SPRING SPORTS HIGHLIGHTS : Canyons Advances to Stengal Final, 7-1

The top two junior college baseball teams in Southern California met Saturday in the Casey Stengal tournament, and one thing was made perfectly clear: The difference between them is no greater than the difference between a sculptor creating a masterpiece and a guy re-plastering the holes in his bathroom wall.

College of the Canyons, which had beaten Cerritos College by scores of 5-4 and 19-8 earlier this season, pounded the Falcons again, this time by a score of 7-1, at Cerritos College.

Canyons advanced to the championship game of the double-elimination tournament today at 10 a.m. Cerritos, after defeating Valley College, 3-2, later Saturday in the consolation bracket, earned a rematch with the Cougars in the final. Since Canyons has not lost in the tournament, Cerritos will need to beat the Cougars twice today in order to win the championship.

Even stranger than the ease with which Canyons has handled Cerritos this season is the fact that the Southern California JC rankings still show Cerritos as the No. 1 team. Canyons is No. 2. The people who produced those rankings might also rank the punk groups Fine Young Cannibals and Social Distortion ahead of the Beatles and Elvis Presley on a music legends list.

The rankings are, apparently, based on last season, when Cerritos earned the No. 1 spot by knocking off Canyons in the state championship game.

What a difference a semester can make.

The veteran Canyons squad broke out to a 3-0 lead after four innings on an RBI single by Pete Kuld, a run-scoring groundout by Bob Clark and an error. They broke the game open in the fifth inning when left-fielder Alex Vasquez unloaded on a high slider from Cerritos pitcher Dave Villegas and sent it over the 410-foot mark in left-center field for a three-run homer.

JC Baseball

Valley 4, Harbor 3; Cerritos 3, Valley 2--Valley College won its fourth-round game against Harbor, but lost in the semifinals to Cerritos and was eliminated from the Casey Stengel tournament.

Valley (7-4) won the first game on a seventh-inning home run by Tim Riley. Drew Ricker (3-0) pitched the win for Valley.

Valley managed seven hits in its loss to Cerritos.

Moorpark 6, Victor Valley 1--On the mound, Moorpark College pitcher Bob Ayrault held Victor Valley to four hits and struck out 14, then went four for four at the plate in a non-conference game.

Ayrault (1-0) had three singles and a double. Moorpark is 3-3.

College Softball

CS Northridge 5, CS Hayward 0; Chapman 1, CS Northridge 0--Freshman pitcher Casey Tacason pitched a perfect game as Chapman won the championship game of the Chico tournament.

Northridge (11-4) commited two throwing errors on the same play in the seventh inning that allowed Chapman to score the game-winning run.

Delanee Anderson (4-1), who has not allowed an earned run in 31 innings, earned the win in the Lady Matadors’ semifinal victory over Cal State Hayward earlier in the day.