Valley Hoping to Go Straight to Penthouse

After a solid fall practice season, the Valley College baseball team appears poised to make last season’s 8-25-1 record and last-place finish in the Western State Conference a distant memory.

But in case there are doubts among the Monarch players about the plausibility of going from worst to first in a year’s time, Valley Coach Chris Johnson stands ready with documentation.

“I got that Atlanta Braves tape and we’re going to show it to them,” Johnson said, referring to the video that traces the Braves’ 1991 pennant ascent from the basement of the National League’s Western Division. “It’s just to open up the possibility in their minds.”

Since the Minnesota Twins duplicated the accomplishment in the American League, Johnson can make his case with more than one example.

“As I was watching the World Series I was the about the happiest guy in the world,” Johnson said. “Last to first seems to be in vogue.”

Valley, which features a deep pitching staff led by sophomore Arnie Aguinaga and Pasadena City College transfer Manny Fernandez, will open Friday in the San Diego Mesa tournament.

BACK BREAKERS

Glendale started this week only a game over .500 but, considering the circumstances, Coach Brian Beauchemin was happy.

First, Kenny Collins, a touted freshman point guard from Cleveland High, quit the team before the season, citing personal reasons.

Then, after a 1-6 start, leading scorer Alfonso Pule (13.6) suffered a back injury against West L. A.

“I think we can make a run at (the South Division title),” Beauchemin said. “But it doesn’t seem like it’s going to be easy for us. Juwan (Smith) is finally healthy and then Alfonso gets injured.”

Despite the setbacks, Glendale had won nine of its past 12 games entering this week.

RATINGS GAME

The voters for the J.C. Athletic Bureau men’s basketball state poll must be fond of Canyons.

How else to explain why the Cougars (16-6) remained ninth in this week’s poll, despite getting hammered by unranked Valley, 88-67, last Saturday?

BITTER RIVALS

Oxnard’s 73-67 victory over Moorpark last week was the latest example of what has become a competitive rivalry between the schools.

How competitive? Ask Oxnard Coach Remy McCarthy, who participated in the first meeting between the teams--in 1976--as a player for Moorpark.

“I hit two free throws with 29 seconds to go and we won (70-69),” McCarthy said of the first Raider-Condor encounter. “The two schools haven’t liked each other since.”

Round 2 of the 1991-92 Moorpark-Oxnard series will resume Feb. 8 in a Western State Conference North Division game at Santa Clara High.

IN MEMORIAM

Cal State Northridge forward Keith Gibbs is displaying the initials “EM” and the words “Papa” on his shoes in memory of his maternal grandfather, Earnest Marks, who passed away last week after a lengthy illness.

“My grandmother (Georgina Marks) told me to play the rest of the season for him,” Gibbs said.

Gibbs missed the Northeastern Illinois game to be at Earnest Marks’ funeral in San Jose. He was given the option of skipping the Wisconsin-Milwaukee game to stay with his family but chose to make the trip to Milwaukee.

“My family wanted me to play and I knew it was a tough game,” Gibbs said. He scored a team-high 15 points and had eight assists, six rebounds, two steals and a blocked shot as the Matadors lost, 90-71.

THIN BENCH

With guard James Morris and trainer Bill Miller at the hospital and assistant Tom McCollum recruiting back home, Northridge had only two coaches and four players on its bench Monday night against Wisconsin-Milwaukee. In contrast, Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s bench was occupied by eight players (including two redshirts), five coaches and one trainer.

COMEBACK TRAIL

Northridge guard Lisa Senette, on the sidelines this season while rehabilitating her injured right knee, has been given the go-ahead to resume practice. She could be available to play in the Matadors’ next game, against former California Collegiate Athletic Assn. rival Chapman on Feb. 7 at home.

Senette, a fifth-year senior, started the final seven games of the 1990-91 season and averaged 11.3 points.

BAD TIMING

Just as the race for the National Assn. of Intercollegiate Athletics District 3 championship heated up, The Master’s College went cold.

There are three teams in the thick of the race--Master’s (15-8), Southern California College (16-5) and Biola (19-3). Of the three, Biola is hottest, having won 12 consecutive games, the last a 97-85 win over Master’s on Tuesday.

Master’s had won nine games in a row before losing to Biola, and Mustang Coach Mel Hankinson is convinced that his team isn’t out of the title chase yet. “You’ll see this team bounce back,” he said.

Master’s will meet Biola again Feb. 25 at Master’s Bross Gym.

JUMPING GIANTS

The Master’s basketball team prides itself on pressure defense. Biola didn’t seem bothered by it.

“It is hard to go against their kind of pressure for 40 minutes without making some mistakes,” Biola Coach Dave Holmquist said. Yet the Eagles made only 14 turnovers.

Biola’s duo of 6-foot-6 forward Rodney Camper and 6-foot-10 center Emilio Kovacic, a menacing import from Croatia, combined for 30 points and 20 rebounds.

Hankinson said Biola’s inside power was so effective it transformed the game. “Kovacic and Camper wore us down and played volleyball under the net,” he said.

REGAL HIRING

Cal Lutheran hired former Northridge setter Beth Welch as women’s volleyball coach this week.

Welch brings four years of Division I experience as a player and a successful coaching career at Zuma Bay Volleyball Club to the Regal program.

Welch was the assistant under Carla DuPuis, who resigned in November after coaching Cal Lutheran to just 15 wins in four seasons.

Northridge Coach Walt Ker described his former pupil as a fiery spirit. “(Welch) is exceptionally committed,” Ker said. “I think Beth will spend whatever time is needed to make that program successful.”

Welch was setter and team captain at Washington State before transferring to Northridge in 1990 for her senior season. She set a Northridge season record with 1,546 assists, was the most valuable player of the 1990 Western Intercollegiate Volleyball Assn. tournament and helped the Matadors to a ranking of 27th in the nation.

TITLE CHASE

The coming week should provide an interesting glimpse of how the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference basketball season is shaping up with the addition this season of Cal Lutheran.

The Kingsmen had a four-game winning streak until a one-point loss last Saturday to Claremont-Mudd. The defeat dropped them one game back in the conference standings.

La Verne (11-4, 4-0 in SCIAC play) leads the conference. Cal Lutheran (7-9) and Redlands (12-3) are each 3-1 in conference play. Cal Lutheran will play at La Verne tonight and will play host to Redlands on Saturday night.

The games will feature some of the nation’s top small-college players. Cal Lutheran’s Jeff deLaveaga ranks first in NCAA Division III scoring with an average of 29 points a game and La Verne’s Edgar Loera leads in assists, averaging 9.5. Also, Redlands is ranked second in the nation in scoring offense with a 102.7 average.

Ron Twersky and staff writers Theresa Munoz, John Ortega and Wendy Witherspoon contributed to this notebook.