SportScope : Dominguez Hills Nine to Open Tournament Play

The Cal State Dominguez Hills softball team is seeded fourth in the NCAA Division II Western Regional Tournament and will play host to Cal State Northridge in the opening round Saturday at 11 a.m.

The four teams in the regional are from the California Collegiate Athletic Assn. The Lady Toros (35-20-1) finished third in the CCAA and placed six women on the all-conference team (see today’s college column in this section).

Dominguez Hills is ranked 14th in the nation. Top-rated Northridge (60-17) won the CCAA title. Other teams participating are second-place Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and defending national champion Cal State Bakersfield, which slumped into fourth place this spring. All teams play a doubleheader Saturday, with the semifinal and championship games slated Sunday at noon and 2 p.m.

Dominguez Hills set school records for most wins in a season and best CCAA mark (11-8-1). Maria Romero has 19 hits in her last 39 at-bats to raise her average to .305. Dominguez Hills pitchers have allowed only 32 runs in almost 400 innings, an earned-run average of 0.57. Denise Biller, a senior, brings a 15-10 record into the tournament and is expected to take the mound against Northridge. Kim Park is 13-7 and Jennifer Boen 4-1. Boen, a freshman, was named first-team all-conference as a utility player. The Toros are batting only .207 but Biller and company have held opponents 25 points below that. This is the second Western Regional appearance for the Lady Toros. The team played in the 1982 event.

North Redondo Beach Region 17 of the American Youth Soccer Organization will sign players for the fall season Saturday and May 20 in the community room near Nordstroms at the South Bay Galleria. The cost is $40 per athlete and a birth certificate is required of all who did not play last season. There is a discount for families with more than one child eligible. For more information call 542-3555.

Billy Thompson of the Los Angeles Heat was named Player of the Week in the Western Soccer League for leading the southern division front-runners to a pair of victories last week. Thompson, a member of the U.S. National B team, scored two goals and had one assist. The Heat plays host to northern division leader Portland at West Torrance High School tonight at 7:30.

At Ascot Raceway the 15th Gardena Gold Cup 20-lap half-mile motorcycle race will be run Saturday at 8 p.m. Tonight AMA speedway motorcycles will run in the Ascot South Bay Stadium. Pro stocks, bomber ovals, Figure 8s and hobby stocks begin at 6 Sunday evening.

The Cal State Dominguez Hills baseball team (15-27-2) concludes its season with a three-game set with Cal State Northridge this afternoon at Northridge and Saturday at Carson at 1 p.m.

The Harbor College baseball team will meet Palomar College in an opening round game of the community college regional playoffs May 19 at 3 p.m. at Rancho Santiago College in Santa Ana. Two other teams, as yet undetermined, will play in the double-elimination tournament. The winner will advance to the state playoffs the following week at UC Irvine. Harbor won state titles in 1978 and 1984 and clinched its fourth consecutive Southern California Athletic Conference title. The Seahawks (28-13-1 overall) have won 10 conference titles under Coach Jim O’Brien.