The Colleges : It’s One Small World, and Cassidy Proved It

Karl Becker is the first basketball player successfully recruited out of Cypress Junior College by Northridge Coach Pete Cassidy.

It turns out Cassidy had fairly good ties when it came time to talk to Becker’s parents.

Becker’s father, also named Karl, grew up in Wieburg, West Germany, a town about five kilometers from Babenhausen, where Cassidy was stationed while in the service.

The men found their common ground when the eldest Becker noticed his son’s first name had been mistakenly spelled with a ‘C’ on the letter of intent Cassidy had brought with him.

“With a K, huh?” Cassidy asked. “A good German name.” Cassidy then mentioned he had been stationed in a little town in Germany he was sure the Beckers had never heard of.

Cassidy was wrong about that, but he got his player.

Fund-raising: Last Sunday’s Pinnacle of Success baseball awards dinner drew 250 people and raised $25,000 for the Cal State Northridge baseball program, Coach Bill Kernen said.

The money will be used exclusively for scholarships.

Add awards: Steve Lazarus was selected as the most valuable player at the Cal State Northridge soccer banquet Friday at CSUN’s University Club.

Scott Piri was named most valuable offensive player and Rick Iversen was named defensive MVP. Other awards went to Ed Burns (most inspirational) and Mark Zarkowski (coach’s award).

Baseball tuneup: The Northridge baseball team will play next on Thursday against The Master’s. The Matadors will be in action earlier in the week, though; a scrimmage has been scheduled for Monday at Cal State Fullerton.

The workout against the perennially powerful Titans should prepare Northridge for its game Friday at Cal State Long Beach, the Matadors’ first contest against a Division I opponent.

Kernen is happy, but not overwhelmed, with his team’s early performances.

“In our first two games, offensively, we did almost nothing,” Kernen said. “The discipline at the plate was not as good as I hoped it would be.

“We played catch on defense and we got some good pitching. Right now, we don’t feel like we’re anywhere near who we’re going to have beat in our conference.”

Getting the edge: Valley College will play host to the women’s 8-team junior college state basketball tournament March 2-4, and if Valley continues to play the way it has all season, the Lady Monarchs could enjoy the home-court advantage.

Valley (23-3 overall, 8-1 in the Western State Conference) has won 14 of its past 15 games. The Lady Monarchs will travel to Santa Monica tonight for a Southern Division showdown with the Corsairs (7-2), who handed Valley a 75-60 loss during the first round of conference play.

Valley is led by sophomore forward Ruth Aguilar, who averages 15 points and 8.5 rebounds a game.

However, the key to the Lady Monarchs’ success has been their depth. Five players average more than 8.5 points. Sandrine Rocher, the team’s first substitute, is the leading scorer among that quintet, averaging 12 points a game.

Nothing to it: The Master’s College basketball team picked up an easy win Friday when West Coast Christian decided to forfeit a game that had been postponed when several of its players were involved in an accident in a team van.

Master’s improved to 12-12. The Mustangs will play host to Southwestern College (Ariz.) at 7:30 tonight.

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