NOTEBOOK / GARY KLEIN : Crescenta Valley Takes Command in Las Vegas Softball Tournament

The Crescenta Valley High softball team was a big winner in Las Vegas last weekend, taking the Clark High Easter Bunny Bash title by defeating Hilltop High of San Diego, 9-6.

The Falcons (16-1), ranked 10th in the Southern Section 3-A Division poll, were powered by three-run home runs by Carrie Shirley and Kim Welsh.

Becki Mixon pitched a complete game in the title game, allowing 10 hits and striking out seven.

Keeping tabs: The Cal State Northridge softball team is enjoying another fine season and one of the biggest reasons is the performance of All-American center fielder Lisa Erickson, a former standout at Crescenta Valley High.

Erickson is batting .381 with five doubles, a triple and 31 stolen bases for the Lady Matadors (32-17).

Meanwhile, several former Glendale-area baseball players have shaken off slow or injury-plagued starts to turn their seasons around.

Notre Dame catcher Ed Lund, who played at St. Francis, has rebounded from a poor start and is batting .250 with two homers and 12 runs batted in.

Sam Vranjes, another catcher from St. Francis, is batting .364 with a home run for USC after recovering from an arm injury.

Mike Muhlethaler, who played at Crescenta Valley, missed several weeks with a shoulder injury but is batting .295 with two home runs and 14 RBIs for Cal.

Honor roll: La Canada High boys’ soccer coaches Louie Bilowitz and Afshin Ghotbi were selected, along with Walnut High’s Doug Doner, as Southern Section 1-A coaches of the year.

Walnut defeated La Canada, 3-1, in double overtime to win the 1-A title.

La Canada sweeper Ross Allan was selected defensive player of the year. Spartan teammates Matt Billiti and Jensen Jaraba also were first-team selections.

David Beall of St. Francis was selected to the 3-A first team.

On the right track: The Occidental College women’s track team tuned up for Saturday’s Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference showdown at Whittier by defeating UC Santa Barbara, 87-68, last weekend.

Louise Colter qualified for the NCAA Division III national championships by winning the shotput with an effort of 42 feet, 3 inches.

Glenda Mitchell, the defending national heptathlon champion, qualified in the 400 meters with a time of 57 seconds.

The Tigers’ 4 x 400 relay team, which has already qualified for nationals, set a school record with a time of 3:52.90.

Occidental and Whittier are both 5-0. The SCIAC championship meet will be held April 27-28 at Redlands.

Add track: The top five finishers at the Western State Conference track meet will advance to the Southern California prelims next month, but six Glendale athletes have surpassed the qualifying standards and will automatically advance to the regional meet.

Rick Provenzano (800 meters), Marty Beck (400 intermediate hurdles), Dave Swanson (high jump), James Moore (5,000), Nicole Jimenez (5,000) and Marji Gilles (heptathlon) have already secured berths in the meet at Cerritos College on May 5.

Kirby Lee contributed to this notebook.