The Colleges : No Way, Jose, to Tell These Garcias Apart

John Klitsner faced an uphill battle recruiting players for the Mission College baseball team this season.

But Klitsner, who is in his first season with the Free Spirit, was successful on at least one front--he cornered the market on pitchers named Jose Garcia.

Meet Jose Garcia, a 5-foot-7 freshman right-hander from Marshall High. Now meet Jose Garcia, a 5-foot-8 right-hander from Sylmar.

“There’s a lot of confusion with the umpires most of the time,” says Jose from Marshall.

“And the coaches,” adds Jose from Sylmar, who also plays infield.

Who can blame them?

Even listing the two Joses with their middle initials would not remedy the matter. The middle name of the Jose from Marshall is Armando. Jose from Sylmar? Antonio.

“The only way they can know who we are is by the numbers,” says Jose from Marshall, who wears No. 15.

“It’s not like we’re twins or anything,” complains Jose from Sylmar, who wears No. 7.

Early catch: In November, Bill Mazurie of Capistrano Valley High became the first basketball player to accept a scholarship offer from Northridge during the early signing period. Since then, he has done nothing but show Northridge coaches that they made a wise choice.

The 6-foot-3 guard averaged 12.3 points and 5.2 assists and helped the Cougars to the Southern Section 4-A Division championship. He made 56% of his field-goal attempts (97 of 173) and shot 78.9% (109 of 138) from the free-throw line.

Mazurie’s best game might have been his last of the season. He scored a season-high 31 points in Capistrano Valley’s 69-63 loss to Manual Arts in the Southern California regionals.

People’s choice: Northridge has long been considered the team to beat in Division II softball, but the Lady Matadors are not the ones carrying the role of favorites this season.

That distinction belongs to Cal State Sacramento, which firmly established itself as the early season choice by winning a tournament in Bakersfield last weekend.

Sacramento defeated Northridge twice, winning, 1-0, in pool play on Saturday, then, 7-0, in the championship game Sunday.

Northridge Coach Gary Torgeson could not remember the last time the Lady Matadors had been roughed up in such a fashion by Division II team.

“That last game was a circus,” he said. “It was one of those games where you have to start laughing after about the fourth inning. They ripped the ball against us.”

Heather Lindstrom, a freshman pitcher from Crescenta Valley, got hit the hardest, allowing six runs in four innings. Kristy Alves, a freshman from Burroughs High, mopped up.

Debbie Dickmann, Northridge’s All-American pitcher, was held out of the championship game because she pitched two complete games Sunday morning. Dickmann shut out Chapman, 3-0, then defeated defending national champion Cal State Bakersfield, 2-1, to advance CSUN to the tournament’s title game.

“It’s too early in the season to have her pitch all the games,” Torgeson said. “We’re taking a different approach this season. If we lose some of these tournaments, it’s no big deal. We’re looking at the nationals. We’re still experimenting a little.”

Northridge (23-11 overall) is 4-0 and tied with Cal Poly San Luis Obispo for first place in the California Collegiate Athletic Assn. CSUN plays host to San Luis Obispo in a doubleheader beginning at noon today.

Dickmann (15-4, 10 shutouts) will pitch one of the games, but Torgeson has yet to choose between his two freshmen as his other starter.

Lindstrom (5-3) had been pitching better than Alves, Torgeson said, but was bothered by a pulled muscle in her forearm against Sacramento. Meanwhile, Alves (3-3) is beginning to come on.

“The last few times out she’s pitched well,” Torgeson said. “Her style is very different. She doesn’t look at the target. She looks down. But her ball rises and drops and goes inside out. It works for her. I used to kid her about it, but I think I’m going to stop.”

Looks may be deceiving: Despite a 6-12 overall record and a 2-11 mark in Western Intercollegiate Volleyball Assn. play, Coach John Price says this year’s men’s team is the best ever at Northridge.

The Matadors begin the final phase of their conference schedule Monday night at home against Pepperdine.

“I hate to use the term, but we’ve been awesome,” Price said. “Northridge has never had a team like this that has been competitive every single night.

“It’s frustrating because I still believe it’s the best team we’ve ever had and even though we’ve been falling short, it’s the best we’ve ever played.”

Streak stopper: Disappointed with Moorpark’s lackluster hitting, baseball Coach Ron Stillwell emphasized batting practice in recent workouts. The extra work paid off as Moorpark collected 65 hits during a recent four-game span. But Rancho Santiago’s Jack Bailey quieted Moorpark bats in pitching a six-hitter Thursday in the second round of the Channel Coast baseball tournament.

Steve Sisco, a freshman second baseman for Moorpark, had his 20-game hitting streak end after going hitless in four at-bats against Rancho Santiago. Sisco nearly extended his streak after hitting a hard line drive to the right of second base. But Rancho Santiago turned it into a double play and Sisco struck out looking in his last at-bat to snap the streak.

Dirty play: For the first time in three years, Glendale earned a victory over Santa Monica in baseball, winning, 9-3, last Saturday. Glendale not only overcame the Corsairs, the team survived the Santa Monica field, which is dotted with tufts of grass and riddled with divots.

Glendale Coach Steve Coots says that condition of the field has improved since last season, but he still delivers a traditional warning to his players about the playing surface.

“It’s hard to envision it being a JC facility,” Coots said. “You don’t just let (the team) get off the bus and see the field--you’ve got to prepare them.”

Some situations cannot be resolved with a pregame speech, however.

At one point Saturday, Vaquero outfielder Jeff Ojeda dived to make a shoestring catch, missed the ball and detonated a dust bomb.

“This big cloud of dirt came up and neither team knew where the ball was,” Coots said.

Not quite the green, green grass of home.

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