SIDELINES : CSUN Got Gist of Kernen’s Choice Words

Moments before his team faced fourth-ranked USC on Tuesday, Cal State Northridge Coach Bill Kernen threw his players an off-speed pitch.

Make a decision, boys.

The seventh-year coach gave players what he later called his “two postgame speeches.” Huh?

Speech No. 1: Great job. Now you guys know what it’s like to play against the best and what you’re capable of doing when everybody does his job and executes. Way to go. Nice effort.

Speech No. 2: OK, now you guys know what it’s like to get creamed, mauled and bashed by one of the best teams in the nation. So we know how much work we have left to do and where we need to improve. Which is pretty much everywhere, obviously.

After delivering the two speeches, Kernen said: “Now you guys go show me which speech you want to hear after the game.”

Northridge won, 4-2.

Worn out: Blame any No-Doz shortages this week in Santa Clarita on bleary-eyed soccer players.

Because of recent rains, the Foothill League is scrambling to make up games, forcing Canyon’s boys’ and girls’ soccer teams to each play five games in six days, all during finals week.

Saugus isn’t much better off. The Centurions’ boys and girls teams will play four games in six days and also have to deal with finals.

“I think that the kids’ stamina will be fine,” said Teri Lord, girls’ athletic director at Saugus. “They play in tournaments where they play three games a day. It’s just a question of whether they were smart and took care of their studies during the rainy days.”

Canyon girls’ soccer Coach Michele Braceros was not so optimistic.

“This is ridiculous. Are we trying to kill these kids?” she said. “Pretty soon we’re going to have a whole bunch of injured players.”

Fruitful victory: Matt Lemmon of Ventura High put the squeeze on William Cherry of Westlake, recording a pin in 2 minutes 27 seconds in a 147-pound bout of a nonleague wrestling match on Wednesday night at Westlake.

On player’s payroll: It’s a common cry from the fans, “How much are they paying ya, ref?”

Traditionally, officials’ pay comes directly from the host school’s business office or district. However, there’s a unique twist at Oak Park High.

Senior guard Alisha Valavanis is also Oak Park’s student body president. In such a capacity, she is often asked to be one of two signers on the school’s checks. And her signature has popped up on more than one referee’s check.

“I mentioned to one of them, ‘You know I signed your check, right?’ ” Valavanis said. “He said he knew. But I don’t think anyone thought anything of it, especially the way the game went.’

Ill effects: When Crespi’s top scorer, Gianandrea Marcaccini, missed Wednesday night’s Mission League game against Alemany with flu, it looked as if the Celts’ playoff hopes were finished. Crespi (9-12, 2-7) has struggled in league play this season. But an upset of Harvard Westlake and a 78-74 overtime victory over Alemany have given Crespi hope for a postseason bid. Marcaccini, who is questionable for tonight’s game against Loyola, said, “If we can win the rest of our games we can make the playoffs, so I was nervous when I missed our game. I called everyone I knew until I could get a score.”

Quotebook

“If the Dorado Volkswagen breaks down or doesn’t start in the morning, there goes half the club.”

--Chris Johnson, Valley College baseball coach, on the four Dorado brothers--Jaime, Javier, Jorge and Juan--on the Monarch roster.

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Asked aloud during the season opener last week by one of Cal State Northridge’s three freshman pitchers, who shall remain anonymous in order to protect the guilty: “Hey, do they play nine innings in college or only seven?”

Statistics

Jon Baer, a middle blocker on the Cal State Northridge men’s volleyball team, is off to a great start.

The 6-foot-5 senior, who transferred to Northridge from Pepperdine before the 1994 season, has a team-high 76 kills after three matches. He is averaging 6.33 kills per game with a .440 hitting percentage and also has 16 total blocks.

Catch a whiff: In his first start for Cal State Northridge, junior right-hander Rob Crabtree recorded the team’s highest strikeout total in more than a season. Crabtree struck out 12 in Tuesday’s 4-2 victory over USC.

Last season’s high-water mark was set by right-hander Marco Contreras, who fanned 10 in starts against UCLA and Hawaii.

Things to Do

The Santa Clara boys’ basketball team likely will put a 91-game Frontier League winning streak on the line when it visits Santa Paula next Tuesday for a 7:30 p.m. game.

When the teams met last month, the Cardinals pushed Santa Clara to double overtime before losing, 63-62. Santa Paula is planning to install extra bleachers to accommodate the crowd.

Cal State Northridge (3-0) will play five baseball games in the next six days.

Northridge will play at Loyola Marymount today at 3 p.m., then will play the Lions at Matador Field on Saturday and again at Loyola on Sunday. Both weekend games are at 1 p.m.

On Monday, Northridge will play at home against Washington State at 1:30. After a day off, the Matadors will play host to Cal State L.A. on Wednesday at 2 p.m.

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Compiled by Irene Garcia. Contributing: Dave Desmond, Fernando Dominguez, Steve Elling, Vince Kowalick, Michael Lazarus, John Ortega and Tris Wykes.