m not complaining about getting hot at this time, that’s for sure.”

Julie Adams Profile

UCLA softball player Julie Adams:

* Position: Third base.

* Class: Senior.

* This season: Hitting .295 with six home runs and 30 runs batted in. All-Pacific 10 honorable mention.

* Last season: Hit .379 with 16 home runs and 61 RBIs. Selected first-team All-American, first-team All-Pac-10.

* Other facts: Graduated from Cypress High in 1995. Has undergone three operations on her left shoulder during her UCLA career.

1995 SOFTBALL PREVIEW : In Spring, She Gets the Fever : Softball: Cypress shortstop Julie Adams plays other sports, but she excels on the diamond, where she will be the leadoff hitter.

By JON CLIFFORD

March 14, 1995 12 AM PT

SPECIAL TO THE TIMES

CYPRESS —  It’s sort of second nature.

For the last 10 years, Cypress High senior Julie Adams’ life has revolved around softball.

Sure, there were other sports; four varsity letters in volleyball, three in basketball, recreational soccer . . . but there was always softball.

Adams has excelled at nearly everything she has done. She was named to two all-league teams in volleyball and basketball, and teamed with Jessica Eggleston and Susan Flaming to help Cypress to a 26-4 record and a trip to the Southern Section Division II-A basketball semifinals her junior year.

But nothing comes more naturally than softball.

“Julie has always been a hard worker,” said her father, Dennis. “She has always been talented and a natural athlete. She has had a great work ethic and wanted to be the best she could. She never liked losing.”

Until two years ago, Dennis Adams, who played baseball at Kennedy High School and Cal State Fullerton, had coached every team on which Julie played. That included three national championships with the Outlaws, an American Softball Assn. traveling team based in Huntington Beach.

But when Julie Adams was 15, she switched teams and has spent the last couple of years playing for the Gordon’s Panthers, an 18-and-under club team.

“I wanted to let her out on her own. I wanted her to have the experience without me,” Dennis Adams said. “It’s good not to have dad around all the time.”

Larry Mays, the Panthers’ coach, already had his staff in place when Adams joined. But Dennis Adams still attends his daughter’s games and spends time scouting other teams.

The Panthers are two-time defending national champions, bringing Adams’ total to five titles.

At Cypress, Adams kept winning. As a freshman, she helped the Centurions win the Southern Section Division 5-A title, hitting .270 with three home runs and 16 runs batted in as the team’s first baseman.

She moved to shortstop as a sophomore and hit .385 with four home runs and 25 RBIs. The Centurions reached the second round of the Division I playoffs.

Last season, however, Adams struggled.

“She tries to overcompensate for a lot of things she feels are missing from the team,” Coach Diane Pohl said. “She thinks she’s got to do it all and presses a little bit.”

She’s making another adjustment this season, moving to the leadoff spot in the batting order.

“She has demonstrated a high on-base percentage in the past,” Pohl said.

“I wanted to see Julie get on base and be aggressive as a base runner. (Other teams) can’t pitch around her anymore. She walked three straight times in a game last year. I’d like to see her get the chance to hit the ball.”

Adams said she has no problem making the switch.

“I think I get a better pitch selection because you don’t want to walk your first batter,” Adams said. “I feel like I might get a greater quantity of strikes.”

She’ll have another adjustment to make next season in college, but at least there’s no doubt where she’s headed. Adams will attend UCLA, ending a recruiting process that started after her sophomore year.

“I’ve saved everything through the years,” Adams said of the letters she has received from schools. “I have a rather big boxful.”

She narrowed her choices to UCLA and Arizona at the start of this school year.

“It came down to a gut feeling,” Adams said. “I’ve always wanted to go to UCLA since I was a little girl.

“After weighing the pros and cons, it is going to be the best place for me. It was the hardest decision of my life.”

The situation at UCLA next season should be ideal for Adams. The current shortstop, Nicole Odom, is a converted third baseman and this season’s third baseman is a senior.

“They recruited me for shortstop and, as long as I perform, I will most likely be playing shortstop. That is their intent for me,” Adams said.

With that decision made, Adams concentrated on other aspects of her sports career. In November, she decided to bypass her senior year of basketball after she was invited to try out for the U.S. Junior World softball team.

“I didn’t want (basketball) to hinder how I performed,” Adams said. “We were being graded on our performance. I wanted to be in the best condition I could be in.”

Adams was one of 17 girls selected from 44 to represent the United States in the 18-and-under tournament in Normal, Ill., the last week in May. The tournament, which takes place every four years, includes teams from 13 countries.

“If I would have played basketball,” she said, “there was always the chance I could get hurt and not get to try out.”

The Best

The county’s top softball players, as chosen by three area coaches.

PITCHERS

Rank Name School 1T Marcy Crouch Marina 1T Brandee McArthur Villa Park 3 Kathy Ponce Ocean View 4 Toni Mascarenas Pacifica 5 Lisa Pitt Kennedy

POSITION PLAYERS

Rank Name School Pos. 1 Michelle Churnock Foothill SS 2 Julie Adams Cypress SS 3T Michelle Schneider Los Alamitos SS 3T Lindsey Collins Fountain Valley C 5 Lynette Velazquez Marina 1B 6 Heather Williams Marina C 7 Kelly Hauxhirst Westminster OF 8T Kelli Bruce El Toro C 8T Lisa Tully Mater Dei SS/3B 10 Lauren Bauer Foothill OF