SIDELINES : Instead of a Nifty Pit Crew, Nickolai Needed a Wrecking Crew

As he surveyed the scene, noting that his right-front tire was resting on the hood of his car, Steve Nickolai figured he was probably done for the night.

Then, in his words, “a small miracle.”

Nickolai’s pit crew managed to repair enough of the damage that his car, crumpled in an accident during a heat race, was ready for last Saturday night’s main event at Saugus Speedway.

Unfortunately, his luck didn’t get any better.

The Simi Valley-based driver was involved in . . . not one . . . not two . . . but three more accidents during the final.

Nickolai somehow managed to finish the 50-lap event, but he did so without brakes, which went out on the 30th lap.

He did, however, retain his sense of humor: “Hey, it was our night to be in the barrel.”

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Grand entrance: Promoted to the varsity after the Canoga High baseball team lost four starters because of academic problems, freshman shortstop Junior Galvan responded by hitting a grand slam in his second game, helping the Hunters beat Reseda, 6-5.

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Fast company: Very fast isn’t fast enough for some distance runners on the competitive fast track in the Marmonte League.

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Francisco Sandoval of Channel Islands High ran the 3,200 meters in the league finals in a fine time of 9 minutes 25.05 seconds.

However, his effort was good enough for only fourth place, and because only the top three finishers advance, Sandoval will not be competing in the Southern Section Division I preliminaries Saturday.

Too bad. To put Sandoval’s performance in perspective, his time was faster than the winning time in the 13 other Division I leagues.

Honors

Cross-country runner Warren Reich and softball player Lee Ann Taylor have been selected as Cal State Northridge’s top scholar athletes.

Reich, from Granada Hills, has a 3.92 (on a scale of 4.0) grade-point average. He had a best finish of 22nd (in 31 minutes 14 seconds) at the American West Conference country championships in October.

Taylor, from San Diego, has a 3.42 GPA. She is batting .212 as starting second baseman for Northridge’s eighth-ranked softball team.

Taylor also was inducted to the Varsity “N” Academic Athletic Honor Roll--which recognizes outstanding academic, leadership, citizenship and athletic achievements--along with volleyball player Oliver Heitmann, track and field athlete Montoya Johnson, tennis player Monica Kocian, quarterback J.J. O’Laughlin and basketball players Ozan Korkut, Shane O’Doherty and Tom Samson.

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Honor roll: Four Cal Lutheran baseball players were selected All-Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, led by repeat selection John Becker, the Kingsmen’s senior first baseman.

Right fielder Ray Arvizu, left fielder Jeff Marks and designated hitter Kirk Fellows also were first-team picks.

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Regal trio: Heidi Stevens, double trouble for opponents of the Cal Lutheran softball team, has been selected Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference player of the year.

Stevens, a junior pitcher and designated hitter, had a record of 9-1 with a 1.40 earned-run average. She also batted .463 with eight home runs.

Cal Lutheran second baseman Tracy Little and third baseman Bekkah Snider also were All-SCIAC selections.

Quotebook

“We just need to remember to do three things: catch the ball, throw the ball and hit the ball.”

--Kennedy High baseball Coach Manny Alvarado, on trying to maintain focus for the Golden Cougars, who have won 14 consecutive games.

Stats

Right-hander Rob Crabtree’s four-hit shutout of 12th-ranked Fresno State on Sunday was the first whitewash job by a Cal State Northridge baseball pitcher since late 1993.

Crabtree, a junior who held on to win, 1-0, broke a string of 120 consecutive games without a Northridge shutout.

There’s a big difference between the haves and the have-nots in the Golden League baseball race.

In six games last week, Palmdale, Quartz Hill and Antelope Valley outscored Littlerock, Ridgecrest Burroughs and Highland by a combined score of 87-21.

Among the routs: Quartz Hill defeated Littlerock, 22-8, and Palmdale trounced Burroughs 18-4. The closest game was Antelope Valley’s 13-8 victory over Burroughs.

Two of the longest batting streaks in City Section baseball last week came to an end. Alfred Aleman of Monroe High and Adam Frank of Grant each had at least one hit in 18 consecutive games, streaks that were snapped Thursday.

Aleman has a hit in 21 of 23 games this season. After going hitless in the first two games, Frank had a hit in the next 18.

Marmonte League baseball teams have a 58-33 record against nonleague opponents.

The top five teams in the league--Simi Valley, Westlake, Royal, Thousand Oaks and Camarillo--are 42-16 in nonleague games.

Compiled by Mike Hiserman. Contributing: Steve Elling, Jeff Fletcher, Dana Haddad, Michael Lazarus, John Ortega, Bryan Rodgers.