THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, April 18, 1996 TAG: 9604160142
SECTION: NORFOLK COMPASS PAGE: 22 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Sports
SOURCE: BY VICKI L. FRIEDMAN, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 82 lines
``YOU CAN'T STEAL second with your foot on first.''
But Raquita Washington, whose oversize T-shirt says that - just might try, because stealing bases is her forte.
Then again Washington, the Booker T. Washington shortstop who is game for any challenge you come up with, wouldn't be lingering on first anyway. ``No Fear,'' reads the patch on her chest, fitting for Washington, who bounces from sport to sport like the basketball she loves to play with.
An All-Eastern District pick, the junior averaged 12.7 points, 6.5 steals, 7.1 assists and 3.4 rebounds in leading the Bookers to the district championship.
Volleyball?
Washington tried it for the first time last fall and earned second team All-Eastern District honors. She's run track, too, but isn't into running for the sake of running.
Field hockey?
``After the first game, I quit,'' Washington says. ``That's a bad word for me to use. I didn't like the sport at all. I don't like wearing a skirt, and I didn't like being hit in my shins and my hip with a stick. I couldn't stand it. So I said, `I'll go play volleyball.' ''
Washington fell in love with sports playing flag football with a recreational team in her old San Diego neighborhood. Admittedly restless, sports are her cure for boredom, as her only day of rest is Sunday. Her family moved to its Tidewater Park home and she took up basketball, still her first love.
That's obvious when you bring up the 20 points, 10 steals and 11 assists she collected in last winter's 54-42 win over Indian River.
``I was just on that night,'' she says. ``I felt like I could steal from whoever put the ball in my face.''
She's no longer stealing basketballs, she's now stealing bases. Washington has stolen 19 bases already this season, sure to surpass her total of 28 from last year. She played softball for the first time last spring, and coach Paul Palombo sent her to right field.
This season, he moved her to shortstop and Palombo says: ``I'd like to see her become the best shortstop in the area, fielding and hitting. With apologies to Shwante Snead,'' he says, referring to Maury's standout athlete, ``I think Raquita is the best female athlete in Tidewater.''
Washington is not yet comfortable at short. ``Man, it's totally different,'' she says. ``It's like a totally different step than last year. Last year, I felt like I did better in the outfield. I can't really remember having errors. At shortstop, I have so many errors, it's crazy.''
Palombo told her that her main problem is keeping her glove on the ground, and Washington is improving on that. ``If I keep my glove on the ground, I'll be fine.''
Palombo also badgered Washington about pitching, and Washington repeatedly told him that was not her bag. ``No, no, no,'' she told her coach until she considered that her team might need her in that role.
Two weeks ago against Deep Creek, she made her first trip to the mound. While other pitchers might find joy in strikeouts, Washington's glee came from plain old strikes. After each one, she told herself to throw another.
``I walked a lot,'' she confessed. ``It took me a while to realize that I'm new at this and I can't get frustrated.''
The Bookers lost the game 7-4, but Washington, who practiced by throwing 75 to 100 balls per day, gave up only three earned runs.
Her favorite part of the game remains hitting - ``I can hit anything, fast or slow,'' she says - and Palombo says she's batting a legitimate .800, with eight doubles, one triple and one home run.
``She's very calm,'' Palombo says. ``She tries to learn from each situation, which is pretty unique for someone her age.''
That includes the pitching. If she has to, Washington says, she'll do it again. She's up for anything the coaches ask of her at Booker T.
Except field hockey. ILLUSTRATION: Photo by L. TODD SPENCER
Multisport athlete Raquita Washington plays shortstop for the Booker
T. Washington softball team.
by CNB