The Preps : Southern Section Softball Playoffs : Shortstop Is Dedicated, but It’s Not to Fashion

Saddleback High School shortstop Nikkanni Andrews stands out in a crowd.

It is not just her athletic skills, which make her one of the fastest and most fluid players on almost any softball diamond. It is her dare-to-be different attitude. Her Bohemian approach to her wardrobe.

“She likes to dress a lot differently than anybody else in school,� Saddleback Coach Yvonne Alonzo said. “She will come to practice with some really crazy clothes on. She will wear purples and greens and it just all mixes in and everybody knows its Nikkanni, and it looks good so she gets away with it.

“She has got the tall, thin body type where any type of clothing she puts on will look good. Nobody likes to tease her because they know where Nikkanni stands.�

Andrews stands for individuality. She achieves it through her cutting-edge fashion off the softball diamond. On it, she achieves it with performance.

Andrews, a junior, ended the regular season as the county leader in home runs (seven), runs scored (24) and was third in RBIs (21). And she has committed only three errors at shortstop.

Andrews, the Sea View League’s co-most valuable player, has stolen 19 bases in 20 attempts and helped Saddleback to a second-place finish.

Today, she will be wearing the standard Saddleback uniform when the Roadrunners play third-seeded Irvine at home in the second round of the Southern Section 3-A playoffs. Even without her flamboyant wardrobe, she stands to be a player of impact for Saddleback.

“Nikkanni is so valuable because she can come through for you with a big hit,� Alonzo said. “If she gets on base on a walk, she can make a big play happen because she can steal and possibly cause an overthrow. If she is on base, she is going to probably get into scoring postion and somebody else can drive her in.�

Andrews is quick, but it is neither her speed nor her hitting that Alonzo values most.

“Probably her attitude is the most valuable thing to the team,� she said. “She is a real well-rounded kid as far as attitude goes. She keeps up her pep with everybody else on the team, and no matter how well she is doing, she is pretty level-headed about everything.�

Said Andrews: “I like to be different-- a lot different. I don’t really have a style. I just wear whatever I want to. . . . A lot of people say I dress weird, but I just dress how I want to.�

But her fashion does not clash with her purpose.

“A lot of people just play softball because it is a sport, it is something they want to do because they think it is fun. I take it more seriously than that. I’m not saying that I am great or anything, but I do know what I am doing.�

In other 3-A games today:

El Toro (18-12), the South Coast League’s third-place representative, plays host to Montclair (22-4); Mission Viejo (15-8) is at home against top-seeded La Mirada (26-1); San Clemente (18-12) travels to West Torrance (18-6).