NOTEBOOK / SEAN WATERS : Beverly Hills Catcher Booth Is Proving to Be a Tough Out for Opponents

Beverly Hills catcher Jeremy Booth has been a nightmare for opposing pitchers.

Booth has 17 hits in 23 at-bats for a .739 average with two home runs and 20 runs batted in.

After seven games, Booth has a hit and RBI in every game.

“It has gotten to the point that people expect him to get a hit every time he is at the plate,” Beverly Hills Coach Bill Erickson said.

Norman leadoff hitter Andrew Kirsh has 11 hits in 19 at-bats for a .579 average. Kirsh has scored 11 runs and has been driven in by Booth eight times.

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Postseason honors: Westchester’s Jason Sanders and Hamilton’s Marlon Garnett were selected to the City Section 4-A Division basketball all-star team.

Sanders, a 6-2 senior forward, averaged 17.1 points a game and Garnett, a 6-2 senior guard, averaged 26 points.

Crenshaw’s Kristaan Johnson, son of former UCLA and NBA standout Marques Johnson, was named the 4-A player of the year.

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Judo: Ildiko Szasz, a student at Santa Monica College, won her weight class in the National Collegiate Judo Championship on Saturday in San Francisco.

Competing in the 66-kilogram weight class, Szasz won all five of her matches against black belt opponents.

Szasz also battled the Japanese national champion in her weight class to a no-decision in an exhibition match.

Szasz, 24, will compete in the senior national championships April 15-17 in Indianapolis.

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Track: The Beverly Hills High boys’ track team pulled off an upset Thursday, finishing a point ahead of perennial power Hawthorne in a triangular meet at Hawthorne.

The Normans won with 80 points, Hawthorne had 79 and El Segundo 0.

The meet was scored as a triangular instead of a double-dual meet and Normans benefited the most by scoring points in two relays despite finishing second.

Damien Smith was the Normans’ top runner, winning the 1,600 meters in 4 minutes 56 seconds and the 800 in 2:05. Mel Moultry won the long jump (20 feet 9 inches) and the triple-jump (44-10). He finished second in the high jump (5-10) and third in the 100 meters (11.3).

The Beverly Hills girls’ team beat Hawthorne for the first time in six years. Beverly Hills had 92 points, Hawthorne 48 and El Segundo 7.

Normans’ Claudia Velez ran 6:02.7 to win the 1,600 and 13:05 to win the 3,200. Tina Moore won the triple jump (33-8) and the long jump (15-1). Eko Canillas won the high jump by clearing 5 feet.

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Add track: Crenshaw, Dorsey, St. Bernard, Palisades and University will be among the teams competing in the fifth annual Westside Classic Saturday at Beverly Hills High.

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Retooling: Westchester Coach Ron Kasparian has one of the area’s best double-play combinations in shortstop Jose Martinez and second baseman Henry Jones.

Martinez is batting .316 and leads the team with seven stolen bases. Jones is off to a slow start at the plate, but Kasparian expects him to be one of the team’s top batters.

Three Westchester infielders from last season’s team are playing college baseball. Third baseman Mike Hayes is playing at Cal State Northridge, first baseman Tremaine Noles is at El Camino College and shortstop Al Watson is at Los Angeles City College.

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Add Comets: Westchester pitcher Andrew Spencer will be back in the rotation this week. Spencer, a senior right-hander, had a 1-0 record and a 1.00 earned-run average before missing six games because of a twisted right ankle. Spencer, junior right-handers Jelani Ferguson and Mike Escamilla form arguably the best rotation in the Coastal Conference.

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Where are they now? Derek Strong, a former Palisades High player, recently signed with the Milwaukee Bucks for the remainder of the season.

Strong was a two-time varsity letter winner at Palisades. As a senior in 1985-86, he averaged 17 points, 10 rebounds and nine blocks a game.