Orange County College Roundup : Fullerton in Softball Semifinal

Connie Clark threw a two-hitter as the Cal State Fullerton softball team defeated Cal Poly Pomona, 2-1, Saturday to advance to the semifinals of Fullerton’s Pony Invitational at Cal State Fullerton.

Rina Foster was 2 for 3 and drove in the winning run for the Titans (24-2).

Fullerton, the No. 1 team in the country and the only undefeated team in the tournament, will meet Michigan--a 5-0 winner over Cal State Long Beach Saturday--today at 10 in one semifinal. Fresno State--which defeated United States International University, 11-1--will meet Arizona at noon in the other semifinal. Arizona, the nation’s No. 9 team, upset second-ranked Texas A&M;, 1-0, in 10 innings.

Texas A&M; (31-4) had nine hits Saturday, but Arizona scored the game-winner in the bottom of the 10th when Tammey McKinney’s single scored Vivian Holm. Aggie Coach Bob Brock filed a protest immediately after the game over an umpire’s ruling of a sacrifice bunt in the bottom of the 10th; however, after a brief discussion with the umpire, he threw up his hands and walked off.

Texas A&M;’s defeat spoiled a possible showdown in today’s 2 p.m. final between the nation’s top two teams. Ever since he became A&M;’s coach in 1981, Brock has, almost fatefully, been running into Cal State Fullerton. His Aggies have either won or been runnerup in four of the last five NCAA World Series. Cal State Fullerton was the opposition in three of those games. The Titans even popped up at the Aggies’ own tournament three weeks ago and won it, beating the Aggies, 5-0, March 7.

In the Pacific Coast Athletic Assn. women’s gymnastics championships:

Cal State Fullerton 180.00, San Jose State 173.65, Cal State Long Beach 173.45, UC Santa Barbara 171.45--Taking first place in every event, Fullerton won the automatic berth in the NCAA West Regionals by winning the conference championship at Fullerton.

Freshman Cheryl Kaneshiro took the all-around title with a score of 37.15. Titan Callie Glanton, named the PCAA gymnast of the year, won the vault (9.40) and bars (9.50).

After losing senior Tami Elliott, who had earned 10 All-American honors, with a compression fracture of the sixth cervical vertabrae earlier this month, the Titans chances of advancing to the NCAA tournament look slim. With Elliott, the team’s high score was 183.90 this season.

In nonconference women’s track:

Jill Harrington, a UC Irvine junior, set a school record in the 1,500 meters, running a second-place 4 minutes 18.18 seconds at the Stanford Track and Field Invitational at Palo Alto.

Harrington, who qualified for the NCAA championships in the 1,500 a week ago, qualified in the 3,000 meters Saturday. UCI sophomore Karin Grelsson finished third in the triple jump, leaping 39-feet 9 1/2-inches.

In California Collegiate Athletic Assn. men’s tennis:

Chapman 7, Cal Poly Pomona 1--Chapman (5-0, 13-7) won all six singles matches to retain its hold on first place in a match at Chapman. Miles Walker, Paul Charlesworth, David Seline, Barry Hancock, Bis Houssels and Darren Capick all won for Chapman.

Chapman 7, Cal State Los Angeles 2--Chapman won four of six singles matches and swept the doubles to win their second match of the day at Chapman.

In nonconference tennis:

UC Irvine 6, Northwestern 3--UCI’s Shiga Kanroji defeated Jimmy Cushing, 7-5, 7-6, to even the team score at 2-2 at Irvine. Trevor Kronemann then defeated Northwestern’s Scott Bindley, 1-6, 6-1, 6-3, and UCI’s Art Hernandez beat Gary Cohen, 6-3, 1-6, 7-6. Northwestern is 5-5 overall.

UC Irvine 5, San Diego State 4--UC Irvine won four of the five singles matches in their second match of the day at Irvine. Mark Kaplan (24-6) defeated Julio Noriega, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2. Julian Barham defeated Dorian Geba, 6-3, 1-6, 6-3. Richard Lubner defeated John Cost, 6-4, 6-7, 6-4. Kanroji defeated Leland Rolling, 6-4, 6-1. UC Irivne is 19-8 overall. San Diego, which won two of three doubles matches, is 21-10.