Combination Locks Up No-Hitter for Moorpark

Combined no-hitters in softball are rather uncommon. What happened at Moorpark College this week might have been a first.

Moorpark pitchers Marcie Jones and Heather Santiago combined on a no-hitter with a little creativity on the part of Coach Will Thurston.

Thurston pulled starter Jones in the second inning after she struggled with the bottom of the Long Beach batting order.

“Marcie has concentration lapses and it was a game we couldn’t mess around with,” said Thurston, whose Raiders (7-7) beat Long Beach (17-7), 1-0.

Jones walked the No. 6 hitter and a wild pitch allowed her to reach second. Thurston called on Santiago, last year’s ace who is recovering from arm problems. She inherited a 2-and-0 count, then struck out the No. 7 batter and got a groundout to end the threat.

Jones (4-6) was reinserted in the third inning and the freshman was perfect the final five innings.

*JUNIOR COLLEGES

BASEBALL

Canyons, the front-runner in the Western State Conference with a 13-1 record (16-3 overall), is ranked fifth in the state and third in Southern California. Mission (16-7, 7-2) is ranked 13th in Southern California and Glendale (12-9, 8-7) is 15th.

The Cougars have dominated the WSC in hitting and pitching. Before Tuesday’s games, Canyons led the WSC with a 3.54 earned-run average and its pitchers had allowed the fewest walks (38). Pierce led in batting with a .338 average and Canyons followed at .328. The Cougars (15) and Glendale (11) were the only conference teams with more than 10 home runs.

Glendale’s Robert Mancilla, the conference leader in stolen bases, had 16 of the team’s 25 going into Tuesday’s game.

Right-hander Willie Rivera has emerged as the top pitcher at Valley and one of the best in the conference. With a complete-game, 12-3 victory at Bakersfield on Thursday, Rivera (5-1) became the first five-game winner in the conference. Going into the Bakersfield game, Rivera had a 2.11 ERA with four saves, tying him with Keith Halcovich of Canyons for the conference lead.

SWIMMING

The problems that have plagued the pool at Pierce since November--broken valves, possible leaks, busted pumps--and forced the Brahmas to use other facilities to train and compete, brought memories to Valley Coach Bill Krauss.

Now in his 20th year as swim and water polo coach for the Monarchs, Krauss remembers his early days on the job when Valley did not have a pool and his teams practiced at different locations. The water polo practices at a public pool in Sepulveda, Krauss said, were the roughest.

“I had to unbolt the diving boards every day to get the water polo goals onto the decks,” he said. “I had to take my tool kit with me all the time. I can’t believe I did that. I wouldn’t do it now. I’m getting too old for that.”

Most of that hard work paid off. Under Krauss, the Monarchs have won three water polo and four men’s and two women’s swimming titles in several conferences.

The Monarch men (4-1) are chasing Cuesta (3-0), the only team to beat them, in the Western State Conference. Leading the team is former Notre Dame High standout Wonmeen Jun, who has the best time (23.1 seconds) in the 50-meter freestyle in the conference this season. Jun also swims the backstroke events.

Others sparking the Monarchs are Ryan Barry and freestyle specialist Robert Brown, a junior college All-American in water polo two years ago. Brown has the second-fastest time (51.8) in the 100 freestyle in the WSC behind Ventura’s Damon Nygren (50.7). Barry (1:53.7) ranks behind Nygren (1:51.4) in the 200 freestyle.

The Valley women are 2-3 and in the middle of the pack in the conference. Luzmila Ocon, the Nicaraguan-born former star at Glendale High, leads the team. She has the second-best time (6:04.1) in the 500 freestyle and third best in the 200 individual medley (2:31.7) in the conference.

TENNIS

Owen Goudie, the No. 1 singles player at Antelope Valley (4-6, 4-4 in the Foothill Conference), was on fire before Tuesday’s match at College of the Desert. Goudie, a freshman and two-time singles champion in the Golden League from Quartz Hill High, was 9-0 and 17-0 in sets until he lost to Desert’s Freddie Hanser, 6-0, 6-0. The Roadrunners, ranked No. 1 in the state, beat Antelope Valley, 9-0.

“(Goudie) made some uncharacteristic mistakes,” Marauder Coach Greg Madison said. “He had a lot of forced errors. . . . He hates to lose, even if it’s to an opponent of that caliber.”

*CAL STATE NORTHRIDGE

TRACK & FIELD

Matador assistant Tony Veney is confident that Nate Wright can turn a negative performance in last Saturday’s Collegiate Classic at Cal State Long Beach into positive motivation. Wright, a senior from Oakland High and Merritt College, had a comfortable lead in the men’s 400-meter intermediate hurdles until he fell after hitting the 10th--and final--hurdle.

“I think he learned something from the race,” Veney said. “I think he learned that he has to be committed to the race if he wants to run fast, and he was today.”

Veney figured that Wright was headed to a personal-best time--he has run 51.92--on Saturday before he fell.

Staff writers Fernando Dominguez, Dana Haddad and John Ortega contributed to this notebook.