Community College Notebook / Steve Kresal : Fullerton Riding High Into Softball Regionals

Fullerton College enters the Southern California softball regionals Saturday at Palomar College with plenty of momentum. The Hornets (31-9) have won 17 of their last 18 games.

But Margo Davis, Fullerton coach, puts little value in how well her team is playing.

“You can throw all the statistics out this time of the season,” Davis said. “In a tournament it’s a matter of who gets hot.”

The Hornets, who are seeded second in the two-day, double-elimination tournament, have been basking in a six-week heat wave. Fullerton’s only loss in the last month and a half was to Cerritos in a playoff game last week.

Cerritos defeated Fullerton, 1-0, to stop Fullerton’s school-record 17-game winning streak. Fullerton and Cerritos had tied for the South Coast Conference title with 10-2 records. Despite the loss, Fullerton was seeded ahead of Cerritos, which was seeded fourth. Palomar is seeded No. 1. The top two teams advance to the state tournament the following weekend at Palomar.

Davis didn’t consider the playoff game important enough to use her top pitcher--Annette Gonzales (22-7).

“There was no need to let Cerritos see Annette again in a game that didn’t mean diddley,” Davis said. “The seeding committee knew how good we were, and we were going to make the regionals anyway.”

Christine Sison, the conference’s most valuable player, leads the Hornet offense. Sison hit .383, scored 20 runs and had 15 RBIs. Fullerton also has designated hitter Julie Palous (.351), second baseman Linda Morales (.321) and catcher Liz Cervantes (.324).

Fullerton opens with unseeded San Diego Mesa at noon. Palomar plays unseeded Moorpark at noon, No. 3 Rancho Santiago plays unseeded San Bernardino Valley at 10 a.m. and No. 4 Cerritos plays unseeded Saddleback at 10 a.m.

The Baseball Regionals: Orange Empire Conference champion Orange Coast (31-11) plays host to Oxnard (30-8-1) in a best-of-three series starting at 2 p.m. Saturday. The series, one of four Southern California Regionals, continues Sunday at 11 a.m. with a third game to follow if needed.

Cerritos plays host to San Diego Mesa, San Bernardino Valley plays host to Southwestern and Los Angeles Harbor plays host to College of the Canyons in the other regionals Saturday. The winner of each series will represent the south in the state championship next weekend in San Jose.

Community College Notes

Don Watson, OCC swimming coach, was voted coach of the year by the state’s swimming coaches. Watson coached the OCC water polo team to the Orange Empire Conference title last fall, and his women’s swimming team won its fourth consecutive state title this spring. The men’s swimming team was third in the state. . . . Joyce Lyman of Rancho Santiago was voted player of the year by Orange Empire Conference softball coaches. Brad Pickler of Cypress was named coach of the year. . . . First baseman Sandy Martinez and infielders Lee Bladow and Christy Kalehuawehe of Rancho Santiago were named to the all-conference first team. Other first-team selections: infielder Sue Boxley and outfielders Julie Mee and Jennifer Garcia of Cypress; infielders Kelly Decker and Dina Graham, outfielder Kelli Thomas, catcher Debbie Hartwig and pitcher Patti Taylor of Saddleback, and infielder Harriet White and outfielder Dana Carlson of Orange Coast. . . . Char Schmitt of Golden West signed a letter of intent to attend Arizona State on a softball scholrship. Schmitt, a catcher, hit .314 in conference. . . . Cerritos ended the regular season this week as it began--the top-ranked team in the Southern California baseball poll. Orange Coast was second, College of the Canyons third, Los Angeles Harbor fourth, Oxnard fifth, Rancho Santiago sixth, Fullerton seventh, San Bernardino Valley eighth, Mt. San Antonio ninth and San Diego Southwestern 10th.