The Colleges : Furlong’s Freshman Batting Numbers Fit the Bill for Moorpark

Darin Furlong does not believe in fumbling around for a calculator when he wants to check his batting average or tally his runs batted in. The freshman third baseman for Moorpark College has devised a much easier means of keeping track of his statistics--he writes them on his cap.

For every hit, he scrawls a mark in dark blue ink on the sweat-stained bill of his cap. For example, he jots down an “S” for a single or an “H” for a home run.

Furlong, who started using his cap for his statistics when he played at Simi Valley High, has had a lot to write about this season. He slapped a single between first and second base against the College of the Canyons on Thursday to keep a 19-game hitting streak alive.

All relative: The Occidental men’s tennis team bolstered its confidence while improving its record to 11-8 by defeating Cal State San Bernardino, Whittier and Caltech last week.

But Coach Brian Newhall doesn’t expect a command performance when the Tigers play Pomona-Pitzer today. The Sagehens (17-0) blanked Occidental, 9-0, in their first meeting this season.

One of the reasons for Pomona-Pitzer’s success is freshman Reed Newhall, one of the top players in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference and a distant cousin of Brian’s.

“I never had any contact or knew him before he came to Pomona,” Brian lamented. “Relatives were telling me that my cousin could really play and I was thinking, ‘Yeah, right.’ ”

Conference call: Top billing among Division II softball programs will be on the line Sunday when No. 1-ranked Cal State Northridge plays host to No. 2 Cal State Sacramento in a nonconference doubleheader.

But to listen to Gary Torgeson, Northridge’s coach, a more important pair of games will be played today on the Lady Matadors’ home field.

The visiting team is Cal State Dominguez Hills, which isn’t usually known for its prowess in softball. But at this stage of the season, California Collegiate Athletic Assn. games take precedence.

“For security purposes the Dominguez Hills games are more critical for us because we want to be assured of a regional (playoff) berth,” Torgeson said.

Northridge, 39-13 overall, leads the CCAA with a 7-1 record. But Torgeson will not rest easy until his team does everything possible to secure a host’s role for the regionals, which begin next month. The first step would be winning the conference title.

The Lady Matadors have been ranked No. 1 each of the past two seasons, only to hit the road for the first round of the playoffs.

“I think that’s a crime,” Torgeson said. “It seems like we should have gotten the home-field advantage. We were No. 1. What did we have to do to earn it?”

Sacramento defeated Northridge the first two times the teams met this season, but dropped a 1-0 decision to the Lady Matadors two weeks ago to fall behind CSUN in the national rankings.

“They’re a very fine team,” Torgeson said of Sacramento, “but I’m not going to overplay these games. Right now they’re secondary in importance. No matter what happens this weekend I have a feeling we’re going to see Sacramento again.”

Add Lady Matadors: The loss of Lisa Hall has prompted Northridge to adjust its batting order.

Hall, who quit the softball team last Saturday, batted fifth for the Lady Matadors. She will be replaced in the order by Pam Smith, who had been batting third. Erin McGuire, who had been batting lower in the order but is one of the team’s hottest hitters, will replace Smith in the No. 3 spot.

Torgeson said the change should benefit both players.

“McGuire has been making great contact, which is what we need there,” Torgeson said. “Smith was doing a good job, but the problem with hitting behind (Lisa) Erickson and (Anna) Getherall is that you end up in bunting situations a lot of the time. Now we’re going to take advantage of some of her power.

“People tend to not want to pitch to the No. 4 hitter a lot, but they can’t put everyone on. Batting fifth should help Smith just like it helped Hall.”

Smith, a senior who has played first base and the outfield, already leads Northridge in RBIs with 27. And batting in the No. 5 spot for the first time on Thursday, she drove in five runs against Loyola Marymount.

“She came within six inches of hitting two four-baggers,” Torgeson said. “I think this lineup is going to be very effective.”

He stole the job: Kyle Tarpenning, defensive coordinator for the Cal Lutheran football team, was working for the other side in 1982, the last time the Kingsmen competed in the NAIA playoffs.

Tarpenning was a senior defensive back for Linfield College, which defeated Cal Lutheran, 20-16, in the quarterfinals.

He had three interceptions, recovered a fumble and kicked two field goals.

Indeed, it was a memorable performance.

How memorable? Well, the Kingsmen ended up hiring him, didn’t they?

Penalty stroke: Buck Andreasen, golf coach at Moorpark College, doesn’t mince words when discussing his team.

“This is the worst golf team I have ever been associated with,” Andreasen said. “These kids are no better now than they were at the start of the season.”

Ouch! That hurt almost as much as the team’s 0-19 record.

Freshman Rob Arnold, who shot 76 at the Valley Oaks Golf Course in Visalia last month, is the only Raider golfer to break 80 this season.

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