The love for the game and desire to win came early for Amy Hillel and it’s not hard to understand why; at age 6 she was not only playing organized sports, but also playing with boys.

“She was just as good as most of the boys,” said Neil Hillel of his daughter playing on a boys team for two years with just one other girl.

The plucky and determined third baseman for the Sacramento State softball team has shown that same desire frequently in her four years with the Hornets, starting at three different positions, hitting from both sides of the plate and overcoming shoulder surgery.

One particular example of her toughness and independence was a recruiting trip she took to Temple University in the spring of 2001. Hillel was to fly to Philadelphia and stay for several days, observing the team practice and play. While most student-athletes in that position bring their parents along, Hillel insisted that she make the cross-country trip alone.

“The way I saw it, if I went there, they wouldn’t be with me then,” Hillel said. “I just wanted to see it for myself, if I would actually fit in with the team.”

Eventually the Sacramento native who led Oak Ridge High to three straight section titles decided on the hometown school, Sac State, much to her father’s — a 1979 Sac State alumnus — delight.

“Obviously I was a little biased,” Neil Hillel said. “We’re glad she’s here. We follow the team around wherever they go and we’re here for all of them.”

Originally recruited as a shortstop, Amy Hillel started all but three games at the position as a freshman and amassed the eighth-highest single season assist total in program history with 128.

Toward the end of her high school career, Hillel tore the labrum in her throwing shoulder. Though she rested it briefly when it occurred and it seemed to feel better, Hillel re-aggravated it her freshman year at Sac State and continued to play with it after being told she could not injure it any worse by continuing to play.

“Every time I would throw the ball after that, my hand would tingle and start to go numb,” Hillel said. “I just told myself that it couldn’t get any worse and to play through it.”

In the offseason she underwent surgery to repair the injury and lost the power throw from the other side of the infield, forcing her to move to second base for her sophomore campaign.

Then last year, Kathy Strahan asked her infielder to make yet another adjustment — playing at third base. Hillel responded by committing only seven errors on the season, fielding for a .958 percentage.

“There’s so much action at third base — I love it,” Hillel said. “You don’t have time to think, you just do it.”

So little time in fact that it’s not uncommon to see Hillel laying out for a foul ball because she had so little time to judge whether or not it’s fair.

“A lot of times I’m not sure if it’s fair or foul,” Hillel said. “But I also know it pumps up my teammates in the dugout when I can come up with some of those.”

Though sometimes when she doesn’t come up with them, she gets some gentle ribbing from her coach.

“Sometimes I’ll say something like, ‘Hey four (Hillel’s jersey number), you gotta come up with those,'” Strahan said with a Cheshire cat-grin. “She’ll just look back and smile, we have a good relationship like that.”

Added Strahan: “She’s up there as far as defensive third-basemen in the country. She’s top tier.”

Hillel is back at third base again this year and while she is holding steady at a .959 fielding percentage, her batting average has skyrocketed because of another switch — now she’s batting left-handed.

So far this year Hillel sports a .280 batting average, good for third on the team and well above her .218 career average entering this year. Hillel said she has been able to hit from both sides of the plate since she tried it as a senior in high school and had asked to do it every year in college. The difference, she said, was her experience last summer on a women’s major team in the Amateur Softball Association where she received help from other players.

“If you’re playing on a major team in the summer, you’re out there because you can’t get enough,” Strahan said.

16 years in the sport has done nothing to cool Hillel’s competitive fire as she will again compete for the same major team — which took second at Nationals last summer — and wishes to stay in the sport as a coach when her playing days are over.

“I’m really competitive,” Hillel said. “I want to coach and share the sport with other girls because I love it so much.”

Series Notes:

The Hornets improved to 4-4 in conference and 21-17 overall with a 3-1 series victory over San Diego last weekend. … Sac State is now fourth in the conference behind Loyola Marymount, Santa Clara and Portland State, respectively. … Senior pitcher Brianne Ferguson started and won both games Sunday and improved her season record to 11-7. … Junior pitcher Nikki Cinque worked two scoreless innings in relief in the nightcap on Sunday in addition to her seven-inning win on Saturday. … Junior center fielder Lindy Winkler went 6 for 15 over four games and is now hitting .372 on the season. … Junior shortstop Gloria Toledo hit her first home run of the season in the first game on Sunday. … Toledo combined for four hits and two RBIs and is now leading the team in RBIs with 16 on the season. … Senior catcher Erin Coyne was hit by a pitch three times in two games on Saturday. … Freshman right fielder Hilary Johnson had three hits and three RBIs on Sunday.

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John Parker can be reached at [email protected]