Softball Heroine Sports Olympic Gold

Had there been more media coverage of softball in the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Sheila Cornell would have been as recognizable a name as Kerri Strug or Amy van Dyken.

But, certainly, Cornell’s efforts were no less heroic, leading Team USA to a gold medal in the sport’s first Olympic Games.

Cornell, a power-hitting first baseman who grew up in Woodland Hills and graduated from Taft High in 1980, led Team USA with a .393 (11 for 28) batting average and nine runs batted in.

Her two-run home run against China in a 3-2 victory put the U.S. in the medal round. Against China in the next game, Cornell’s bases-loaded single in the bottom of the 10th inning of a scoreless game thrust Team USA into the gold-medal game.

Cornell was a three-sport, eight-time varsity letter winner at Taft while the Toreadors were runners-up to Granada Hills High twice in the City Section championship.

Her talent landed her a scholarship at UCLA, where she helped lead the Bruins to national titles in 1982 and ’84. Cornell, a physical therapist, graduated from UCLA with a bachelor’s degree and has a master’s degree from USC.

Via softball, Cornell, a 10-time Amateur Softball Assn. All-American, has seen the world, traveling to Argentina, Australia, the Netherlands, Cuba and Venezuela.

At 34, Cornell was the second-oldest member of the Olympic team. But age isn’t keeping her from a quest to compete in the Sydney games in 2000.

Training and a contract with Easton, which produces her personalized signature bat, keep Cornell quite busy.

She married on New Year’s Eve and resides in Diamond Bar with her husband, Joel Douty, and his three teenagers.