Kennedy’s Dowland Rises to Occasion

LA PALMA — She plays for a school whose nickname is the Fighting Irish, which isn’t that far from describing Alicia Dowland’s daily lifestyle.

She’s always working hard, scuffling for everything she has gotten out of Kennedy High: the 3.86 grade-point average, the softball scholarship to Fresno State, the respect of other Empire League coaches.

She’s a four-year starter and a big-time game-saver. The Irish are 20-5 going into Friday’s first round of the Southern Section Division III playoffs. Coach Sue Hall simply says Dowland has saved her team “several” times with her wide-ranging defense.

Kennedy pitchers Traci Hensel and Nicole Crouse certainly benefited; they didn’t allow a run in 10 league games.

Dowland committed five errors in 102 chances (.951) this season, but her range, which she worked hard to improve over the past three years, more than made up for it. She bats third, plays shortstop and confesses to being a perfectionist. She is an outspoken team captain with admitted faults.

After coming out of a one-sided game last week in the fifth inning, she responded with a cold shoulder toward Hall. “What I felt inside, I portrayed it in the wrong way,” Dowland said. “That wasn’t my best moment. . . . [but] I’m counting down the final days until school gets out and the number of games I have left. I really want to play all the time.”

Which is understandable for a player who has excelled because of her determination.

“People have never expected me to be awesome at something,” said Dowland, 18, who began playing travel ball at 10 and really growing as a player when she joined Hot Stuff at 14. “No matter what I do, I have to work really hard for it because it always seems like there’s someone there to take it away. I’m constantly going over barriers to try to get where I want to be. I want to be at the top. I want to be the player that people are going to know. I want to be respected by other players. I want to be the best I can be.”

Dowland didn’t make the All-Empire League first team last year, which upset her briefly, “because I felt my hard work had gone unnoticed,” she said. This year, she’s a candidate for league player of the year.

Kennedy opens the playoffs against Bellflower. Like a good captain, she says her team has a chance to win. . . if it keeps the right frame of mind.

“When we think about stats and rankings, it seems like we beat ourselves because we’re not focused,” said Dowland, whose team endured a three-game losing streak in midseason after such a spell. “We’re so concerned about impressing everyone and we don’t play our game. But if we keep playing the way we are, I see a very bright future.”

Dowland also appears to have a bright future.

She will attend Fresno State, an NCAA power, next year on a softball scholarship. A .316 hitter with three homers, one triple and three doubles, and a slick fielder, there’s a lot to like about her. She didn’t strike out in 38 league at-bats.

“The better the pitcher, the better the hitter she is,” Hall said. “I think she’s going to do real well in college because of that fact. She seems to play up to the moment. She’s got a lot of self-determination and pushes herself a lot.”

But there’s more. She’s involved in student government, had a 4.0 GPA last semester, and was to receive a Pursuit of Excellence Award from the school teachers Wednesday.

“That’s important to me because it’s about academics,” Dowland said. “Sports can only take me so far in life. Academics and education is what’s going to carry me through life, and I’m proud of this award because it’s based on academic excellence and hard work in that area.”

Hall noticed Dowland’s growth during her four years on the varsity.

“She got to where she has in softball and education, not because it came easy, but because she wanted it,” Hall said. “She’s usually the first to tell people she had to work hard to get everything she got. Getting a scholarship to Fresno is a big accomplishment.”