NOTEBOOK : Crenshaw’s Lattin, Moseley Share City Most Valuable Honor

Kristi Lattin and Naila Moseley, who led the Crenshaw girls basketball team to its third consecutive City Section 4-A championship, have been voted most valuable players in the division.

Area players joining Lattin and Moseley on the first team were Tina Greer (Washington), Zenobia Tyson Hunt (Roosevelt), Shamekka Higgins (Locke) and Laneishe Williams (Washington).

Also selected last week to the City 4-A first team were Anna Celaya (North Hollywood), Tiffany Lewis (Westchester), Yuriko Jung (Venice), Jenille Ramos (Banning), Nicole Codd (Palisades), Tami Ross (Kennedy), Diane Bell (Carson) and Nyoki McKeith (Taft).

In the 3-A Division, Kawai Matthews of Narbonne was selected the most valuable player.

Area players selected to the first team were Ruby Maciel (South Gate), Aisha Savage (Fremont), Zakiyyah Johnson (Belmont), Alma Ruvalcaba (Bell), Elea A’Giza (Jordan), Donna Gordon (Wilson) and Janice Arcilla (Franklin).

Robin Hayes (Narbonne), Nancy Vincent (Chatsworth), Dora Lopez (Polytechnic), Tiwana McCullum (Gardena) and Kristin Riley-Boynton (Grant) were also named.

*

Former Lincoln High baseball star Peter Cervantes is making an impact at East Los Angeles College.

Cervantes pitched a two-hitter against Long Beach City College on Feb. 28, with seven strikeouts and two walks in a 1-0 victory.

Rain has washed out several games and kept Cervantes off the mound since.

Cervantes (2-0) has pitched 12 1/3 consecutive scoreless innings.

“That is (Cervantes’) longest performance ever,” East L.A. Coach Al Cone said.

“He had never pitched a nine-inning game before. Last year (Cervantes) was a center fielder, and he spent last fall learning how to pitch.”

Cervantes’ off-season training paid off because the sophomore has earned a scholarship to Cal State Long Beach next year.

Cervantes was drafted in the 40th round by the Houston Astros last season.

*

William Sune is the new varsity tennis coach at Bell High School.

Sune, 39, replaces Jan Spurlock, who had been the Eagles’ coach for 17 years.

Under Spurlock, Bell won eight consecutive Central League titles and lost in the City Section 3-A Division tennis finals to Verdugo Hills last season.

“Jan felt it was time to step down after coaching the team for so long,” Sune said. “She wanted more time to concentrate on other things.”

And how does Sune feel about replacing one of Bell’s most successful and well-liked coaches in 20 years?

“There is some pressure on me to keep the (winning) tradition going,” Sune said. “The most pressure is on getting good players to keep coming to Bell in order to maintain that tradition of winning.”

Sune spent the last eight years teaching physical education at Nimitz Junior High in Huntington Park.

Before that, Sune coached football, baseball and tennis at Magnolia High in Anaheim and Bassett High in La Puente.

Although Bell seniors Oscar De La Rosa and Jaime Cruz return from last year’s team, most of the players are gone.

Still, “We still have a pretty strong team,” Sune said.

*

Five area high school soccer players have been named to the all-Southern Section boys and girls soccer teams.

Bell Gardens midfielder Hernan Acosta was selected to the Boys’ Division II first team, and Lancer forward Cesar Reynoso was named to the third team.

Loyola had two Division III selections: fullback Justin Bell to second team and fullback Donald Voogd to the third team. Salesian fullback Moses Flores was named to the Division V second team.