A Mound of Trouble for U.S. Opponents : Fast-pitch softball: Dave Blackburn has been the force behind gold-medal-winning teams at the World Maccabiah Games in Israel.

The first time Dave Blackburn played softball in Israel, he had a difficult time adjusting to armed soldiers that surrounded the field during the game.

It was 1985 and Blackburn was a member of a United States fast-pitch team that competed in the World Maccabiah Games. The event was held at Kibbutz Gezer Field, a biblical ruin located about 45 minutes from Tel Aviv.

The games are held every four years in Israel. About 4,500 Jewish athletes from 42 countries participate in the games.

“Fifteen Israeli soldiers standing on the field with Uzis and side packs offers a different perspective on a softball game,” said Blackburn, a Manhattan Beach resident.

The military presence was a distraction, but it wasn’t enough to keep Blackburn from leading his team to a gold medal. The 6-foot-2, 250-pound pitcher struck out 54 batters in 35 innings and finished the series with a 0.20 earned-run average. Six countries participated in softball that year.

Blackburn led the United States to another gold medal at the 1989 games. He did not give up an earned run in 32 innings and pitched a shutout in a 1-0 victory over Canada in gold medal game.

Softball was the only U.S. team sport to win a gold medal in ’89. Since Blackburn led the team, he was selected by the 400-athlete U.S. contingent to carry the American flag through the streets of Jerusalem during the closing ceremony.

“It was very memorable,” said Blackburn, 33. “Just to have the opportunity to be on a field with a U.S.A. uniform on is a thrill that goes beyond any thrill of competing. Those two trips unquestionably were the most memorable experiences of my life.”

But Blackburn says winning a third gold medal would top everything. He hopes to do that at this year’s games, which begin July 5. On Friday he will travel to Philadelphia to participate in a two-day camp with the rest of the U.S. team. On Sunday the team will leave for Israel.

Blackburn tried out for the squad in October. The U.S. Committee of Sports for Israel, similar to the U.S. Olympic Committee, pays for all of the athletes’ expenses.

Larry Shane, who coached the United States at the ’85 and ’89 games, expects Blackburn to be in top form this year.

“He’s dominated the games,” said Shane, who coached baseball at Villanova University for 22 years before coaching softball. “He’s not overpowering, but he has good control and he has a lot of pitches.”

Terry Goldberg, the shortstop on the U.S. gold medal teams, says batters had trouble with the speed of Blackburn’s pitches.

“They really struggled,” said Goldberg, a Philadelphia attorney. “They’re not used the ball coming at them that fast. But besides throwing hard and making balls move well, he’s smart.”

Blackburn grew up watching his dad play fast-pitch softball in Chicago. A shotputter and basketball player in high school, Blackburn started pitching in leagues at 16.

After earning a degree in industrial engineering from the University of Illinois, he moved to Southern California and began pitching for a Camarillo-based club that won the 1981 world title.

He moved to Manhattan Beach in 1984 and began competing in the Western Softball Congress.

Blackburn was inducted into the Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 1990 along with athletes such as former Dodger Sandy Koufax, swimmer Mark Spitz and golfer Amy Alcott.

“That was the greatest honor of my career,” Blackburn said. “To be included in the same category as those athletes was incredible.”

Blackburn, who works out of his apartment on The Strand, opened a business last year that specializes in virtual reality. With sophisticated computer technology, he creates sports settings that are transferred to a big screen and later used to create the illusion that a person is in the scene.

For example, he recently completed a project for Coca-Cola Co. that is used to simulate a World Cup soccer stadium. At last month’s Fiesta Broadway, the public was allowed to use the video image that gave the illusion of standing in front of the goal at a World Cup match.

“I got into it because I was doing a lot of factory plant layout designing for my previous employer,” Blackburn said. “Then I read about virtual reality and knew I could give the president of the company the sense that he’s walking through a factory that hasn’t even been built.”

Blackburn’s work schedule leaves little time for softball. He usually pitches only during weekends. He is hopeful that is enough to keep him sharp for years to come.

“I’d love to back to Israel in 1997,” he said of the Maccabiah Games. “I hope my skills will allow me to play.”