Hoalton, Clark Named All-State

Brandon Hoalton, a freshman right-hander for Rancho Santiago College, and Kevin Clark, a sophomore third baseman for Cypress, made the all-state baseball team.

Hoalton was selected the Southern California pitcher of the year and Clark won the Big Stick award, given to the most productive player on offense.

Hoalton was 12-0 for Rancho Santiago, the State champion. Hoalton, from Garden Grove High School, pitched a three-hitter as Rancho Santiago beat Sacramento, 13-1, in the State semifinal game.

Clark, from Henderson Basic High School in Nevada, hit .394, scored 50 runs, had 29 doubles, 10 home runs and drove in 60 runs.

Named to the All-Southern California second team were pitcher Jason Dietrich (Rancho Santiago), catcher Keith McDonald (Cypress), infielders Derek Brown (Rancho Santiago) and Ryan Andersen (Rancho Santiago), outfielder Greg Tippin (Cypress) and designated hitter Jason Parsons (Orange Coast).

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Clark also was named player of the year and Hoalton pitcher of the year by the Orange Empire Conference baseball coaches.

Don Sneddon of Rancho Santiago and John Altobelli of Orange Coast were selected as co-coaches of the year. Sneddon led Rancho Santiago to its fourth consecutive conference championship and its first State title. Altobelli, in his first season, guided OCC to a second-place finish.

The first team:

Pitchers: Craig Ainsworth (Saddleback), Mike DesRoches (Cypress), Dietrich, Hoalton, Steve Lee (Saddleback), David Vergara (Golden West), Jason Whittle (Riverside).

Catcher: McDonald.

Infielders: Andersen, Randy Betten (Riverside), Brown, Clark, Justin Drizos (Saddleback), Neil Garcia (Saddleback), Wade Jackson (Saddleback).

Outfielders: Steve Friedrich (Fullerton), Bobby Jones (Riverside), Matt Kastelic (Rancho Santiago), Aric Thomas (Riverside), Tippin.

Designated hitter: Parsons.

Utility: Cade Gaspar (Saddleback).

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Four softball players made the all-state team. Susan Dugas, a catcher from Cypress, Shelley Byrd, an infielder from Saddleback, Angela Wolf, an outfielder from Saddleback, and Angie Guerrero, a pitcher/first baseman from Fullerton made the team.

Local players on the second team were pitcher Jill Bishop (OCC), infielders Carrie Frederick and Kerry Moloney of Cypress, and outfielder Delanie Jessen of Fullerton.

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Orange Empire Conference softball coaches picked co-players, co-pitchers and co-coaches of the year.

Moloney, a third baseman, and Guerrero were the co-players of the year. Bishop and Jamie Parker of Rancho Santiago were co-pitchers of the year.

Lisa Bassi of Fullerton and Kim Nutter of Rancho Santiago shared coach of the year honors.

The first team:

Pitchers: Bishop, Parker, Alicia Robles (Fullerton).

Catchers: Dugas, Brandy Rodgers (Riverside).

Infielders: Byrd, Cindy Escobedo (Fullerton), Frederick, Moloney, Shannon O’Rourke (Rancho Santiago).

Outfielders: Sonya Fellows (Cypress), Jessen, Christina Wagy (Riverside), Wolf.

Utility: Guerrero (Fullerton).

Designated player: Janalyn Bloomfield (Fullerton).

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Don Frank, a former assistant at Rancho Santiago, has stepped down as the walk-on head baseball coach at Rio Hondo College.

Frank, who teaches at a continuation school in Orange, said he left Rio Hondo because there was little chance of the position becoming full-time.

“If it was a full-time job then I’d be there,” Frank said. “I enjoyed it. (Stepping down) isn’t a power play or anything.”

Frank was at Rancho Santiago for eight seasons as an assistant to Coach Dana Pagett. Frank left after the 1989-90 season, in which the Dons won the first of two consecutive State titles.

Frank took a year off, then took over at Rio Hondo. He led the Roadrunners to the playoffs for two consecutive seasons and finished with a 39-24 mark.

Rio Hondo had won only seven games over the two seasons before Frank took over.

Frank hopes to get back into coaching as soon as this fall.

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Future Olympic hopeful: Keith McDonald of Cypress has been invited to try out for the USA national team Thursday at Millington, Tenn.

McDonald, from Esperanza High School, already has signed with Pepperdine. He hit .353 with eight doubles, eight home runs and drove in 37 runs.

Community College Notes

Gary deBeaubien, who has been the wrestling coach at Rancho Santiago for the last eight seasons, has resigned so he can spend more time with his family. DeBeaubien had a mark of 58-24 in dual meets and had 22 wrestlers earn All-American honors. He will be replaced by Frank Gonzales, who has an assistant for the last three seasons.

Junior Tagaloa and Ollie Perkins, former Orange Coast football standouts, have signed free-agent contracts with Canadian Football League teams. Tagaloa, who was a wide receiver at OCC in 1986-87, signed with the British Columbia Lions. He had 17 touchdown receptions in 1987. Perkins had 27 catches at OCC in 1986, then played for two seasons at Ohio University. He signed with the Edmonton Eskimos.

Brian Higgins, a wide receiver at OCC the last two seasons, has signed a letter of intent to attend Penn. He had 20 catches for 278 yards last season.