SportsScope : Mary Letourneau, Covina High Softball Pitcher, Hailed as 3-A Player of Year

Pitcher Mary Letourneau, who led Covina High to its first CIF Southern Section girls softball title in June, has been named 3-A Division Player of the Year by the Southern Section Softball Advisory Committee.

Letourneau, a senior, completed her brilliant prep career with a 2-0 shutout over Mission Viejo in the championship game.

On the season, Letourneau finished with 19 shutouts, five no-hitters and four perfect games. She posted a 23-0-1 record and an 0.17 earned-run average with 289 strikeouts in 167 innings.

Letourneau will attend Cal State Long Beach on a softball scholarship.

Covina, which went through a 26-0-1 season, was also honored with the selection of Rocky Buccola as 3-A Coach of the Year. It was the second title for Buccola, who guided South Hills to a Southern Section championship in 1982.

Two other Covina players made the CIF squad: freshman catcher Cynthia Escobedo and junior infielder Rebecca Montes.

Twelve other San Gabriel Valley players were named to All-CIF teams.

The only other valley player named to the 3-A team was junior infielder Tristin Alfred of Walnut.

Sierra League champion Diamond Bar placed senior pitcher Bonnie Ebenkamp, senior infielder Elizabeth Sirchia and junior infielder Shannon Stec on the 4-A team. Junior infielder Kelly Hunt of Charter Oak also made the team.

Temple City infielders Penny Saunders and Jennifer Woolery made the 2-A team along with senior pitcher Carolyn Hawkins of South Pasadena.

Pasadena Poly has junior outfielder Anne Devereau and senior pitcher Jennifer Bennett on the 1-A team. Senior infielder Amy Schroeder of Western Christian and freshman pitcher Chenda Chavez of Azusa also were selected.

Mike Fenison, an assistant coach at Cal Poly Pomona last season, has been named an assistant coach for men’s basketball at Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut.

Before coaching at Pomona, Fenison was an assistant at Chaffey College for one year and junior varsity coach at Azusa Pacific University for three seasons. He played for Mt. Sac during the 1977-78 and 1978-79 seasons.

Mt. Sac struggled to an 8-20 record and fifth place in the South Coast Conference last season. But Fenison, 29, thinks the prospects are better for next season.

“We have a talented group of guys but we have to work harder and hone our skills because we’re in such a tough conference,” he said. “We have to re-establish ourselves as a winning team. We can’t worry about the other teams. We have to concentrate on what we’re doing. Once we do that, we’ll go a long way next season.

Cal State Dominguez Hills has signed three San Gabriel Valley baseball players to letters of intent: pitcher Vince Aguilar and outfielder/pitcher Doug Brown from Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut and pitcher Armando Plascencia from Nogales High in La Puente.

Dominguez Hills Coach George Wing, whose team finished with a 16-29-2 overall record and was last in the California Collegiate Athletic Assn. last season, thinks Aguilar can help his team next year.

Aguilar, who will be a junior, posted a 6-5 record and 3.13 earned-run average with 65 strikeouts in 95 innings at Mt. Sac.

Brown, who will be a junior, spent most of his time at Mt. Sac as an outfielder. He batted .295 as a sophomore and .308 as a freshman. As a pitcher, he had no record in eight innings as a reliever last season but is considered to have an excellent fastball.

Plascencia, a three-time All-Sierra League selection at Nogales, completed an outstanding career with the Nobles by posting a 7-2 record and 2.14 ERA last season. In the last two seasons, he piled up 137 strikeouts in 140 innings.

The Muir High boys basketball team will compete in the 16-team Slam-N-Jam Carson Grand Finale tournament today through Saturday at Carson High.

The Mustangs, who reached the final 16 of the 128-team L.A. Games tournament in June, will compete in pool play at 12:20 p.m. today against Oceanside and at 4:20 Friday against Santa Clara.

Muir is led by front-line players LaDay Smith, Erid Scott and Jermaine Davis--all 6-6--and 6-2 guard Phillip Turner.

Among other top teams in the tournament are Long Beach Poly, Lynwood, Cleveland, Marina, Lakewood and Ocean View.

The top teams in each pool will advance to the semifinals at 1:10 and 2:30 p.m. Saturday. The championship game is at 7:30.