Players

DIANE KALLIAM

Diane Kalliam, 5’2” centerfielder from Modesto, California, is the nucleus of the Rainbow team just as she was for the Sunbirds and the Santa Clara Laurels before that. The 35 year old, know to her fans and teammates as “D.K.”, has never batted under .300 in her 18 year softball career. In 1977, Kalliam led the league in walks with 56, stolen bases with 37 and was fourth in hitting with a .308 average. The left-hander, who has been lead-off batter for as long as anyone can remember, has the best drag bunt in women’s softball. Infielders can play ten feet from her and she’ll still beat out the bunt. Once she’s on base, it’s taken for granted that she will steal second. In her quiet way, Kalliam has done as much to promote women’s softball as league founder Joan Joyce. She doesn’t have a 116 mph fastball, but she has the respect and admiration of every member of her team. Asked to name their sports hero, or the athlete they admire most, five Rainbow players named their player/coach “D.K.” In the off-season Kalliam is head coach of the San Francisco State women’s softball team.

RAYONA SHARPNACK

Rayona Sharpnack, 5’7” relief pitcher from Reno, Nevada, has played every position on the softball diamond during her 11 years in the sport, and now she’s tackling the toughest position off the field – general manager of the fledgling Rainbow franchise. The pressures of the front office have done little to cramp the 27 year old’s style. She is still the court jester, team cheerleader and clutch hitter she’s always been. “It’s my task to keep the team up,” says Sharpnack. “I’m a motivator. I believe in the power of positive thinking.” The Dale Carnegie of women’s pro softball is always a threat at the plate. Despite her .240 average, she batted clean-up for the Sunbirds in 1977. “I’m an aggressive batter,” she explains. “I don’t go up there and watch pitches go by. The other thing is, I’m an opportunist. I’ll do anything to get on base, which could explain why I always lead the team in getting hit by pitches.”

MERRIBETH CARLSON

Merribeth Carlson, 5’5” catcher from Sacramento, California, is a natural team leader. She hustles, she talks, and she protects home plate like a mother lion protects her cubs. With her flame-red hair and her head-first slides, Carlson has been a crowd pleaser ever since she joined the Santa Clara Laurels back in 1974. A WPS All Star in 1977, Carlson began her athletic career outrunning, out-throwing and out-hitting the neighborhood boys at Beale Air Force Base near Sacramento where her father was stationed. She played amateur ball with the Roseville Lassies, the Sacramento Sonics and the Santa Clara Laurels before turning pro with the San Jose Sunbirds in 1976. Carlson will graduate from Sacramento State University in June of 1980 with a degree in English. “That’s my real fantasy,” the 27-year-old catcher admits, “to become a writer.” Anyone who has seen her poetry can tell you that Merribeth Carlson already is a writer.

RHONDA EBERSOLE

Rhonda Ebersole, 5’3” pitcher from Hacienda Heights, California, turned pro four years ago when she was just 16 years old and still a year away from finishing high school. Even then her speed was awesome. Though she played for the cellar-dwelling Southern California Gems during her freshman year of pro softball, Ebersole maintained a starting ERA of 1.93 and threw seven shut-outs, including a one-hitter and a pair of two-hitters. When the Gems folded at the end of the 1976 season, Ebersole signed with the Sunbirds and was selected to the All Star team in 1977. “For my size I do pretty well,” is how the shy 20 year old rates her pitching talent. Her catcher Merribeth Carlson is less inclined toward understatement. “Rhonda is going to be one of the top two or three pitchers in the league.”

MARY FLINT

Mary Flint, five-foot shortstop from Yakima, Washington, is one of the fastest players on the team, but she brings more than speed to her position at shortstop. She has an arm like a rifle and a glove that seems coated with flypaper. Teammates call her “the human vacuum cleaner.” A WPS All Star in 1976, Flint has been playing softball for 14 of her 25 years. Prior to joining the San Jose Sunbirds in 1976, she played for the Yakima Steelers and was a regional All Star for six consecutive years. She was the Washington State Tournament MVP twice, the Northwest Regional MVP twice and won the MVP award twice in the Canadian Tournament. She sat out the 1977 season, but rejoined the Sunbirds in 1978. Flint, who wears her hair pulled back with the bandana that has become her trademark, is an anomaly on this team of talkers. The poker-faced shortstop saves her voice for shouting instructions to her fellow infielders. “I leave the cheering up to the fans,” she says.

BRENDA GAMBLIN

Brenda Gamblin, 5’5” third basewoman from Pittsburg, California, intimidates batters by playing them in so close that they can almost reach out and though her with their bats. “I play about halfway between third and home,” says the 28 year old, “because I don’t want to have time to think. If I have time to think, I’ll panic. This way I do what has to be done and then I think about it. I used to play different players at different depths – when Joan Joyce cam up I’d be out in left field somewhere. But not anymore. I’ve finally gotten to the point where if they plan to knock me down, they better do a good job and make sure I don’t come up throwing.” A WPS All Star in 1976, Gamblin bats third and always seems to come up with a hit in the clutch. She’s greased lightning on the base paths and her split second reflexes at third have earned her the nickname “Magic.” When she’s not playing softball, Gamblin works as a researcher for Dow Chemical in Concord.

SANDI IVERSON

Sandi Iverson, 5’4” first basewoman from West Covina, California, keeps the defense off-balance with a well-disguised drag bunt reminiscent of Diane Kalliam’s. The resemblance is not coincidental. “D.K. is the best,” says Iverson, who like Kalliam bats and throws left-handed. “I’ve picked up a lot of things just watching and playing against her.” Iverson, 29, played for the nationally ranked Fullerton Royals from 1971 to 1973, turned pro with the Phoenixbird in 1976, and went to the Bakersfield Aggies in 1977 in the dispersal draft. She was drafted by Buffalo in 1978 when the Bakersfield team folded, but chose to sit out the season rather than move to the East Coast. Iverson got her start playing street ball with the boys are her block. Her idol then was Sandy Koufax. “I never want to pitch,” she explains, “but he was left-handed and I related to that.”

BONNIE JOHNSON

Bonnie Johnson, 5’5” pitcher from Hawthorne, Nevada, was the first pick in the first women’s pro softball draft back in 1976. She immediately justified her selection by pitching the league’s first perfect game. Johnson, a WPS All Star in 1976 and 1977, doesn’t overwhelm batters with her speed, she’s a “junk” pitcher – a master of finesse and off-speed pitches. According to General Manger Rayona Sharpnack, who played alongside her during their amateur days in Reno, Nevada, Bonnie is one of the all-time great success stories. “She started out as a substitute on an Indian reservation team and has built herself into easily one of the best pitchers in the world.” In the off-season the 33 year old is head coach of the nationally ranked U.W. Berkeley women’s softball team.

TERI MARIANI

Teri Mariani, 5’3” second basewoman from Portland, Oregon, turned pro in 1976 with the Southern California Gems and was selected the team’s Most Valuable Player. When the Gems folded at the end of the season, Mariani was drafted by the San Jose Sunbirds. Mariani is a reliable, pressure hitter who is a consistent league leader in walks and sacrifice hits, but she considers defense to be her stronger suit. She particularly thrives on the pressure of playing second base. “You can’t be caught flat-footed” the 26 year old explains. “You’re included in everything – stealing, drag butting … it’s the only position busier than pitching and catching.” When Teri was growing up, her father coached high school and city league baseball teams and her mother coached elementary school softball teams, so she got hooked on the sport at a very early age. “They took me along so they wouldn’t have to pay a baby-sitter,” Mariani says. During the off-season Mariani is the head softball coach at Portland State University.

TERRI MILLER

Terri Miller, 5’8” first basewoman from Manteca, California, is one of only two rookies in the Rainbow line-up. But what the 23 year old lacks in pro experience, she makes up for in power at the plate. As an undergraduate at Sacramento State University, where former Falcon third basewoman Irene Shea is the women’s athletic director, Miller earned her way into the Hall of Fame with an astonishing batting average of .440. With three other first basewomen on the team, Miller knows that hitting will be her ticket into the starting line-up. “I wouldn’t even mind DHing,” says Miller, who considers practice against a pitching machine and positive thinking as the secrets to her hitting success.

DEBRA NILSEN

Debra Nilsen, 5’7” second basewoman from San Anselmo, California, was playing centerfield in a San Francisco recreation league when she heard about the San Jose Sunbirds in 1977 and decided to try out for the team. “It was a real shot in the dark,” the 24 year old admits, but she was one of the last four players cut from the team, and by the time she got her walking papers she was hooked on the idea of a career in pro softball. Nilsen spent the next two summers polishing her skills with an AAA team in Lodi, California, and when tried out again in 1979 she made the team. The Rainbow starting line-up is a tough one to break into, but Nilsen, whose desire to play ball is equaled only by her catlike grace and reflexes on the field, know what it will take. “You get into the line-up when your stick’s talking.” About the same time Nilsen started taking her softball seriously, she quit her advertising job in the city to become an auto mechanic. One of the most memorable moments in her life, she says, was rebuilding her first engine successfully.

MARY REICHERT

Mary Reichert, 6’1” catcher from La Puente, California, led the league in home runs in 1977 with 11. The 24-year-old redhead is so strong that her pop-ups go over the fence. Reichert started catching nine years ago when her Bobby Sox team was having trouble filling the position. “The position didn’t particularly impress me,” Reichert recalls, “but as a kid I always envied catchers because they got to wear shin guards, a mask and all that other neat stuff.” The novelty of the costume wore off soon enough, but Reichert has been catching ever since. Reichert played AAA ball for the Fullerton royals from 1973 to 1975, turned pro with the Phoenixbird in 1976, and went to the Bakersfield Aggies in the dispersal draft in 1977.

CAROL SALSBURY

Carol Salsbury, 5’10” first basewoman from Redwood City, California, is a long ball specialist. The “Big C”, as she is known to San Jose softball fans, hit seven home-runs in her first professional season with the San Jose Sunbirds. As a matter of fact, she hit the first home run in the history of the San Jose WPS franchise when she parked one over Municipal Stadium’s left field fence one May evening back in 1976. The 30-year-old slugger brings two years of pro experience and seven years of world class amateur softball experience into the 1979 season with the Rainbow. The highlight of her amateur career with the Santa Clara Laurels came in 1974 when she was named to the all-American team and hit .310 in the national tournament, helping the Laurels to a fourth place finish. Salsbury, who has been coaching at Foothill College during the off-season, is preparing to launch a new career this fall in veterinary medicine.

CONI STAFF

Coni Staff, 5’7” left fielder from Springfield, Illinois, has the slight build of a long distance runner, but she covers left field with a sprinter’s speed. She is one of the fastest players on the fastest team in women’s softball. Though she has played other positions in her 10 year softball career, her first love is the outfield. “I like to run, I like to throw. And I love the challenge of fly balls,” Staff explains. “I like all the freedom and open space.” Softball was a natural for Staff, whose father used to play for the St. Louis Cardinals farm team, but it wasn’t her only sport. The 26 year old was invited to the World University Games Volleyball Training Camp in 1972 and the Olympic Basketball Training Camp in 1974. During the off-season, Staff is the assistant basketball coach and the assistant volleyball coach at U.C. Berkeley where she graduated in 1975 with a masters in physical education.

JILL VON ADELUNG

Jill von Adelung, 5’4” first basewoman from San Jose, California, combines the savvy of a veteran with the eager-to-please hustle of a rookie. A crafty, aggressive baserunner, the 23 year old was third in the league in stolen bases in 1977 with 17. Von Adelung is a product of the Santa Clara Laurels amateur softball empire. She started playing for their farm team, the Santa Clara Laurelettes, as a freshman in high school and moved up to the AAA Laurels team three years later. She played her first year of pro ball with the Southern California Gems in 1976 and was named their most inspirational player. When the Gems folded at the end of the season, she was drafted by the San Jose Sunbirds, a team made up most exclusively of her old Laurels’ teammates. Merribeth Carlson, von Adelung’s stiffest competition in the hustle department, welcomed the reunion. “She’s one of the smartest, most dedicated players I’ve ever seen,” says Carlson. “A whole team of Jills would be almost impossible to beat.”