Digest : 3 Canyons Players Plead No Contest

Three members of the College of the Canyons men’s basketball team who were arrested in January after a scuffle with off-duty sheriff’s deputies were ordered by a Newhall Municipal Court judge to perform community service after pleading no contest to reduced charges of disturbing the peace.

Deon Myricks, 19, of Northridge, Aaron Clark, 21, of Canyon Country and Loren Cash, 19, of Valencia accepted the reduced charges as part of a plea bargain with the district attorney’s office.

Myricks and Cash originally were charged with misdemeanor counts of battery on a police officer and interfering with a police officer after a fracas outside a Santa Clarita Valley restaurant. Cash originally was charged with disturbing the peace and interfering with a police officer.

Myricks and Clark each were ordered to perform 50 hours of community service. Cash was ordered to perform 10 hours.

Two other members of the Canyons team who were arrested in connection with the incident--Kevin Price, 19, of Valencia and Michael Collins, 19, of Los Angeles--have been offered the same plea bargain, Deputy District Attorney James Baker said Thursday.

If Price and Collins decline to plead guilty or no contest, a pretrial hearing has been scheduled for April 19.

Chatsworth baseball Coach Bob Lofrano has accepted an invitation from El Dorado High in Placentia to enter the inaugural Far West Classic next spring.

The tournament will include 16 of the best teams on the West Coast--and Chatsworth undoubtedly is one of them.

USA Today recently ranked the Chancellors No. 14 in the nation. Hart was ranked fifth.

Mike Solomon, a former All-American outfielder at Cal State Northridge, has been selected to play for the U. S. softball team that will participate in the Maccabiah Games in Israel in July.

Solomon, 27, batted .401 his senior year at Northridge. He helped lead the Matadors to the 1984 Division II national championship before playing in the Seattle Mariners’ organization.

Byron Scott of the Lakers will be the speaker at the Cal Lutheran basketball awards banquet April 9 in the Cal Lutheran cafeteria.

Former Valley College standout Odis McKinney, a cornerback and safety for the Los Angeles Raiders for seven seasons, was among 13 inductees to the California Community College Hall of Fame.

McKinney played defensive back for both Valley and the University of Colorado before joining the Raiders in 1980. He played in two Super Bowls before retiring in 1986.