Cal Lutheran Wins District 3 Softball Title

Cal Lutheran scored three times in the eighth inning Saturday to beat St. Mary’s, 5-2, and capture the National Assn. of Intercollegiate Athletics District 3 softball championship in Pleasanton.

The Regals, with a 31-8 record and ranked 16th in the nation in the latest NAIA coaches poll, travel to Cedar City, Utah on Friday to play Southern Utah State in a best-of-three playoff. The winner will go to the national championships in San Antonio, Texas.

Cal Lutheran, which entered the final day of the double-elimination tournament undefeated, lost to St. Mary’s in the first game Saturday, 4-0.

Becky Wolfe’s two-run triple in the eighth inning of the second game broke a 2-2 tie, and the Regals added another run to come away with the title.

It was the third game of the day for St. Mary’s, which beat Master’s, 4-0, earlier to set up a showdown with Cal Lutheran. St. Mary’s, the two-time defending district champion, finished its season 16-20.

Kim Peppi, the losing pitcher for Cal Lutheran in the first game, came in to relieve Wolfe in the sixth inning of the second game and picked up the win, improving her record to 15-5.

Peppi, the school’s career scoring leader in basketball, also enjoyed a good game at the plate, going 3 for 4.

Junior College Baseball

Valley 7, West L.A. 3--Seven players had at least two hits for Valley as the Monarchs improved to 24-9 overall and 13-4 in the Mountain Valley Conference. It was Valley’s 11th win in the last 12 games.

Ron Dale and Howard Halen each had three hits to pace the 18-hit attack. Drew Ricker pitched the first seven innings to get the win and improve his record to 9-3. Chris Haslock, who was 2 for 4, came in to relieve Ricker in the eighth and picked up his fifth save.

With the game tied, 3-3, the Monarchs scored three times in the top of the eighth.

Sandy Yamane was 3 for 4 to lead West L.A.

Mission 8, Antelope Valley 5--Mission pitcher Mike Hansen gave up five runs and seven hits in the first three innings but recovered to no-hit Antelope Valley over the final six innings to get the win in the Mountain Valley Conference game.

Mission had only four hits but was helped by 11 Antelope Valley walks.

High School Baseball

Western Christian 9, L.A. Baptist 5--The win pulled Western Christian into a tie with L.A. Baptist for second place in the Alpha League. Montclair Prep is in first.

Western Christian, which improved to 9-3 in league, was paced by catcher Jeff Horn, who was 5 for 5 with a solo homer.

L.A. Baptist, which fell to 9-3 and 10-7 overall, was led by Steve Phillips, who was 1 for 2 and scored three runs.

Buckley 10, Villanova Prep 7--Buckley committed seven errors and left 14 men on base but still had enough to beat Villanova Prep in the nonleague game.

Buckley took a 6-0 lead after three innings despite getting only one hit. Villanova Prep pitchers issued 13 walks and hit two batters in the first three innings.

Jason Weisstein was 2 for 3 and had two runs batted in to lead Buckley. David Lawson had two RBIs and stole two bases, his 28th and 29th of the season. Lawson pitched a complete game, striking out 10, to even his record at 5-5.

Buckley improved to 9-9-1.

Boys Track

Freshman Mitch Butler of Oakwood set league records in the triple jump, long jump and high jump in the Delphic League finals.

He jumped 43-4 3/4 in the high jump, 20-7 in the long jump and 6-4 in the high jump.

Butler was named the most valuable player of the meet, but rival Faith Baptist walked away with the league championship for the third straight year.

Faith Baptist scored 113 points to outdistance Oakwood, which had 92. Buckley finished a distant third with 11 points, while Brentwood avoided a shutout with one point.

Faith Baptist’s Danny DaRocha set a league record in the 100-yard dash with a time of 10.3, and teammate Rudy Leon’s 16.5 in the 120 high hurdles was another league standard. Leon also won the 880 and the 330 intermediate hurdles and placed third in the high jump.

Girls Track

Laura Kirkpatrick of Buckley set one Delphic League record and tied another as her team captured its third straight league title. Buckley scored 78 points, while Faith Baptist finished second with 46. Brentwood (30) and Oakwood (22) finished third and fourth.

Kirkpatrick, the meet’s most valuable player, broke the league long jump record with a jump of 15- 3/4 and her 12.2 in the 100-yard dash tied the league mark.

Buckley’s Vivian Stafford set another record with her 1:07.6 time in the 440.