The Colleges : Stillwell’s Resignation Surprises Players

Ron Stillwell’s resignation this week as baseball coach at Moorpark College took his players by surprise more than a steal of home.

“It kind of shocked us,” sophomore first baseman Kris Kaelin said of Stillwell’s announcement. “We thought it was going to be an end-of-practice speech.”

Added freshman pitcher John Chiaramonte: “I just hope we get somebody to come in here that knows the game as well as he (Stillwell) does. He knows what he’s doing and he’s good at helping people go places when they’re done playing here.”

Stillwell, who has taught physical education at Thousand Oaks High for 25 years and is in his fifth season with the Raiders, said that although Moorpark administrators never guaranteed a change from walk-on to full-time status, he had hoped that he would eventually be incorporated into the school’s faculty.

“Nothing was definite and nothing was promised,” Stillwell said. “I just thought if I hung in there long enough that with the area growing the way it has there would be a need for another full-time P.E. teacher. But that hasn’t happened.

“If I were to coach baseball again it would be in a full-time capacity. That would be the only way.”

But Stillwell will stay until the end of the season, one his players hope to extend through the state playoffs.

“I don’t think the players are worrying about it (Stillwell’s status) too much right now,” Kaelin said . “We’re concentrating on finishing out the year and making the playoffs.”

A stay-at-home: Chris Johnson, the baseball coach at Valley, is in his second season as a walk-on coach, although this season he works on campus at the swimming pool. Johnson said that he understands Stillwell’s frustration with having to commute from Thousand Oaks High to Moorpark every day after school.

“Being on campus makes a world of difference,” said Johnson, who worked at a racquetball club last season. “It makes it so much easier to help the kids with academic counseling. It’s a hundred times easier this way.”

Price is right: John Price, the men’s volleyball coach at Cal State Northridge, is thankful that the CSUN campus and its volleyball program were able to attract Reseda High’s Coley Kyman, who orally committed to Northridge on Thursday.

“I’ve been on him since last year,” Price said. “He got to know me and I got to know him. If we had just come into the picture two weeks ago, I think it would have been a different story.”

And Price believes that the signing of the 6-foot-5 1/2 Kyman will entice other top Falley-area volleyball players to join the Northridge program.

“Seeing him staying in the Valley makes it easier for other good players to come here,” Price said. “I’m still going hard on guys inside the Valley. I haven’t even gone outside yet. I think there’s enough good players here.”

Stanley has the tools: It doesn’t look as if the defending-state champion Pierce College volleyball team will win the South Coast Conference title this season, but the Brahmas still have a chance to repeat as the state titlists.

As many as three teams from the South Coast Conference could qualify for the state tournament May 5 at El Camino College. Pierce (15-2), which is in second place, has three conference matches left.

“I just don’t see us stumbling that much,” Coach Ken Stanley said. “I think we’ll finish strong.”

Last week, Pierce was swept by conference-leading Orange Coast, whose roster includes some players who helped the Pirates win the 1987 state title.

“It wasn’t that we didn’t play hard,” Stanley said. “We were just outclassed that night.

“When we go to the state tournament, we are hoping against hope that we have a chance to play them again.”

Come to think of it: Allison Kincaid, the No. 1 singles player on Northridge’s women’s tennis team, has had trouble with her serve lately.

Her coach’s advice: Work on it, but don’t think about it.

“I think it’s a psychological thing,” Coach Tony Davila said. “She starts having trouble and starts believing she can’t serve or hit an overhead. She can do all those things, she just has to relax. She has really good natural instincts, she just thinks too much.”

On the run: When Keith Wright, an All-Western Football Conference receiver, was declared academically ineligible before last football season, the entire Northridge offense suffered for it.

Wright was almost as effective without the ball as he was with it. His mere presence as a deep threat loosened up an opponent’s defense. Without his speed on the outside, Northridge faced defenses stacked to stop the run and the short pass.

That could change next season.

Anthony Harris, a former track standout, is as fast as Wright, and even though he isn’t in Wright’s class as a receiver, his rate of improvement during spring practice has caught the attention of Coach Bob Burt.

“He’s always had the speed, but now he’s starting to run good routes and do some other things to become a good receiver,” Burt said. “I’m starting to feel good about him.”

Double trouble: If George Kuntz, the soccer coach at Cal Lutheran, thought he was busy last fall, he will be twice as harried during the next school year.

Cal Lutheran will field a women’s soccer team for the first time and Kuntz, the NAIA District 3 Coach of the Year in men’s soccer last season, will be in charge of both teams.

Travis, trials and tribulations: After a blazing start, former Camarillo High pitcher Travis Willis has found the going rough on the mound for Cal.

Willis, a junior right-hander, won his first six decisions but has not won since March 4 when he beat Cal State Fullerton.

Willis is 6-4 with a 3.42 earned-run average. He missed a start last weekend against Arizona because of a sore shoulder but is expected to be ready for this weekend’s series with Arizona State.

Numbers game: Monty Jones, the Tustin High pitcher who has signed a letter of intent to play baseball at Northridge, has some impressive credentials.

He is 6-0 with a 1.34 ERA and leads Orange County high school pitchers with 74 strikeouts. “He’s a legit player,” CSUN Coach Bill Kernen said of Jones. “Lots of schools were talking to him and we got him. That’s a win for us.”

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