Hall Walks Off Softball Team at Northridge

Lisa Hall, captain of Cal State Northridge’s top-ranked softball team, has left the team, citing a conflict with Coach Gary Torgeson.

Hall, a senior, was an All-American candidate at third base after batting .300 as a junior with 46 runs batted in. She was batting .341 with 15 RBIs this season.

“I was sorry to see her go,” said Torgeson, whose team is 37-13. “She’s been a part of my teams--here or in ASA ball--for seven or eight years.”

Hall said quitting was the only way for her to “get out and not hinder the rest of the team.”

“It probably was a surprise to the rest of the team, but not him,” Hall said, referring to Torgeson. “Little things between him and I have been brewing for some time.” She declined to be specific.

Hall said part of the problem was difficulty she experienced assuming a leadership role.

“He didn’t believe in me,” Hall said of Torgeson. “I was trying my hardest and it just wasn’t working. He just couldn’t take ‘I don’t know’ and ‘I can’t’ for an answer.”

Krista Miller, a junior who is batting .260, will start at third base, Torgeson said.

Cal State Northridge has postponed a women’s tennis match against UC Riverside, scheduled for today, because Coach Tony Davila suffered broken bones in his left arm in an accident Sunday at his home in Simi Valley.

Davila was trying to stop his car from rolling down his driveway when his arm was pinned between the vehicle and the garage. Both major bones in his left forearm were broken. A steel plate will be inserted into the arm during an operation scheduled for April 17.

The match has tentatively been rescheduled for April 22 at CSUN. The Lady Matadors’ next match is Saturday at home against Cal Poly Pomona.

Steve deLaveaga, a 6-foot-4 senior guard who averaged a team-high 28.1 points a game, has been selected as Cal Lutheran’s most valuable basketball player.

DeLaveaga also shared a leadership award with guard Jeff Logsdon. Brad Adam was honored as the most improved player and for having the highest grade-point average. Mike Demeter won the coaches’ award.

Moorpark College, which will field men’s and women’s soccer teams next season for the first time, has selected coaches for the programs.

Frank Parodi, former coach at Mission College, will head the men’s team. Daniel Ohayon, coach at Culver City High the past seven seasons, will run the women’s team. Both selections are subject to approval by the Ventura County Community College District, which will next meet on May 2.

Rob Bernardi, 30, a former Cal State Northridge defensive back, has been hired as football programming director at the University of Arizona.

Arizona Coach Dick Tomey said Bernardi’s duties will include coordinating fall camp, team meals, housing, the annual spring coaching clinic, the summer camp and serving as a liaison between the athletic department and the university.

Lori Mertes and Jason Willis, two of the top athletes on the Chatsworth High track team, have regained their academic eligibility, according to Coach Myron Gibford.

Mertes, a junior, placed second in the high jump in last year’s City Section championships and tied for sixth in the state championships.

Willis, a senior, won the City title in the Class B 400 in 1988 and has a best of 49.68 seconds in that event.

Both athletes, whose 30-week report cards met academic requirements, are expected to compete against Taft on April 21.