College Division / Mitch Polin : Pomona-Pitzer’s Women Seeded 2nd

Pomona-Pitzer will be in a familiar role when it opens play in the National Collegiate Athletic Assn.’s Division III women’s tennis tournament today at Claremont.

It will be the sixth time in the last eight years that the Sagehens have competed in the national tournament. The team’s best finish was fourth in 1982.

But Coach Lisa Beckett says that the Sagehens, seeded second behind Gustavus Adolphus of St. Peter, Minn., have a shot at the title.

“In terms of talent, we would be an even match for anyone in the draw,” she said. “We lost to Gustavus Adolphus, 5-4, but it was a close match. We’re definitely in the running.”

Pomona-Pitzer could have a home-court advantage in its playoff opener against Swarthmore of Pennsylvania at 9 this morning.

After Gustavus Adolphus and Pomona-Pitzer, Kenyon of Gambier, Ohio, is seeded No. 3 and UC San Diego No. 4 in the 10-team tournament.

The Sagehens have a 23-2 overall record and were 12-0 in Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference dual matches.

Pomona-Pitzer is led by senior Karen Nilsen and freshman Shelley Keeler in singles. The two have a combined singles record of 23-0 and also are favored to win the doubles title. Nilsen teamed with Julie Lindberg to win the Division III doubles title last year.

Although Pomona is the only SCIAC school competing for the team championship, Occidental and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps will have individuals participating. Sue Hulse of Occidental qualified in singles and she will team with Kim Black in doubles.

Claremont will be represented in singles by Mari Uchida, who was voted SCIAC player of the year last week.

The SCIAC also will be well represented in the men’s Division III tennis championships that start Sunday at Kalamazoo College in Michigan.

Pomona and Claremont are among the 10 schools vying for the team championship. Pomona won the SCIAC dual-match title at 12-0 and is 21-1 overall, and Claremont was 10-2 in the SCIAC and is 14-11 overall.

UC Santa Cruz is the top seeded team in the tournament, followed by Swarthmore, Washington College of Chestertown, Md., and Kalamazoo. Pomona is ranked No. 8 and Claremont No. 10.

Pomona has been led by Paul Cross and Reed Newhall in singles and the doubles team of Cross and Carl Swanson. Cross was ranked No. 1 in Division III singles at midseason and Cross and Swanson were No. 7 in doubles.

Claremont’s top players include Pete Gertmenian, Eric Chan and Lance Au in singles, and Gertmenian and Au in doubles. Gertmenian was ranked No. 17 at midseason in singles and Gertmenian and Au were No. 6 in doubles.

The Westmont baseball team has reached the District 3 finals in the National Assn. of Intercollegiate Athletics the last two seasons, only to finish second.

But this season the Warriors have momentum as they head into the District 3 playoffs Thursday through Saturday at Westmont in Santa Barbara.

Since March 16, when it had an 8-12 record, Westmont has won 22 of 24 games and will start postseason play at 30-14--the most victories in school history. The Warriors have been lead by senior pitcher Jeff Ludwig, who is 10-3 and has eight consecutive complete games.

Ludwig is expected to start in Westmont’s opening game of the four-team, double-elimination tournament at 2 p.m. Thursday against Azusa Pacific, which is 28-18 and the district’s top-hitting team.

In the other matchup, at 11 a.m. Thursday, Cal Lutheran (31-16) will play Southern California College (29-19). Cal Lutheran also has its most victories ever.

The winner of the District 3 tournament will advance to the four-team NAIA area playoffs next week at a site to be determined.

In the California Collegiate Athletic Assn., Cal Poly San Luis Obispo is nearing its first title in 12 years.

The Mustangs, 19-10 in the CCAA and 29-22 overall, can clinch the title with a victory over second-place Cal State Northridge today at San Luis Obispo. Northridge, the only other team still in the race for the title at 14-11-1 in the CCAA and 28-18-1 overall, needs to win all five of its games this week--including a replay of its tie against UC Riverside--to tie for the title.

In the SCIAC, La Verne won the title with a 15-3 record and is 20-19 overall, and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps was second at 14-4 and 24-14 overall.

After winning the NAIA District 3 title for the third time in the last four years, the Cal Lutheran women’s softball team will play host to Mesa of Colorado in a district playoffs Friday and Saturday at Thousand Oaks.

Cal Lutheran enters the best-of-three series with a 33-16 overall record after winning the Golden State Athletic Conference title with a 17-3 mark. The 12th-ranked Regals advanced to the playoffs with a 4-1 victory Saturday over Azusa Pacific in the District 3 title game.

The Regals, who reached the NAIA World Series last year but were eliminated in two consecutive games, are led by pitchers DeeAndra Pilkington and Leslie Stevens, and catcher Teri Rupe.

Pilkington has a 17-4 record and a 1.04 earned-run average and also leads the team with a .418 batting average. Stevens is 11-5 with a 1.22 ERA and is batting .274 with a team-leading seven triples. Rupe leads the Regals with 27 RBIs and a .980 fielding percentage.

The winner of the district playoff advances to the NAIA World Series May 18-20 at Midland, Mich.

College Division Notes

Vicki Kantor, a sophomore who led Cal Poly San Luis Obispo to its second consecutive California Collegiate Athletic Assn. title in women’s tennis, has been voted the conference’s most valuable player. San Luis Obispo, ranked No. 1 in the NCAA Division II, also placed Tracy and Debbie Montano, Erin Green, Danica Armstrong and Patty Blessing on the all-conference team.

Mickey McAulay, an assistant coach with the Cal Poly Pomona women’s basketball team the last two seasons, has become women’s coach at Redlands. She also had a 60-35 record in four years as a high school coach at Anaheim Katella. She will take over a Redlands team that was 7-17 last season.