Maumausolo’s Solo Shots Are Tale of the Tape at Northridge

Bret Lewis, a sportscaster for KNBC, was at the Cal State Northridge softball field Wednesday doing interviews for a feature on Matador slugger Scia Maumausolo.

Lewis asked Northridge Coach Janet Sherman for game videotapes of Maumausolo hitting. He also requested that Maumausolo take batting practice for the cameras.

A pitching machine was fired up, and Maumausolo, the Western Athletic Conference Player of the Year, stepped to the plate.

Maumausolo muscled homer after homer out of the park, scattering construction workers behind the fence in left-center field.

“I don’t know if we’re going to need these,” he said, holding up the game tapes. “That was perfect. Very impressive.”

Rock solid: After months of haggling between the school and construction contractors, new electronic softball and baseball scoreboards are going up at Northridge.

Athletic Director Bob Hiegert said the holdup was due to earthquake safety standards required for new construction. Two contractors backed out of deals to erect the structures, figuring the business wasn’t worth the trouble of meeting the strict guidelines.

“When the 9.0 [quake] hits the Valley, at least two things are going to show up on radar as still standing--the softball board and the baseball board,” Hiegert said. “Everything else will be flat.”

Forgotten frosh: Nobody had a better baseball season at Northridge than outfielder Adam Kennedy. You can look it up.

However, don’t expect to see his name on the All-WAC team. Kennedy didn’t make the list and also was snubbed as freshman of the year.

“He was our MVP,” said Northridge Coach Bill Kernen, who had four other players named to the team. “Nobody on the team was more consistent. Everybody had ups and down, but he was there every day.”

Kennedy, an outfielder, batted .360 and drove in 54 runs, both the second-best marks on the team. He hit eight homers.

Giuseppe Chiaramonte of division champion Fresno State was named freshman of the year. Chiaramonte batted .281 and led the team with nine homers and 49 RBIs.

How did it happen? Rules prohibit coaches from voting for their own players. Coaches must resist the temptation to “sandbag” the process by voting for lesser players on other teams, thereby increasing their candidates’ chances at being honored.

“Needs to be changed,” Kernen said.

Friendly rivals?: Before last week’s game against rival Sylmar, Poly designated hitter Ray Montenegro claimed he had no trouble hitting the Velazco brothers: Carlos, now pitching at Cal State Northridge, and Sylmar ace Rafael.

Montenegro continued his hot hitting against the Velazcos, leading off the sixth inning with a double against Rafael. Poly cashed it in for a 1-0 victory.

“His first pitch of the game against me, he threw at my head,” Montenegro said. “That’s because I said I owned his family. It’s always a war with Sylmar. There’s a lot of talking, but it’s nothing serious.”

Nocturnal: The night time isn’t the right time.

Huntington Beach High’s baseball team opens the Southern Section Division I playoffs at 3:15 p.m. today against Crescenta Valley at Stengel Field.

Crescenta Valley Coach Tony Zarrillo wanted to play the game at night. Crescenta Valley (19-3) plays its home games under the lights at Stengel Field, where the Falcons are 10-0. No luck.

“As soon as they understood we play our home games at night, they didn’t want to play it at night,” Zarrillo said. “If I was in their shoes, I wouldn’t want to play us at night either.”

Quotebook

North Hollywood’s 6-foot, 192-pound Matt Jones, after shotputting a region- and City Section-leading 57 feet in last week’s Valley Pac-8 Conference track finals: “Even my mom says I’m too small to be competing in the shotput.”

Stats

Where would the Highland softball team be without junior pitcher Kristi Globig? Certainly not in the Southern Section Division III playoffs.

Her batting average of .439 is 166 points higher than the next-best regular and Globig’s five triples are tied for the area lead. As a pitcher, her earned-run average is 1.84.

Record setter: With a batting average of .371, slugging percentage of .717 and on-base percentage of .525, junior designated hitter Andy Shaw set single-season marks for Cal State Northridge players at the NCAA Division I level.

Last call: In his 272nd and final collegiate at-bat of a four-year career at CSUN, infielder Tyler Nelson had his first triple Sunday against San Diego State.

Iron men: Antelope Valley sophomore Jeremy Holiday has pitched in 19 of the Antelopes’ 23 regular-season games. Other pitching workhorses include Littlerock’s Frank Landano (19 of 27 games) and Cleveland’s Mike Schultz (18 of 23).

Things to Do

The Cal State Northridge softball team will play host to the NCAA regional playoffs starting today. The Matadors meet Missouri at 3 p.m. in a rematch of a 1994 Women’s College World Series game won by Northridge. Cal State Fullerton plays Illinois State at 12:30.

Compiled by Rob Fernas. Contributing: Steve Elling, Dana Haddad, Mike Hiserman, Vince Kowalick, Michael Lazarus, John Ortega.