COLLEGE DIVISION : Softball Crown Tops Off Season for Bakersfield

An NCAA Division II women’s softball championship put the finishing touch on a memorable year for the Cal State Bakersfield athletic program.

The softball title, which the Roadrunners clinched with a 6-2 victory over California Collegiate Athletic Assn. rival Cal State Northridge last week, gave Bakersfield its third Division II championship in the 1989-90 school year. Bakersfield also won championships in men’s swimming and women’s volleyball, and finished second in men’s basketball.

The Roadrunners’ success is even more impressive when you consider that Bakersfield is one of the smallest schools in the CCAA, with an enrollment of 4,930. The only school smaller in the eight-team conference is Chapman.

Athletic Director Rudy Carvajal credits two factors.

“We’ve been very fortunate to get good coaches and very strong community support,” he says. “It has been a positive environment here because the coaches and the athletes really support themselves.”

Carvajal said the community support has kept the athletic program steady financially. He pointed to the program’s annual barbecue, which attracted 4,000 people May 11, and has helped raise funds for scholarships and improved athletic facilities.

“I think there’s a strong identity to the program that we’ve been able to establish in the community, and that’s so important,” he says. “You need that kind of support if you want to run a successful program.”

For Bakersfield, the winning sports season started with the school’s first volleyball championship in December. The Roadrunners followed that with their fifth consecutive men’s swimming title in early March.

The school came close to another championship in late March, reaching the Division II men’s basketball final for the first time, before losing, 93-79, to perennial power Kentucky Wesleyan. It was the first time that a Division II team from California reached the final since Sacramento State did in 1962.

Bakersfield took its third consecutive women’s softball title in the same manner it won the first two. The Roadrunners finished behind Northridge in the CCAA standings, then went on to win their regional and national tournaments.

Carvajal realizes that it will be difficult to repeat this season’s success.

“We’d like to think this isn’t a fluke, but we don’t know how often we’re going to win three NCAA championships and get one runner-up in the same year,” he said.

It marked the end of an era when the Azusa Pacific men’s track team finished second to Oklahoma Baptist in the National Assn. of Intercollegiate Athletics Championships at Tarleton State in Stephenville, Tex., last week.

Oklahoma Baptist edged the Cougars, 57-53, to win the title. That broke the school’s unprecedented string of seven consecutive NAIA men’s outdoor titles.

The Cougars had the lead through the first two days of the meet. But Azusa Pacific put Oklahoma Baptist in a position to win the title when all four of its pole vaulters failed to qualify for the finals.

Most of Azusa Pacific’s points came from senior weight thrower Ade Olukoju, who won the hammer throw, shotput and discus. Olukoju, named the meet’s outstanding male performer, saved his best for last with a meet-record toss of 210 feet 3 inches in the discus.

Despite the second-place showing, Terry Franson of Azusa Pacific was also named NAIA coach of the year for the ninth consecutive season. The Cougars have finished no worse than second in the NAIA nationals during that span.

College Division Notes

Cal Poly San Luis Obispo took advantage of its strength in the distance races to win its second consecutive NCAA Division II women’s track title. The Mustangs scored 116 points, 44 more than second-place Norfolk (Va.) State. . . . Honors are piling up for outfielders Pete Weber of UC Riverside and Craig Clayton of Cal State Northridge. Two weeks ago, Weber was named California Collegiate Athletic Assn. player of the year, and Clayton was named pitcher of the year. Last week, Weber and Clayton were selected co-players of the year on the NCAA Division II All-West Region team. Clayton, whose team is competing in the Division II World Series in Montgomery, Ala., started the week batting .386 with 11 home runs and 52 runs batted in, and a 12-6 record as a pitcher. Weber is batting .421 with eight home runs and 59 RBIs.

Cal State Northridge Coach Bill Kernen, who guided the Matadors to their first Division II World Series berth since they won the division title in 1984, has been named West Region coach of the year. . . . The Cal State San Bernardino baseball team, which reached the NCAA Division III World Series for the first time in its four-year history and finished fourth last week, has second baseman Ryan Love and pitcher Rene Aguilar on the division’s All-West Region first team. First baseman Paul Gonzalez, outfielder Jeff Brennan and pitcher Jon Glasscock made the second team. . . . Senior pitcher/shortstop Paul Urrutia of Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, who led the Stags to the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference baseball title, has been chosen conference player of the year. Urrutia had a 5-3 record with a 1.22 earned-run average.

For the second time in three seasons, outfielder Anne Cordaro of Cal State San Bernardino was named to the NCAA Division III All-American second team in women’s softball. Cordaro had a .500 batting average and finished her college career with 30 school records.