Summer Sports Notebook : 2nd Baseman Knight Ranks 1st in Power : Tournament Homers Boost Legion Team

It was as if Bigfoot had contracted Baseball Fever and trekked out of the Rocky Mountains to put on a power display.

But the terror was actually just a scrappy second baseman from Camarillo.

Well, 2B or not 2B, the Bigbat was Kenny Knight of the Camarillo American Legion baseball team. And he put his stamp on the Cherry Creek Classic tournament in Aurora, Colo., last week, hitting 6 home runs and driving in 15 runs in 5 games.

Two of the home runs came during a 10-0 win over Hillcrest (Utah) in the consolation championship Sunday. Derron Spiller and Steve Biggs combined on a four-hitter for the win, Camarillo’s third in five games. It was the second year in a row Camarillo took the consolation title.

“Kenny showed remarkable power throughout the tournament,” Camarillo Coach Rich Herrera said.

Herrera is an assistant at Oxnard College, but he said Knight, who leads Ventura County Legion players with seven home runs, probably will attend junior college in San Diego next season.

Add Legion tournaments: Camarillo will play host to its own tournament July 1-4. Cherry Creek will compete in the eight-team tournament along with two teams from Scottsdale, Ariz., one from Calgary, Canada, and four from Ventura County--Royal, Westlake, Ventura and Camarillo.

Fast times: Angela Burnham of Rio Mesa High qualified for the U. S. Junior national team in the 100 meters at The Athletics Congress junior championships in Tallahassee, Fla., on Friday by finishing second in a time of 11.53.

Burnham, 16, qualified for the 200 meter final Saturday but withdrew because of a tight right hamstring. “It felt tight before the race but I thought it was just my nerves,” she said. “But during the race, it was tight the whole way. I didn’t want to chance another injury.”

The second-place finish qualifies Burnham for the World Junior track championships in Sudbury, Canada, July 26-31. She will also be a member of the 400-meter relay team.

Because of the injury, Burnham has withdrawn from TAC National Youth track championships at Mt. San Antonio College, which began Wednesday.

The injury will also keep Burnham out of the 200 at the U. S. Olympic Trials in Indianapolis, July 15-23. However, she will compete in the 100 at the trials. Burnham, who has run 11.52 in the 100 and 23.45 in the 200, had qualified for both events.

“The 200 is harder on my legs than the 100,” said Burnham, who will be a senior at Rio Mesa in the fall. “So I think I’ll just stick to that event.”

Running for Raiders: Travis Cooksey of Rio Mesa High and Paul McCarter of Thousand Oaks High, two of the top middle-distance runners in the Southern Section, will attend Moorpark College next season.

Cooksey, the 1987 Southern Section 4-A Division 800-meter champion, wanted to attend either Fresno State or Nebraska but failed to meet NCAA Proposition 48 requirements (minimum of 700 points) on the Scholastic Aptitude Test.

“I’m a little disappointed, but it’s probably for the best,” said Cooksey, who has a personal best of 1 minute, 52.05 seconds in the 800. “This way, I’ll get a chance to see how college life is without all the academic pressures of a major university.”

McCarter, the 4-A runner-up in the 1,600 this season, has run 1:55.7 in the 800 and 4:15.54 in the 1,600.

New coach: Fillmore High hired Curtis Garner, 30, last week as football coach. Garner, an assistant at El Segundo the past seven years, takes over for Dave Wilde, the Fillmore athletic director.

Garner, a graduate of Cal State Northridge, takes over a team that struggled to a record of 1-9 last year.

Add new coach: Howard Davis has been named basketball coach at Hueneme High. Davis, 25, was coach at Damien High in La Verne the past two seasons. Both of his teams finished second in the Baseline League and posted an overall record of 33-17.

Davis, who graduated from Redlands and earned a master’s degree from Claremont, takes over for Barry Long. Hueneme was 6-13 last season, 3-9 in Channel League play and has finished better than sixth in the league only once in the past nine years.

Rarefied rankings: The La Reina, Buena and Thousand Oaks high softball teams earned the respect of Cal-Hi Sports this season.

Cal-Hi ranked La Reina No. 1 among state 1-A Division teams, ranked Buena second among 4-A Division schools and ranked Thousand Oaks ninth in the 4-A Division.

La Reina was 20-5 and the Tri-Valley League champion last season. Buena, the Channel League champion, was Southern Section 4-A Division runner-up and had a record of 26-3-1. Thousand Oaks, the Marmonte League champion, had a record of 24-8.

Thousand Oaks should field a championship team again next season if the team’s performance in last week’s L.A. Games is an indication. The Lancers won the tournament by defeating Leuzinger, 15-2, and pitcher Amy Chellevold was named most valuable player.

Girls’ basketball tournament: Three teams from Ventura-Santa Barbara will compete in the Northern California Shootout on Friday, Saturday and Sunday at Pleasant Valley High in Chico, Calif.

The Sharks and Barracudas will play in the all-star division and the Piranhas will compete in the high school division.

Also entered in the all-star division are the North Coast Express from Alameda, Calif., and the Northern California Renegades from Chico. Entries in the high school division include Chico Pleasant Valley, Chico, Red Bluff, Willows, Orland, Gridley and Anderson highs.

The Sharks finished second in the tournament last year with a record of 3-2.