Shirley Topley

Reprint from The Path to the Gold by Mary L. Littlewood

Growing up in Hondo, Alberta, Canada, Shirley Topley excelled in a variety of sports, including basketball, field hockey, track and field, curling, ice hockey and softball. But it would be softball in which Topley would establish herself as one of the greatest players of all time. Shirley was inducted into the National Softball Hall of Fame in 1981.

Topley played softball for several Canadian teams, including the South Hill Queens of Vancouver, British Columbia. Topley, born April 14, 1934, played in her first ASA national championship in 1960 for South Hill and earned second team All-American honors. This earned her a spot on the 1961 Women’s Major Fast Pitch All-Star team where Ricki Caito, Orange Lionettes’ second baseman and owner, was impressed with her ability. Ricki asked Shirley to play for the Lionettes and she joined the team in 1962. That year, Shirley helped the Lionettes capture the ASA Women’s Major Fast Pitch National Championship, earning first team All-American honors as a first baseman. She played in 1963 and 1964 with the Raybestos Brakettes before rejoining the Lionettes in 1965. With the Brakettes, she led the team in hitting twice with averages of .372 in 1963 and .340 in 1964.

In 1967, she took over as Lionettes head coach and in the next seven years guided the team to 389 wins, 67 losses and 3 ties – a winning percentage of .853. During Topley’s reign, the Lionettes won the Pacific Coast Women’s Softball League title from 1967-1972, two ASA national titles (1969 and 1970) and represented the United States in the ISD Women’s World Fast Pitch Championship in Osaka, Japan, in 1970.

Shirley participated in 16 ASA national championships, and was a member of five national championship teams and five runners-up. The championship teams included the Orange Lionettes in 1962, 1965, 1969, 1970, and Raybestos Brakettes in 1963. Eleven times she was named an ASA All-American.

As a member of the Pacific Coast League, Shirley was a league all-star 11 times and led the league in hitting twice – 1966 and 1974. Six times she led the Lionettes in hitting and six times in runs batted in (RBI). During her nine-year span with the Lionettes, she batted .298 (613 hits/2,055 at bats), scored 322 runs and smashed 16 home runs.

Shirley also excelled defensively. She led the Lionettes in fielding percentage three times and was runner-up six times. She had a fielding percentage of .987 from 1967-1975 – 5,460 putouts, 234 assists and only 75 errors.

After retiring as an active player, Shirley served as assistant coach for Cal Poly Pomona from 1979-1990. She also was head coach of various ASA summer teams, including the Orange County Desperadoes, Orange County Majestics and the Newport Beach Activities A’s. In 1987, the Majestics captured the ASA Women’s Major Fast Pitch National Championship and placed second in 1988. In 1988, she led the Majestics to a gold medal in the Tri-Nation Friendship Series against Japan and China in Oklahoma city. Topley also coached the team to a silver medal and three bronze medals in the United States Olympic Festival.

In 1991, Shirley was head coach of the USA Women’s Pan American team and led the team to a gold medal in the Pan American Games in Cuba. In 1990, she served as one of the assistant coaches for the USA national team in the ISF Women’s World Fast Pitch Championship in Normal, Illinois, which won the gold medal. In 1995, she was one of the assistant coaches for the USA Women’s Pan American team that won the gold medal in Argentina.

One of the most respected and dedicated people in softball, Topley also is a member of the Orange County Sports Hall of Fame. She has had a career as a coach and player that would be difficult to match.

For more on Shirley Topley, see below.