Nothing Underhanded About El Camino Pitcher : Softball: Sophomore Candy Carrico, who pitched a no-hitter on Wednesday, uses a variety of pitches to keep opponents guessing.

Candy Carrico, a sophomore right-hander from El Camino College, has enjoyed first-place finishes, undefeated seasons, most-valuable-player awards and colorful nicknames.

But this season the Warriors have struggled to produce runs and Carrico’s record, a modest 17-15-1, reflects that.

“We’re having a rough year,” Carrico said. “But that’s not going to stop me. I just came off of three years where my team took first place, and I still love playing softball. It’s just that you can’t win them all.”

Last season El Camino went 16-0 in the South Coast Conference.

On Wednesday, the Warriors and Carrico recaptured some of that lost magic in a game against Harbor College.

Carrico had 10 strikeouts en route to a no-hitter and a 12-0 Warrior victory.

The victory improved El Camino’s SCC record to 7-6 and might have improved Carrico’s chances of getting back her nickname.

When she attended Leuzinger High, she was known as “Nurse K” for her ability to strike out batters.

“I thought that was kind of dumb,” Carrico said. “It’s nice to get publicity, but I was embarrassed by all of that.”

This season she has 164 strikeouts, no wild pitches, 38 walks and a 0.81 earned-run average.

“I don’t feel that I’m really good,” she said. “I see myself as average. I’m not Division I or anything.”

Last year’s most valuable player in the SCC is popular among other athletes at El Camino.

“It’s kind of nice when you go somewhere and people say, ‘Oh, you’re the pitcher. I read about you,’ ” Carrico said. “That happens all the time at work or at school. Just the other day I was having lunch in a restaurant and it happened. It’s really fun.

“I will never let it go to my head because I know I could be doing so much better than I am right now in pitching, hitting, everything.”

To opposing hitters, Carrico’s abilities appear unlimited. She mixes pitches--a curveball, drop pitch, changeup, screwball and fastball--to keep batters off guard.

But with her community college career coming to an end, she is waiting for an offer to continue her athletic career.

She views the differences between a baseball and softball player’s career options as unjust.

“I think that is totally unfair,” Carrico said. “They are playing and doing exactly what they want to do and getting paid for it. We put in just as much time and effort as the guys do, but we can’t get paid.”

Carrico is considering a career related to physical education, like teaching the handicapped to play sports, but said she hasn’t given much thought to anything unrelated to softball.

“When you’re out there on the mound, you’re living for that day, for that moment,” she said. “You’re not worried about the future.”

It would seem that her future isn’t far from the field, especially since her father, mother and two sisters have ties to the sport.

Her father, Jim Carrico, has coached the West Torrance High softball team for the past five seasons and a summer team, the Torrance Lightning, that Candy pitched on for eight seasons.

Her oldest sister, Becky, 24, pitched for Leuzinger and Wendy, 18, is currently a starting pitcher there. Carrico’s mother rotates between her daughters’ games.

Carrico has started every game for the Warriors this season. She maintains an optimistic attitude despite the team’s struggles this season.

“You have to make the best out of everything, and even though we’re not winning as much as we would like, you can’t let things like that stop you,” she said.

The team’s offense shoulders the load for the Warriors’ rough season, but Carrico has been among the top three hitters, averaging .273.

“I’m out there to have fun,” Carrico said. “The minute you stop having fun and allow all those things to get in your way, you know it’s time to stop playing.”