THE COLLEGES : Moorpark Running Well Under Thurston

Some basic instruction, advice Tammi Kauffman probably had heard a thousand times before, was shouted from the third-base coaching box at the Moorpark College softball field the other day.

On the previous two pitches Kauffman’s hips had swung open faster than a saloon door in a bad Western. Quit bailing out, Coach Will Thurston told her, “hit the ball up the middle.”

The next pitch was thrown and Kauffman did just that. She bounced a single to left-center-field, putting the potential game-winning run on base for Moorpark in its Western State Conference first-place showdown with Bakersfield College.

As she glanced back at Thurston from first base, Kauffman received another directive: steal second, which she promptly did. That strategy executed, Thurston left the rest to the batter, Kathy Morales, who followed with a single to left that scored Kauffman with the run that gave Moorpark a 4-3 victory.

It was textbook softball from a team guided by a man who, at the time he became coach, listed playing in municipal slow-pitch leagues as his only experience with the sport.

Few people, Thurston among them, knew what to expect when Moorpark hired him as coach in 1984. “No one really was quite sure what direction we would go or what my intentions were,” he recalled.

That direction is clear after 221 wins, 92 losses and a tie. From such humble beginnings Moorpark is now the class of its conference.

In his first season, Thurston quickly laid the foundation for success. The Raiders lost their 1984 opener, 3-1, to a Golden West team that had won in a 25-0 rout the previous season.

Moorpark’s next assignment was to participate in a tournament at Citrus College in Azusa, but when the team’s 9 a.m. departure came only one player--Michelle McCaslin, later a junior college All-American--was present.

Thurston and McCaslin left in the bus, as scheduled, ignoring a caravan of cars filled with Moorpark players who honked at them to stop as they made their way east on the 118 Freeway.

“I truly felt as if I had failed as a coach,” Thurston said. “We were trying to stress a team concept and how important it was to be responsible to your teammates and then one player shows up (on time).”

Moorpark lost to El Camino and Ventura in the tournament, but the one-run loss to Ventura marked the last time the Raiders have lost to their county rival. Since then, Moorpark has won 22 in a row.

The next game marked Thurston’s first victory and the start of another winning streak. Moorpark defeated Cuesta College, 3-0, to start a string of 47 consecutive conference wins at home that finally ended last season. The pitcher the Raiders defeated, Karen Canfield, had pitched three no-hitters against Moorpark the previous season.

Softball, Thurston said, “is not that complicated to understand.”

Thurston actually is best qualified as a football coach; he has been the Raiders’ offensive coordinator for the past seven seasons.

His approach in both sports is similar. The Raiders run.

The Moorpark football team led the state in rushing offense last season and the softball team has swiped 94 bases in 103 attempts this year.

“We are very run-oriented in football and our softball program is a reflection of that,” Thurston said. “I love aggressive softball and I try to fortify this program with people who can run.”

No surprise there--Thurston was a running back himself, earning all-league honors at Thousand Oaks High, all-conference honors at Moorpark and then playing one season for Coach Jack Elway at Cal State Northridge.

Thurston’s background for diamond duty came primarily from his three years as an infielder on Thousand Oaks High’s baseball team, but he found little trouble adjusting to the women’s game.

Coaching softball, he has found, has its advantages--even over football.

“The men expect certain things done and sometimes that gets a little annoying,” Thurston said. “The women truly seem to appreciate the work that’s put in. That and you see the rewards of that work a little faster.”

And the coaching tips too. Kauffman, no doubt, would attest to that.

An international racquet: Cal Lutheran’s Mike Gennette is ranked 22nd among National Assn. of Intercollegiate Athletics’ tennis players but substantially higher among Americans on the list.

Only three of the players ranked higher than Gennette list U. S. cities as their hometowns. The ratings, which are voted on by a coaches committee, include players from places that span the globe.

BYU-Hawaii’s top-ranked doubles team is from China. The second-ranked North Florida tandem is from Switzerland and Mexico. The third-ranked duo, from Auburn-Montgomery, is Canadian and South African.

Cal Lutheran’s top doubles team, Jason Munro of Thousand Oaks and Paavo Salmi of Helsinki, Finland, is ranked 12th.

Gennette, from Thousand Oaks, and partner Tomislav Zeienovic, from Rijeka, Yugoslavia, are ranked 19th.

Wonder how many of these guys will make the NAIA All-American team.

Have a nice Day: Almost any day is a nice day for the Arizona softball team when Debby Day pitches for the Wildcats.

Arizona is 35-6 and ranked third in the nation and Day, a junior right-hander from Burbank High, has 17 wins against only three losses.

Although she sat out last season after transferring from Texas-Arlington, Day quickly has become the ace of the Arizona staff. She has 113 strikeouts in 141 innings and an earned-run average of 0.20.

Among Day’s victories are no-hitters against Pacific, Nevada Las Vegas and Oregon State, but her toughest test will come today when Arizona plays a Pacific-10 Conference doubleheader against top-ranked UCLA in Westwood.

Briefly: If Ventura’s Phil Mathews is hired as basketball coach at UC Irvine, how soon after will Pirate forward Lester Neal sign a letter of intent to play for the Anteaters? However, it is unlikely the either will happen. . . .

Benji Belfield, a first-team All-Valley selection last season at Taft High, has quit the Pierce baseball team, Pierce co-Coach Bob Lofrano said. Belfield began the season as Pierce’s starting third baseman but struggled at the plate and eventually was benched. . . .

Yes, the Northridge baseball team will win 40 games and earn a berth in an NCAA regional in the Matadors’ first season of competition at the NCAA Division I level. The projection here is that Northridge will win 42 regular-season games. . . .

How do you beat the Northridge baseball team? According to statistics, the Matadors are most vulnerable on the road against a left-hander on Sunday. CSUN is 26-10-1 overall, but 11-7 on the road, 4-4 against left-handers and 2-4-1 on Sunday. . . .

Scott Sharts, Northridge’s starting pitcher today against United States International, has reached double figures in strikeouts in his past four starts. He had 10 against North Carolina, 12 against Creighton, 12 against UC Irvine and 11 against Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. . . .

Northridge can only hope that its football team is better than its football schedule. Only three of the Matadors’ 10 games next fall are at home and there is not a marquee name among the visitors--Central (Okla.) State, Santa Clara and Southern Utah. . . .

Derek Wallace, Pepperdine’s bullpen stopper as a freshman last season, was victorious in the first start of his collegiate career Wednesday against Cal State Fullerton. The former Chatsworth High ace is 2-0 with a 1.02 earned-run average for the seventh-ranked Waves.