Voorhees and Whitney Cut From NFL Squads

Two Valley-area football players were cut by National Football League teams this week.

Barry Voorhees, an offensive guard from Cal State Northridge, was cut by the New York Giants, and Ken Whitney, an offensive lineman from Cal Lutheran, was dropped by New Orleans.

Voorhees (6-foot-5, 302 pounds) was an eighth-round pick of the Giants in the 1990 draft. Whitney (6-3, 300) had signed a free-agent contract with the Saints after rejecting offers from the British Columbia Lions of the Canadian Football League. The Lions selected him in the second round of the CFL draft.

Whitney saw his only NFL action in the Saints’ 13-10 exhibition win over the Minnesota Vikings on Aug. 11. Despite his release, Whitney could be resuming his professional football career shortly by joining British Columbia. He was born in Montreal and graduated from a Calgary high school.

Teri Rupe, a former Cal Lutheran softball player and assistant coach, has been named to succeed Tony Venditto as the Regals’ softball coach. Venditto resigned recently.

Rupe graduated from CLU in 1989 with a bachelor’s degree in sociology and assisted Venditto last season. She transferred to CLU from Pierce College and posted a three-year batting average of .278. A three-time NAIA All-District 3 selection, Rupe had 79 runs batted in, 21 doubles and only 10 errors in her CLU career.

She is the fifth softball head coach in CLU history.

Dan Choi, the City Section 3-A Division Player of the Year at Fairfax High, has signed a scholarship to play baseball for Cal State Northridge.

Choi, a 6-1, 175-pound right-hander, was 12-1-1 with a 1.30 earned-run average and helped lead the Lions to the City 3-A title.

Choi is the sixth pitcher Northridge Coach Bill Kernen has signed this year, but the first from the high school ranks.

“Pitching has definitely been my No. 1 priority,” said Kernen, whose team was the runner-up in the NCAA Division II World Series this year. “It’s not a coincidence that of the eight players we’ve signed this year, six have been pitchers.”

Wayne Fluker, who played basketball at Cal State Northridge several seasons ago, has returned to his alma mater as a part-time assistant men’s basketball coach, the school announced.

Fluker, 31, replaces Dave Fehte, who was hired as a full-time assistant at St. Mary’s College after six seasons at Northridge.

A graduate assistant at Northridge from 1986-88, Fluker averaged two points and 2.5 rebounds a game during his senior season in 1984-85.

The Matadors finished 20-10 and won their last California Collegiate Athletic Assn. title that season.

The Mavericks, a softball team based in Burbank, won the National Women’s Fast-Pitch B tournament in Midland, Tex., on Sunday.

Led by Leticia Carranza, who was chosen the tournament’s most valuable player, the Mavericks won five consecutive games to win the three-day, double-elimination tournament. The Mavericks defeated The Travelers of Alta Loma, 4-2, in the title game at the Bill Hogan Sports Complex.

Carranza, a former standout at North Hollywood High and Valley College, batted .445 with five doubles during the tournament.

Other Mavericks selected to the all-tournament first team were pitcher Sue Oran; catcher Jamie Berkman; outfielder Tina Baca; and infielders Nicole Stelter and Lesley Plank.