Stillwell Picks Appropriate Player to Collide With--Anybody but Bo

As a former professional baseball player who is now the baseball coach at Moorpark College, Ron Stillwell has been conditioned to expect the unexpected.

Thursday night, however, Stillwell received some news that made the seasoned sports veteran break out in a sweat.

During a phone conversation, a reporter told Stillwell that his son Kurt, the starting shortstop for the Kansas City Royals, was involved in a collision with outfielder Gary Thurman while chasing a fly ball during a spring training workout in Florida. Kurt had laid motionless for a few moments before leaving the game with a stiff right shoulder and right knee.

The scene was all too familiar to Stillwell, whose professional career was cut short as a result of injuries suffered in a similar collision.

He politely excused himself from the phone call, quickly phoned his son in Florida and breathed a sigh of relief when he found out everything was OK.

“It was a little scary,” Stillwell said Friday. “But after I found out he was all right, I told him I was glad he ran into Thurman. At least it wasn’t Bo Jackson.”

Add Stillwell: Rod Stillwell, who played for his father last season at Moorpark College, is off to a good beginning as the starting shortstop for the University of Arkansas. Stillwell, a junior, is batting .421, has 7 runs batted in and has walked 11 times for the Razorbacks (6-2).

It’s a Ford: Samantha Ford continues to excel for the UCLA women’s softball team. The junior right-hander from Hart High is 5-1 with an 0.94 earned-run average for the Bruins (12-2).

Karen Walker, a junior outfielder from El Camino Real, is batting .227 with 2 RBIs in 8 games.

Shepherd leads the flock: Cal Lutheran’s Matt Shepherd, a junior right-handed pitcher, has 22 strikeouts in 27 innings, a 3.80 ERA and only 8 walks.

Shepherd has two wins without a loss, including an 8-4 victory on Feb. 17 over Cal State Dominguez Hills, an NCAA Division II team.

Greg Minick (0-2) is CLU’s only starter with a losing record. Starter Kevin O’Neill is 1-0 and senior reliever Chris Vanole has a 1-1 record and 2 saves.

“At this point, they are all strong,” Hill said. “Vanole is a little stronger coming out of the bullpen than as a starter. He likes coming in when the game’s on the line.”

The Kingsmen (6-6) play at Point Loma Nazarene in their Golden State Athletic Conference opener today.

Toasting Tatum: Shelmarie Tatum, who led the NAIA District III in scoring (17.3) and rebounding (12.3), was the only player from The Master’s College women’s team to be selected to the all-district team.

Freshman forward Deanna Mincks earned all-district honorable mention. The Mustangs finished at 10-15, 4-11 in district play.

Playing with pain: Cal Lutheran’s Anthony Espitia and Tom Bonds, who are playing despite sore ankles, have not let their injuries affect their hitting.

Espitia is batting .352 after hitting a run-scoring double against Chapman last Saturday. Bonds hit a two-run double and was 2 for 4 in CLU’s 10-4 loss to Chapman.

Bonds missed CLU’s first eight games after suffering ligament damage in his right ankle before the season started. He returned to the lineup Feb. 22.

Cal Lutheran Coach Rich Hill moved Espitia, who twisted his left ankle during a nonconference doubleheader against La Verne last week, to designated-hitter in order to keep his bat in the lineup. Espitia had been playing first base and catching.

Injury report: Will James of Cal State Northridge, the defending CCAA champion at 1,500 meters, will redshirt this season. James, who placed fifth in the 1,500 at last year’s Division II championships (3:43.42), has suffered from inflamed Achilles’ tendons since November.

Good season: The Master’s College basketball team posted its best record in three years despite losing four of its last six games.

The Mustangs (11-19) defeated West Coast Christian, 122-85, in their season finale last week. They failed to earn an NAIA District III playoff berth, however, after finishing 7-8 in district play.

Hot and cold: Butch Mettinger, who is known as a streak shooter at the College of the Canyons, did nothing to change that image in the Cougars’ 98-86 loss to Compton in the first round of the Southern California regional playoffs.

Mettinger, a sophomore forward who scored a team-high 23 points, scored 18 in the first half of last Saturday’s game, including 16 of Canyons’ first 19 points. He scored 11 consecutive points in a span of 7:35 before sitting out to rest midway through the first half.

In the second half, however, Mettinger scored just three points. He added two points in the overtime period on a pair of free throws.

Staff writers Gary Klein, Ralph Nichols and Mike Hiserman contributed to this notebook.