BRIEFLY

Valley Sports Has New Number Monday

Beginning Monday, the telephone number for The Times’ Valley Sports Department will be 772-3345.

The toll-free main number, 1-800-LA TIMES, will not change, but the department has a new extension: 23345. $5,000 Awarded to Granada Hillls League

The Amateur Athletic Foundation of the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee has awarded the Granada Hills Little League $5,000.

“We’ve designated the funds for expansion of our girls softball program,” said Glenn Carter, the league president.

The LAOOC awarded the Simi Valley Little League $10,000 earlier this year.

The Amateur Athletic Foundation was established by the LAOOC to distribute some of the surplus funds from the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games to athletic organizations in Southern California. NOTABLE

Former World Boxing Council super bantamweight champion Jaime Garza will meet Darryl Thigpen of St. Louis on Jan. 26 in a 10-round main event at the Irvine Marriott Hotel.

Garza (44-1, 42 knockouts) had been scheduled to face Thigpen (21-4, 18 knockouts) last November at the Spruce Goose Dome in Long Beach, but that fight was scratched by a flu bug that bit Garza. Instead, Thigpen, a former ESPN bantamweight champ, fought Luis Hernandez, winning on a fifth-round TKO.

The fight was rescheduled for December, but had to be cancelled again when Thigpen got into a car accident.

Garza, from Pacoima, is ranked second among WBC bantamweight contenders. He’s on a four-fight win streak, following his shocking first-round loss to Juan Meza in a 1984 title fight. Meza, after having been down himself in that round, stopped Garza in the closing seconds with a shattering left.