SportsScope : UCLA in Good Spot to Keep Softball Title

Everything seems to point toward victory for the defending national champion UCLA women’s softball team in the NCAA Division I College World Series, which ends Sunday in Sunnyvale.

The top-ranked Bruins (43-4) have won 11 straight games, their top pitchers are peaking and their hot hitters are getting hotter. In addition, UCLA Coach Sharron Backus’ teams have won five national titles (including four in the last six years) and have posted two second-place and two third-place NCAA finishes in her 14 years.

The only thing that might hamper the Bruins would be complacency, and Backus seems likely to prevent that. A tough field should also keep the UCLA women on their toes. UCLA opened play Wednesday against South Carolina (45-10) in the double-elimination tournament at the Twin Creeks Sports Complex. Other teams in the tournament are Oregon (52-16), Cal Poly Pomona (42-21), Fresno State (55-14), Arizona (45-18), Toledo (35-21) and Oklahoma State (44-4).

In last week’s Northwest Regional at UCLA, the Bruins defeated Cal State Long Beach, 5-1 and 3-0. In the first game, Samantha Ford (10-1) pitched four scoreless innings in relief of ace Lisa Longaker (17-1) to pick up the win and extend her streak of scoreless innings to 25. In the second game, freshman Tiffany Boyd (16-2) pitched a seven-inning shutout, extending her scoreless-inning streak to 23.

Bruin senior third baseman Janice Parks is in the midst of adding to her hitting records, and freshman outfielder Yvonne Gutierrez, a Culver City High School graduate, has hit in 10 straight games. Sophomore infielder Missy Phillips had four hits (including three doubles) in five at-bats against Long Beach, knocking in three runs and scoring twice.

The UCLA men’s heavyweight varsity crew, which won its third straight Pacific Coast Rowing championship and set a course record in its last outing, will compete June 1-3 in the Intercollegiate Rowing Assn. Regatta at Syracuse, N.Y.

In the Pacific Coast competition at Lake Natoma, the Bruins won in 5:45.35, nipping Washington (5:45.52), which had entered the race as the West Coast’s top-ranked crew. Only the Huskies had ever won three straight Pacific Coast titles before, and the Bruins championships have all been under Zenon Babraj, who became UCLA’s head coach in 1986.

Ace Thayer is UCLA’s varsity coxswain, and the crew includes stroke Mike Farrell, Marc Batchelder, Eric Kowal, Mike Stralka, Teo Bielefeld, Simon Outhwaite, Stefanos Volianitis of Greece and bow Brad Marquardt. Thayer and Volianitis are juniors, Marquardt is a sophomore, and the others are seniors.

After the Syracuse regatta, UCLA will compete in the national championships on June 17 at Cincinnati.

UCLA women golfers Jean Zedlitz and Christy Erb are competing in the individual NCAA championships, which end Saturday at Palo Alto. Zedlitz, a junior, is ranked sixth nationally and has averaged 75.7 strokes this season. Freshman Erb has averaged 77.3 and is ranked 28th in the nation.

Names in the News

Ken Barone, basketball coach at Newbury Park High School for the last 11 years, has been named a volunteer assistant at UCLA, announced UCLA Coach Jim Harrick. Barone’s Newbury Park teams have advanced to the CIF-Southern Section playoffs six times and reached the semifinals in 1975 and 1981. They also won two Marmonte League championships and he was twice named league coach of the year. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Western State College of Colorado and a master’s degree from Arizona State. Previously, he coached three years at St. Mary’s High School in Phoenix, seven years at Oxnard Rio Mesa High and four years at Ventura College.

University High School senior Brian Townsley, a wide receiver and outfielder, was awarded a $500 scholarship from the West Los Angeles Lions Club for academic and athletic achievement. Townsley will attend UC Berkeley in the fall.

Moe Chavez shot a 72 for 18 holes to win the A flight at the Penmar Men’s Golf Club tournament at Willowick Golf Course. Other flight winners and their gross scores were John Griffin, B, 79, and Jim Hookstratten, C, 81.