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Date Posted: 23:46:30 05/18/02 Sat
Author: Jon Ralston
Subject: Hamm, Ho, Ball

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Originally Published Saturday, May 18, 2002
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Graduation marks the end for Pacific's terrific trio

When the mortar boards have been tossed, the beach balls put away, the blown bubbles popped, a few tears will be left behind from University of the Pacific's graduation this weekend.

By the school's athletic department. Specifically, the women's athletic program.

Because among the Class of 2002 are three of the best women ever to put on a Tigers jersey.

Great athletes have come and gone through Pacific over the years, but it's hard to imagine a year in which three teams all lost players who made their programs better. But volleyball's Jamie Hamm, basketball's Selena Ho and softball's Cindy Ball, who never blinked with the spotlight on them, all depart.

Hamm, an outside hitter from Bellevue, Neb., turned Pacific into one of the best ball control teams in the country. Ho, generously listed at 5-foot-5, dribbled and shot her way into school and Big West Conference record books, ignoring all those who told her she was too small to play Division I college basketball. And Ball learned what she could from senior Brandee McArthur as she struggled through a 9-4 freshman year to become an All-American and arguably the best pitcher in school history.

The numbers and accolades are staggering.

Hamm leaves as the school's all-time leader in digs with 1,642, which puts her third in the Big West. She was a two-time All-Big West pick and twice the MVP of the Bankers Classic.

Ho set school and Big West records for 3-pointers with 271, her .823 career free-throw percentage leads the Big West, and she finished third at Pacific in assists and points.

Ball finished her career in the NCAA Regionals on Friday as Pacific's all-time leader in wins, saves, strikeouts, shutouts and RBI.

But the three share more than a place in the history books. What made them so valuable to their teams, to Pacific athletics, is the way they worked, led, took their teams to new levels and carried themselves on and off the court.

"They're all pretty positive individuals," softball coach Brian Kolze said. "They all think, 'Whoever we play, we can beat these guys.' They all have a glass-is-half-full mentality. I know Cindy does, and I've seen it in Selena. When she got here, they weren't very good. And Jamie came into an upper-echelon program."

One built on tall, lanky outside hitters with the exception of compact slugger Elsa Stegemann. Hamm was neither. She was a 6-foot hitter noted more for her defensive skills.

"She rounded out our program," coach Jayne McHugh said.

Hamm helped turn Pacific into a defensive-minded club and, in her senior season, stepped into the key hitting role, too. She wore the same game face for four years, rarely showing her emotions. But that doesn't mean Hamm wasn't taking it all in. As she leaves, a degree in environmental studies in hand, she takes with her many memories. Her favorite?

"When we beat Florida (in 1999) to go to the Final Four," Hamm said. "I'll remember what the gym sounded like on that point."

Ball never reached the championship of her sport, the College World Series, but she helped her team advance to last year's regional finals against Stanford, forcing a decisive final game with the Cardinal after beating it once.

"Between the two Stanford games, I was sitting underneath a tree thinking we were going to the World Series," Ball said. "There was no doubt in my mind, even though we had one tough game after that. No one can ever take that away from me. I was one step away from that. To scare Stanford like that, to beat a Pac-10 team, the No. 3 team in the nation. What a feeling that is. I never felt so great as at that moment."

Ho's postseason experience was limited to the Big West Tournament and reaching the championship game as a senior. But her favorite memory occurred at Spanos Center.

"Our game against UC Riverside, it was senior night, and it was an unbelievable atmosphere," Ho said. "There were so many people there. I hit like four 3-pointers in the first eight minutes, and that was nice for me, personally. Then, in the second half, because they had to play me tighter, I was able to penetrate and get everybody involved. I remember how exciting it was every time somebody did something. That's what I wanted my last game at Spanos Center to be like."

Being a consummate team player was one characteristic the three shared. Another was showing their teammates how to get the job done.

"What always will stick out is the fact that she was always there after practice, taking extra shots, getting extra work in," basketball coach Craig Jackson said of Ho.

Hamm's work ethic also stood out.

"For a long time, she was told she was too little to be a primary hitter at this level," McHugh said. "Her strength was always ball control. She worked at changing so she could prove her worth."

It wasn't always easy.

"I hated conditioning, hated being in the weight room," Hamm admitted. "But I'd look at Selena, who was half my size, and she doubled every max I have in the weight room. I look at (Ball and Ho). You walk in the weight room and see their names above yours on the board and realize how much harder you have to work to be as great as them."

They're all, dare we say, great. It wasn't their sheer athleticism, the way Hamm would outfox opponents with attacks and sacrifice her body to keep a ball from hitting the floor, Ho's no-look passes and stop-and-pop 3-pointers, or the way Ball pitched better when she got into a jam.

It's that for four years they made their teams fun to watch. And as they leave -- Ho, with a business degree but headed to UC Irvine as an assistant basketball coach, Ball to coach Pacific's softball team with Kolze while she earns a credential to teach high school math and science, and Hamm, to work as a consultant in environmental studies as soon as she gets a job -- they can do so knowing their legacies remain.

Hamm will be remembered for her consistency, for the passion with which she played, and how she established a defensive standard future teams will look to meet.

Ho, too, set the standard. As Jackson said, all future point guards will be compared to her. But Ho just wants to be remembered as a leader, someone who worked hard, led by example, was intense and supportive of her teammates. And, like Hamm, someone who loved to play the game.

Ball, too, will be remembered as someone who showed her love of the game. She wasn't one to pump her fist after a strikeout, but she'd get excited when a teammate made a great play.

"I'll probably never experience this kind of thing again, with everyone working toward one common goal," Ball said. "I experienced something no one else will experience. If I didn't come here, I wouldn't have that."

Neither would Hamm nor Ho.

"I've been able to look back and realize how special this thing was,'' Hamm said. "How many athletes don't get to do that, to say they were part of a great program with such great support that we have. We were privileged."

"I know I'm going to miss UOP," Ho said. "Hopefully as much as they'll miss us."

Count on it.

Gilbert is The Record's sports columnist. Mail: P.O. Box 900, Stockton, CA 95201; Phone: 546-8284; Fax: 547-8187; E-mail: lgilbert@recordnet.com

Jamie Hamm

* Pacific career leader with 1,661 digs

* First-team All-Big West in 2000 and 2001

* Bankers Classic MVP in 2000 and 2001

* In 2001, became the first Pacific player with 400 kills and 400 digs in the same season

* Finished with 135 matches, 927 kills, 1,661 digs, 181 blocks, 85 aces

Selena Ho

* Big West career leader with 271 3-point field goals

* Big West career leader with an .823 free-throw percentage

* Third in Pacific history with 1,651 points and 430 assists

* First-team All-Big West in 2001 and 2002; Pacific's only four-time all-conference pick

* Finished with 170 games, 1,651 points, 430 assists, 135 steals, 277 rebounds

Cindy Ball

* Big West career leader in strikeouts with 761

* Second in Big West history with 91 victories

* Pacific career leader with 10 saves

* Pacific career leader with 45 shutouts

* Pacific career leader with 111 RBI

* Big West pitcher of the year in 2001 and 2002

* Third-team All-American in 2001

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