COMMUNITY COLLEGE NOTEBOOK : He’s Right at Home in Batter’s Box

There was a hot contest for the hot corner at Golden West College last fall.

Gerad Cawhorn, a freshman from Huntington Beach High School, and Gary Christopherson, a freshman from Ocean View, were trying to earn the third base spot in the Golden West lineup.

Cawhorn prevailed, but the situation hardly turned out to be a losing one for Christopherson.

Christopherson, who at the time was bothered by a sore throwing arm, since has spent time at designated hitter and in left field. But no matter where he has played, he has been outstanding at the plate.

Christopherson is hitting .385 as the fourth-place hitter, and leads the team in home runs with eight, in RBIs (37) and walks (24).

Last week, he hit a home run in four consecutive at-bats over two games. At one point he had five home runs in eight at-bats.

He was six for 14 with four home runs and nine RBIs in three games.

“He’s just been outstanding,” Golden West Coach Bert Villarreal said. “We always knew he was a good hitter. He’s just now getting started.”

Christopherson got a late start at Golden West because he spent the summer playing with a youth-league Connie Mack team instead of a community college summer-league team.

He waited until August to decide whether to attend Golden West, Orange Coast or Rancho Santiago.

“It was a really tough decision,” he said. “I just felt this would be the best place for me. . . . I don’t mind DH or left. It gives my arm a chance to rest.”

While Christopherson was trying to decide where to go, Cawhorn was busy playing third for Golden West in the Metropolitan League last summer.

He made the Metro all-star team and has continued his good play into the season.

Cawhorn is batting .376 with 11 doubles, three triples and 22 RBIs hitting behind Christopherson.

Cawhorn, a converted second-baseman, was an all-Sunset League player as a junior when he hit .374, but he fell to .274 as a senior.

Despite his struggles his senior season, Villarreal still wanted Cawhorn.

“We knew he could hit,” Villarreal said. “He was awesome as a junior. . . . We moved him to third because he has quick hands and that was a hole we needed to fill.”

Cawhorn also was in a hurry to get his senior year behind him.

“Sure I was disappointed about how I hit,” he said. “But I just started to concentrate more and realized this was it. If I got cut, I was done. . . . But everything has worked out well here so far.”

For everyone at Golden West.

Who’s hot: Golden West’s Frank Herman became the Orange Empire Conference’s leading hitter this week after going eight for 13. He scored five runs, had seven RBIs and is hitting .433.

Jeff Manship of Fullerton was seven for 12 with two home runs and seven RBIs to increase his average from .342 to .375. Manship leads the conference with 20 stolen bases and four triples.

Cypress’ Doug McConathy was six for 11 last week and is 17 for 29 in the Chargers’ last seven games. He is hitting .405 and leads Orange County players with 51 hits and 37 runs.

Nothing new: The Orange Coast women’s tennis team is 12-1-1 overall and has clinched the Orange Empire Conference title with two matches left.

The Pirates are 10-0 in conference. OCC won its first nine conference matches by 9-0 scores and finally lost a point in an 8-1 victory over Saddleback last week.

OCC is led at No. 1 singles by Gina Garcia, a freshman transfer from UC Irvine. She is 11-2. Dawn Baird and Elena Birch are undefeated this season.

OCC has won five of the last six state titles and 11 conference championships in 12 seasons. The Pirates are 146-6 in conference matches under Coach Janice Mar.

Community College Notes

Cypress basketball players Grayle Humphrey (Boise State), Andre Lamoureux (Rutgers) and Alan Bruce (Fresno Pacific) have made oral commitments to attend four-year colleges in the fall. Vince Hizon, a Cypress sophomore who was the most valuable player in the Orange Empire Conference, is deciding between Chapman and Boise State. . . . Keith Calkins, the dean of physical education at Saddleback, was voted into the California Community College Coaches Assn. Hall of Fame. Calkins coached Chabot to five conference football championships in 11 seasons. . . . Bill Cunerty (Saddleback golf coach) and Claire Elkins (Saddleback women’s tennis coach) were selected coaches of the year last year in their respective sports by the California Coaches Assn.