Despite Delays, Northridge Soaring in WAC Western Division

The Cal State Northridge baseball team began its trip to Hawaii last week for a three-game series on an ominous note.

A fuel leak was discovered in the team’s plane shortly before takeoff at 8:30 a.m. Thursday at LAX. After boarding another plane, the Matadors were prepared to fly the friendly skies when players heard a startling announcement while monitoring cockpit radio conversation on their headsets.

A warning by the Department of Defense had been issued to pilots that the flight path would have to be changed because of missile testing in the Pacific Ocean.

The delays caused a jittery Northridge team to arrive in Honolulu four hours late, but players weren’t fazed on the field.

The Matadors took two of three games from Hawaii to move into second place in the Western Athletic Conference Western Division.

Second thoughts: Agoura High baseball Coach Bryan Maloney, an owner of the West Coast Baseball School, said he might not return to the Chargers next season because of the time constraints of the his business.

“I want to stay,” Maloney said, “but I have to make a decision about my future and what is best for me. And what is best for the program too.

“If I can’t find a way to put in more time, then it’s not worth it for the program or for myself.”

The Chargers won six of their first eight games, including an upset of Westlake, but the team has gone 2-11 since, including nine consecutive Marmonte League games.

“It hasn’t been so much the kids’ fault as my fault,” Maloney said. “I feel like if I could have given them a little more time and worked with them more, it might have been different.”

Tough break: It was a trying season for first-year Taft High softball Coach Jim Lutz.

Faced with heavy graduation losses, the Toreadors struggled, winning only two games and going winless in conference play. The regular season ended Monday for City Section teams.

Part of the problem was injuries. Taft’s top player, catcher Sonia Marin, missed three weeks after breaking her right hand. Although her hand had not yet healed, Marin played first base the final weeks of the season and had to take off her glove to throw.

“She got pretty good at making the switch,” Lutz said. “She was our best one-handed player.”

Loose lips: So much for complicated signals.

During the Newbury Park-Camarillo softball game last week, Panther third base coach Pete Ackermann yelled to hitter Tina Roscoe: “We’re going to sacrifice bunt. Got it?”

Roscoe laid down a bunt and moved the runner over.

Gone with the wind: The lack of a wind gauge at Friday’s Ventura County track and field championships at Camarillo High might have cost Ronney Jenkins of Hueneme and Andrea Wasden of Rio Mesa some noteworthy personal-best performances.

Jenkins, who has a personal best of 10.86 seconds in the 100 meters, won that event in 10.70. Wasden, who has run 14.37 in the 100 high hurdles, timed 14.31 in her victory.

Neither effort counted as a personal best, however, because both races were aided by a breeze. Without a wind gauge to judge, the statistician must assume that the marks were wind-aided.

Quotebook

“I did everything in the world to stop it. Really, I did.”

Crescenta Valley High softball Coach Alan Eberhart, whose team defeated Muir, 38-0, in a Pacific League game last week. Muir’s coach was more successful: After three innings, the Mustangs packed their equipment and left.

“I graduated from being a fast white guy to being a fast guy, period.”

-- USC’s Bryan Krill, a former standout at Thousand Oaks High and Moorpark College, after he ran a personal best of 20.3 seconds to win the 200 meters in the Golden Bear Invitational at Berkeley on April 22.

Stats

When Ramsey Jay of Ventura High won the 200 and 400 meters and anchored the Cougars’ 1,600 relay team to victory in the Ventura County track championships, he brought his career total to seven county titles. Jay won the 100 and 200 and ran a leg on the victorious 400 relay team in 1993 and he won the 400 last year.

Baseball: The Cal Lutheran baseball team, which completed its regular season with a 23-12 mark, dropped from ninth to 13th in the latest Division III poll. UC San Diego (21-13), the only team that might challenge the Kingsmen for the final berth in the NCAA Division III West regionals, improved from 30th to 22nd. Cal Lutheran swept three games against the Tritons this season.

Softball: Though ranked No. 8 in the country, Cal State Northridge has just two players (Scia Maumausolo and Jennifer Parker) batting better than .280 on a team that bats a combined .251.

Things to Do

Cal State Northridge today plays host to Cal State Fullerton at Matador Field at 2 p.m. Fullerton (41-9) is ranked No. 2 nationally by Baseball America and fourth by Collegiate Baseball magazine. Unranked Northridge is 26-23.

Compiled by Rob Fernas. Contributing: Steve Elling, Jeff Fletcher, Vince Kowalick, Michael Lazarus, Paige A. Leech, John Ortega, Bryan Rodgers.