Calcante, Maumausolo Are Matadors’ First Division I All-Americans

Cal State Northridge’s Beth Calcante and Scia Maumausolo were named to the NCAA All-American softball team Monday, becoming the first Matadors to receive the nation’s top distinction at the Division I level.

Sophomore right-hander Kathy Blake (21-2), with a 0.84 earned-run average, was named a third-team All-American.

Calcante, a junior left fielder from Newbury Park High who is batting a team high .349 with 51 runs batted in, and Maumausolo, a freshman designated player from Mt. Carmel High in San Diego, were two of 14 players from around the country to receive first-team accolades. Maumausolo, who is batting .318, has hit seven home runs, which is the most by a freshman in Northridge history.

Also receiving first-team honors is Arizona senior outfielder Jamie Heggen, a Thousand Oaks High and Moorpark College product. Arizona sophomore first baseman Amy Chellevold, also of Thousand Oaks High, was named to the second team.

Seven of the top eight ranked softball teams advanced to the NCAA Division I College World Series in Oklahoma City, May 27-31, by winning regional championships over the weekend.

Second-ranked Northridge (47-7-1) will face eighth-ranked Southwestern Louisiana at 8 p.m. Friday.

Connecticut, the only unranked team of the eight to clinch a berth, will face top-ranked UCLA in the first game of the series Thursday.

No. 4 Oklahoma State will meet No. 5 Florida State on Thursday and No. 3 Arizona will face No. 6 Cal State Long Beach Friday.

Baseball

Cal Lutheran, ranked No. 1 in the final regular-season Division III baseball poll, plays Ithaca College of New York at 2:30 p.m. PDT Thursday in the opening round of the eight-team, double-elimination World Series at Battle Creek, Mich.

The Kingsmen (32-7) swept Redlands in three games to win the West Regional and qualify for their second consecutive trip to the World Series. Cal Lutheran lost the championship game last season to William Paterson College of New Jersey, 3-1.

Ithaca (31-8) also swept its three games to qualify for its 10th World Series in the event’s 18-year history. The Bombers won titles in 1980 and ’88.

High schools

Oxnard High has appointed three varsity coaches.

Jack Dalton, who replaced Dan Garcia as varsity baseball coach at mid-season, will return as coach next season, the school announced.

The school also promoted Jana Young, girls’ sophomore basketball coach last season, to head varsity coach, and named Margaret Valenzuela, a longtime area youth soccer coach, as girls’ varsity soccer coach.

Dalton has coached baseball at Oxnard since 1987, serving as coach of the freshman team for three years and junior varsity coach for two seasons. Dalton was a varsity assistant in 1992. Oxnard finished 8-13 this season, tied for fifth in the Channel League at 5-9.