Cal State Fullerton Notebook / Larry Nista : Titans Get Chance to Measure Softball Success

All that’s at stake for the Cal State Fullerton softball team this weekend in the eighth annual Pony tournament is pride and rankings.

Never mind that Fullerton (19-4) has won the tournament final five times, or that nine of the top 20 and five of the top seven teams in the nation are participating.

The tournament, which starts tonight at 5 and continues through Sunday’s 2 p.m. final, is merely a test against some of the best the nation has to offer--a yardstick to measure the Titans’ chances in the tough Big West Conference.

“We call it the mini-nationals,” Fullerton Coach Judi Garman said. “But it’s just for prestige and national rankings.”

The 16-team tournament begins with pool play today and Thursday. The Titans play Texas A&M; tonight at 6:30.

Perhaps the toughest of four pools contains third-ranked Oklahoma State, 10th-ranked Arizona, the defending champion, No. 11 Cal State Long Beach and No. 20 United States International.

Only second-ranked UCLA is absent from the top five ranked teams, which include No. 1 Fresno State and No. 4 Oregon.

“It’s a chance for our conference teams to do well,” Garman said. “It’s important for our conference teams to beat the Pac-10 teams so we can show our strength.”

Of the five Big West teams in the tournament--Fresno State, Fullerton, seventh-ranked Cal Poly Pomona, Long Beach and New Mexico State--only New Mexico State is unranked.

All three Pacific 10 teams--Arizona, Oregon and No. 14 California--are ranked.

But Cal will be without Michele Granger, the former Valencia High standout who has had problems with swelling in her pitching hand.

Fullerton will not face a ranked team in pool play, but will play traditional rival Texas A&M.; Also in Fullerton’s pool are Akron, which Garman calls the sleeper team, and Utah, which earlier this season eliminated the Titans from the Arizona tournament, 3-1.

The Titans were eliminated in the early going of last year’s Pony tournament.

“We really do get up for this tournament,” Garman said.

“I’d like to think we can come back and win it this year.”

The men’s gymnastics team seems to have a big task ahead with the Pacific-10 championships this weekend at Cal.

But Coach Dick Wolfe, whose Titans will take on four of the top 20 teams in the nation, said Fullerton doesn’t get the respect it deserves.

“Cal State Fullerton is not even considered to be in competition,” Wolfe said. “We have been in the top 20 a couple of times, but we have had problems with injuries and sickness.

“This weekend we put it all together. I would have to say we jumped from about 25th in the nation to 11th or 12th.”

Fullerton lost at Cal, 281.15-279.5, on Saturday but the high score helped pull up the Titans’ average.

With a similar score at the Pac-10 championships, the Titans could raise their average from about 261 to 274.

Ranking is based upon a team’s five best scores, with at least three of those on the road.

“Things are starting to come around,” Wolfe said. “I’m real optimistic about what we are about to do.”

Eli Rodriguez is expected to finish high for the Titans in the all-around this weekend.

The baseball team makes another trip east, playing Florida State in a three-game series this weekend and South Alabama on Monday and Tuesday. It’s the Titans’ first trip to the South since they swept through the National Collegiate Athletic Assn. South Regional last season in Starkville, Miss.

The Titans, winners of seven games in a row, are one game ahead of the pace of last year’s team, which finished 43-18 and was one victory away from playing for the national championship.

Fullerton opens Big West play March 31 against Pacific at Titan Field.

Huck Flener was named Big West Conference pitcher of the week after winning two games, allowing six hits and striking out 19 in 14 innings.

Flener, who has emerged as the Titan ace, struck out 15 in a complete-game 2-1 victory over San Diego State and allowed two runs and three hits in three innings to earn the decision in a 7-3 victory over Gonzaga on Sunday.

Flener, a left-handed sophomore, improved his record to 6-0 while lowering his earned-run average to 2.58.