PC softball player had a 'magnetic personality'

A Porterville College softball player was killed in a single-vehicle crash early Friday in Las Vegas after the car in which she was riding struck steel beams in a closed construction zone.

Tiffanee Anderson, 19, of Las Vegas, was riding in a red Ford Mustang at about 2:10 a.m. when the crash occurred, killing the PC freshman as well as the vehicle’s two other occupants, according to the Las Vegas Sun.

Anderson’s brother, Robert Inouye, 23, and Nicholas Scheafer, 19, both of Las Vegas, also died in the wreck. All three suffered blunt force trauma to the head and were pronounced dead at the scene, the Sun reported.

Scheafer, who was driving the vehicle, failed to obey traffic control signs and road-blocking barricades. Scheafer entered a northbound on-ramp where construction materials, including five steel I-beams, were scattered across the concrete, the Sun reported.

The front of the vehicle struck the beams and came to rest on the shoulder. The construction zone was marked with “road closed” signs and cones, the Sun reported.

The Nevada Highway Patrol was unable to confirm Sunday whether alcohol was involved.

“Our hearts and prayers are with her family,” PC athletic director Eric Mendoza said.

Anderson’s friend, Danielle Nolan, 19, also a freshman PC softball player from Las Vegas, said she picked up Anderson and Inouye earlier that night to go to a party.

Nolan decided to leave the party at 2 a.m. and asked Anderson if she wanted a ride.

“She said she was going to wait for Nick (Scheafer) to come and pick her and her brother up,” Nolan said.

Before she left the party, Nolan told Anderson that she would text her shortly to discuss meeting at a different party.

Nolan text Anderson at 2:20 a.m. but got no reply.

“The next morning, my trainer called me and asked me, ‘Is it true?’ ” Nolan said. “I immediately woke up and called (Anderson’s) parents, and they confirmed that it was true.”

Anderson, a third-baseman for PC, was selected to the All-Central Valley Conference Second Team last season after batting .381 (40-for-105) with 24 RBIs, 18 runs scored and 13 doubles.

PC softball coach Vickie Dugan said she was already in contact with coaches from Alcorn Sate (Lorman, Miss.), Metro State (Denver) and North Carolina A&T State (Greensboro, N.C.) universities about Anderson.

“She definitely would have had a place to go,” Dugan said.

Anderson was recruited by Dugan and her staff out of Arbor View High School in Las Vegas.

Anderson and her parents, Melodee and Stacey Anderson, as well as Nolan and her father, Bradley Nolan, visited PC in July 2009.

Dugan said she received an e-mail from Anderson shortly after the teenager’s visit to Porterville to confirm her commitment to PC.

“We knew that Tiffanee would come on and be a franchise-impacting type player,” Dugan said. “We were very excited that she decided to come play for us.”

Anderson helped lead PC to its best-ever finish in Dugan’s 12 years as the Pirates’ coach. PC was 9-8 in Central Valley Conference play, good enough for a third-place finish in the division.

“She’ll go down as one of the best hitters at PC,” Dugan said. “You could always count on her to get a hit.”

But Anderson was more than a great player on the softball diamond; she was a friend.

The day after Anderson’s accident, Dugan said freshman Stacey Campos and Stevie Lopez, two of Anderson’s teammates, drove from Porterville to Las Vegas to be with Anderson’s mom.

“That just shows the impact Tiffanee had on her friends,” Dugan said.

Nolan said she became Anderson’s best friend at age 8 when the two played on a traveling team together in Las Vegas.

“Pretty much since then we’ve been inseparable,” Nolan said.

Anderson and Nolan were also roommates in Porterville.

“Tiffanee was very unique. She had her own personality,” Nolan said. “She was always very happy and always put a smile on your face. She had the ability to cheer anybody up.”

Anderson was also a member of PC’s Student Athlete Advisory Council, which is a group of team captains from each sport at the college.

“She had a magnetic personality,” Mendoza said. “Everybody loved being around her.”

To honor Anderson, Dugan said she wants to frame her jersey and hang it in the dugout. Dugan said she also wants to hand a commemorative sign on the left-field fence at PC.

“She was just becoming such a wonderful young lady,” Dugan said. “She was getting good grades, excelling on the field and making life-long friends.”