Chapman’s Olivas Finally a Believer

Apparently, it takes more than a .432 batting average and 13 home runs to make Chapman College’s Sandy Olivas believe she is a standout softball player.

“I really never considered myself an outstanding player,” Olivas said. “I was really more into having fun and just playing.”

Olivas, who plays third base, was among the few who were surprised that she was a first-team All-American selection. Olivas, a sophomore, is the first Chapman player to earn such honors since Janet Lloyd, a Chapman assistant coach and daughter of head coach Lisle Lloyd, was picked in 1984.

“A lot of my friends said, ‘Yeah, I knew you would make it,’ but I never thought that I would,” Olivas said. “It just never seemed possible.”

Olivas, who played at Sierra Vista High in Baldwin Park, hit 13 home runs in 56 games to lead the NCAA Division II. It is the second-highest home run total in Division II history. Kay Tiper of Akron, who holds the single-season record, hit 15 in 60 games in 1985.

Lisle Lloyd is still amazed by a home run Olivas hit this season in a tournament at Cal State Hayward. Lloyd said the ball easily cleared the left-center field fence, which was about 200 feet from the plate, and hit the men’s slow-pitch fence about 100 feet beyond that.

“In 24 years of coaching, I’ve never seen a woman hit the ball that far,” Lloyd said.

Add honors: Chapman pitcher Jacki Blake, who had an 18-2 record, a 0.39 earned-run average and a .369 batting average for the Panthers (35-21), was a second-team All-American selection.

Shocked: Chapman, which arguably had the country’s most successful Division II men’s tennis program in the last half of the 1980s, flopped in the first Division II championship of the 1990s last week in St. Louis.

The Panthers, the tournament’s fourth-seeded team, lost in the first round to eighth-seeded Southwest Baptist, 6-0.

“I was in shock the whole day,” said Coach Terry Davis, who as a player helped Chapman to its first NCAA championship in 1985. The Panthers finished second in 1986, but returned to championship form in ’87 and ’88.

Chapman lost the next two consolation matches and finished last in the eight-team tournament.

In a cost-cutting move by its athletic department, Chapman stopped offering tennis scholarships last year, and Davis said the team may suffer in the future.

“This should make them want to try to get the program back to where it was and help out a little more,” Davis said.

No time to waste: The day he was hired as Christ College Irvine men’s basketball coach, Greg Marshall was returning calls and calling recruits from a pay phone. Christ College officials had given Marshall access to offices and phones, but apparently he wanted his own work space.

Despite the late recruiting start, Marshall said he is confident he can bring in the players necessary to be competitive.

“Obviously, there aren’t as many players around as there were a month ago. But we may not have gotten them anyway,” Marshall said. “At least guys will be seriously interested now if they are looking (at Christ College).”

College Division Notes

Chapman College’s baseball team, which finished third in the California Collegiate Athletic Assn., placed three players on the All-CCAA first team: sophomore pitcher Pete Coleman, who was 10-5 with a 3.82 earned-run average and led the conference in complete games with nine; senior shortstop Tom Allison, who batted .316 and led the team in hits with 65, and sophomore designated hitter Mike Giuseffi, the conference’s second-leading hitter at .432. . . . Former Loara High School player Craig Clayton of Cal State Northridge was named the CCAA’s pitcher of the year. Clayton, who was also fourth in the conference with a .387 batting average, was 12-5 with a 4.76 ERA. . . . Chapman assistant baseball coach Jim Benedict has resigned to become a pitching coach in the Texas Rangers’ organization. . . . Southern California College’s baseball team had three players named to the National Assn. of Intercollegiate Athletics all-district first team: senior pitcher Jim Dedrick; senior catcher Denny Berni and Ralph Garcia, a junior outfielder who is also a pitcher. . . . Julie Workman, a 5-7 guard from Fountain Valley High, has signed a letter of intent to attend Christ College Irvine in the fall. . . . Chrissy Sweeney, a 6-0 forward from Ontario High, has decided to play for the Southern California College women’s basketball team in the fall. . . . Kathy Carroll, a junior first baseman at Christ College Irvine, was named an NAIA Academic All-American. Carroll batted .331 and had a 3.53 grade-point average as a biological sciences and chemistry double major. . . . Chapman Coach Bob Boyd will hold a basketball day camp sponsored by the City of Orange’s recreation department. There will two sessions--June 18-22 and June 25-29--and the camp is open to boys and girls ages 8-13. For information, call 997-6651. . . . Christ College Irvine is holding a summer basketball camp July 15-20 for those in the fifth through 12th grades. For more information, call women’s basketball Coach Kent Schlichtemeier at 854-8002.