LOCAL NOTES : Etherton Helps Cardinals Win Another Title

Leonard Guttierez hit a bases-loaded triple and drove in three runs during a nine-run first inning and the Southern California Cardinals held on for a 9-8 victory over Texas Wednesday in the championship game of the Mickey Mantle Division of the American Amateur Baseball Congress tournament at Waterbury, Conn.

The Cardinals, who are based Norwalk and include a number of Orange County players, have won four consecutive division titles.

Seth Etherton, who attends Dana Hills High, pitched a two-hitter in an 8-0, five-inning victory over Puerto Rico earlier Wednesday. Etherton was named the tournament’s most valuable player.

Brandon Holton pitched a three-hitter as Ocean View defeated Greensboro, N.C., 5-0, in a first-round game of the Palomino World Series at Greensboro, N.C.

Ocean View combined six hits for five runs in the fifth inning.

Amy Fruhwirth, a Cypress High graduate and the tournament’s defending champion, defeated Amy Schonauer of York, Pa., 4 and 3, in the first round of match play at the U.S. Women’s Amateur golf championship at Long Grove, Ill.

Sue Ewart of Seal Beach was eliminated by Audrey Wooding of Stanford, 4 and 3.

Anne Mall of Laguna Niguel lost to Julie Steven of Wichita, Kan., 6-1, 6-4, in a fourth-round match of the girls’ 18 U.S. Tennis Assn. tournament at San Jose.

Steven, seeded sixth, has not lost a set during the tournament.

Jakub Pietrowski of Huntington Beach and Geoff Abrams of Newport Beach won fourth-round matches at separate USTA national championships.

Pietrowski, seeded 10th in the boys’ 16 tournament at Kalamazoo, Mich., defeated Logan Woodley of Ogden, Utah, 6-4, 6-1.

Abrams, seeded first in the boys’ 14 tournament at San Antonio, ousted Emmett Braxton of Miami, 2-6, 6-3, 6-2.

Joseph Gilbert of Fullerton lost to second-seeded Keith Brill of Columbia, S.C., 3-6, 6-1, 6-0.

Abrams and Gilbert were eliminated in doubles semifinals, losing to top-seeded twins Mike and Bob Bryan of Camarillo, 6-3, 7-6.

Steve Timmons of Newport Beach and Steve Obradovich of Los Angeles and the other two U.S. teams each won both their matches on the opening day of the FIVB-Beach Volleyball Olympic Year ’92 tournament at Almeria, Spain.

David Warady of Huntington Beach finished seventh in the 54th stage of the Runner’s World Trans America footrace, covering the 47 miles between Concord and St. Clairsville, Ohio, in 8 hours 53 minutes 55 seconds. However, Warady’s overall lead slipped to 16:54:55 over Milan Milanovich of Switzerland.

Richard Westbrook of Jonesboro, Ga., having recovered from shin splints he suffered in Illinois and Indiana, won Wednesday’s stage in 7:00:45. Westbrook snapped Milanovich’s streak of consecutive victories at seven stages. Emile Laharrague of France was second in 7:02:09.

The runners have covered 2,477.75 miles since leaving Irvine.

Three former Santa Margarita High basketball players have made commitments to attend Cardinal Stritch College, an NAIA school in Milwaukee. The three, Sean Stevenson, a 6-foot-6 forward, Tom McCanna, a 6-2 guard, and Mike Guevara, a 6-0 guard, graduated from Santa Margarita in 1991.

Stevenson averaged five points a game for Saddleback College last season. McCanna attended Cal State Hayward and Guevara went to the University of San Diego; neither played basketball.

Jeff Furlong, a defenseman from Yorba Linda, and Mike O’Hara, a goalie from Balboa Island, are among 40 players who will participate in Roller Hockey International’s seven-game, six-city tour that begins with a game at 7:30 tonight at the Forum.