NOTEBOOK : East L.A. College’s Escoto Is Player of the Year

David Escoto, who helped the East Los Angeles College baseball team win its first conference title since 1975, has been named the Southern California Athletic Conference Player of the Year.

The sophomore third baseman, a Garfield High graduate, batted .382 and was one of five Husky players named to the first team.

The others were pitcher Sammy Loza, a freshman reliever from Roosevelt High who registered 11 saves, shortstop Jesus Morales, catcher Carlos Ramirez and outfielder Ted Persell.

Fourth-year Coach Al Cone was selected as the Conference Coach of the Year. East L.A., which finished 23-15, was third in 1990 and placed second in 1991 and 1992 under Cone.

East L.A. was scheduled to play Riverside Community College in the first game of the Southern California State junior college playoffs Saturday. The Huskies will face Riverside in the second game of the best-of-three series at home today at 11 a.m.

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Dress for success--Cone was more worried about a telephone call from a T-shirt company than notification of the Huskies’ first-round playoff opponent last week. Cone ordered shirts signifying East L.A.’s conference championship, but they had yet to arrive as of Friday.

“If you won it, you might as well flaunt it,” Cone said. “I was hoping we would get to practice in them (before the playoffs started).”

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MVP--Miguel Moran of Roosevelt, a 6-foot-1 senior outside hitter, was named the Eastern League’s most valuable player for the second consecutive season after guiding the Roughriders to Friday’s City 4-A final and their third consecutive Southeastern Conference volleyball title.

Seniors Richard Castellano, Geovanni Barajas and Oscar Oyama, who helped Roosevelt go 10-0 in conference play this season and win 29 of 30 matches over the past three seasons, were also named to the first team.

Sal Espinoza and Rodolfo Ortega of Bell and South Gate’s Henry Sanchez were other first-team selections.

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Cool gift--Olympic boxing champion Oscar De La Hoya, a 1991 Garfield graduate, said he will donate air-conditioning units to his alma mater during a speech there on Wednesday.

The occasion marked De La Hoya’s first official visit to Garfield since winning the 132-pound division at the Olympics last summer.

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Keeping track--Kim Ojeda and Marisol Pedraza of Cal State Los Angeles moved into fourth and fifth on the school’s all-time list in the 3,000 and 1,500 meters, running 9 minutes 58.84 seconds and 4:36.64 at the Occidental Invitational May 8.

Pedraza’s mark in the 1,500 met the NCAA Division II provisional qualifying standard. Ojeda has qualified in the 5,000.

Marsha Guialdo, Alisha Lopez, Kim Bly and Felicia Howard scored a provisional qualifying mark in the 1,600-relay, running 3:47.90--the California Collegiate Athletic Assn.’s fastest mark this season--at the UC San Diego Invitational May 1.

A week earlier, at the Meet of Champions at Azusa-Pacific, Guialdo broke her school record in the 100-meter hurdles, running 13.19--the fourth fastest time in the nation this season. The mark eclipsed her previous CSLA record of 13.23, set last year in the U.S. Olympic Trials semifinals in New Orleans.

Omar Naranjo, a state finalist for Garfield last year, and Danny Tapia of Cerritos College, the 1991 State junior college pole vault champion at East L.A. College, won the 800 and pole vault at the South Coast Conference championships with marks of 1:53.90 and 16 feet.

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Signings--Los Angeles City College third baseman Nestor Martinez has signed a letter of intent to play baseball at Lewis and Clark State in Lewiston, Idaho. Martinez batted .450 with three home runs and 38 RBIs this season.

Shenalle Rogers of Channel Islands High in Oxnard has made a verbal commitment to run track at Cal State L.A. Rogers, the Marmonte League 400-meter champion, has bests of 58.49 and 2:22.12 for 400 and 800 meters.

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Youth football--Bell Pop Warner football sign-ups will take place Saturdays through August at Bell High School from noon to 2 p.m. Boys and girls ages 8 to 14 are eligible to play. Cost is $65. Information: (818) 575-0590.

Sean Waters contributed to this report.