Notebook : Minutemen Count On Hot Hands

Liberty Christian’s 14-4-1 regular-season record and Academy League championship were not enough for the team to be seeded among the top four in the Southern Section Division VI baseball playoffs. But the Minutemen say they have a good chance of going deep into the playoffs because they have a couple of red-hot players.

Pitcher Ray Cook is closing in on two school records. Cook’s 10 strikeouts in Friday’s 11-2 victory over Riverside Christian gave him a county-best 102; he is 13 short of Chris Buckels’ 1989 total. Buckels also won nine games that season; Cook (8-1) is within one victory of tying that mark.

His catcher, Paul Malcom, has been equally impressive. Malcom had four hits--three of them doubles--and a run batted in on Friday. He has 11 hits in his last 11 at-bats, covering a span of three games.

“Paul Malcom has always been a great player,” Minuteman Coach Ray Clifton said. “His career average in four years is .428, so he has always hit the ball. When we’re in crunch time, we want him at the plate with the bat; he would do something successful for us. He is also the single smartest player we have. I have much better teams when my smartest guy is the catcher.”

Liberty Christian will play host to Sherman Oaks Buckley today.

What the Minutemen don’t need is extra innings--six players are scheduled to perform in the school’s spring musical tonight.

“When your high school has only 74 kids,” Clifton said, “everybody has to pitch in.”

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University’s baseball season ended Friday in the first round of the Division III playoffs with its eight-inning, 7-3 loss to Garden Grove. The Trojans were done in by Kevin Loken and Gabe Maldonado. Loken pitched and slugged a two-run homer, and Maldonado hit a three-run shot in the eighth, giving him 44 RBIs, tying the county’s single-season record set by Mater Dei’s Jim Austin in 1988.

But University Coach Chris Conlin--who guided the team to its first league championship since 1986--knows one loss can’t eradicate the good that happened in 1995.

“I told the kids we wanted to end on a good note and that doesn’t always mean winning,” Conlin said. “Last year we were 7-17, so this may have been the biggest turnaround of any team in the county. And we had to win our last seven games to win the league. I’m thrilled for their accomplishment.

“I’m disappointed I couldn’t continue with this group; but I am very proud of these overachievers. I’ve coached football 17 years, wrestling 14 years and baseball 15 years, but this was my most rewarding season ever.”

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Irvine softball pitcher Amy Young had just turned 16 and was bored with the name that appeared on her driver’s license, on her student-body card, everywhere. So she decided to do something about it.

“Last year I changed my name [unofficially] to A-I-M-E-E,” Young said. “I got tired of A-M-Y. My parents hated it--they said, ‘That’s not what we named you!’ But I’m back to A-M-Y this year. I don’t know what I was thinking.”

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San Clemente boys’ volleyball Coach Mike Hurlbut was understandably excited Friday after his team’s quarterfinal victory over Fountain Valley. The 4-15, 16-14, 16-14, 16-14 victory propelled the Tritons into the semifinals as they rallied from a 14-5 deficit in Game 4.

“This was as big as it gets,” Hurlbut said. “We played like dog meat in the first game, but the kids came back. The only way this comeback gets any bigger is if it comes in a [Southern Section] final.

“I was so pumped after the match, I told my wife that I could push the car home from Fountain Valley.”

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Calvary Chapel has been itching for a volleyball rematch with Tustin ever since the Tillers dispatched the Eagles in four games in a nonleague match March 10. The Eagles can get that rematch in the finals, though Coach Chuck Wright isn’t counting on a rematch--he’d just like his team to get there.

“During the season, I thought that Tustin, [Palmdale] Highland and Calvary Chapel were a notch above everyone else,” Wright said. “But Highland slipped against [Downey] Warren--and we have to play them Wednesday--and Lakewood will give Tustin a battle in the other semifinal.

“The finals are a long ways off.”

They’re Saturday at Cypress College.

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Coach George Berg and 13 Fountain Valley High football players put Friday night to constructive use. Actually, Saturday morning, too.

Berg and the Barons participated in the Relay For Life, a 12-hour relay run/walk held at Golden West College’s track, to help raise money for the American Cancer Society. The race began at 7 p.m. Friday and ended at 7 a.m. Saturday.

“A number of times we’ve gone to the community and asked them to support us,” Berg said. “This was an opportunity for us to give something back. I thought it was a worthwhile endeavor . . . something to get away from the ‘me’ society.”

Berg and his players each took half-hour shifts on the track. Berg had three shifts, beginning at 7 p.m., 12:30 a.m., and 4:30 a.m.

So how were his times?

“I walked my shifts,” Berg said, chuckling. “It was a good experience for everyone. We raised about $1,000. And seeing the fun we had and the bonding that was going on, I think this is something we should do every year.”

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Laguna Hills reliever Tony Milo has been selected to play in the fourth annual Team One National Baseball Showcase June 23-25 in Cincinnati. Milo, 8-6 with a 2.10 earned-run average, batted .486 with three home runs and 19 RBIs. He is one of 75 players selected for the Showcase, which attracts more than 200 professional and college scouts and coaches. He will work out at Riverfront Stadium and play in three games at old Crosley Field, the Reds’ former ballpark.

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El Dorado’s Steve Gullotti and Fountain Valley’s Ron La Ruffa have been named North and South coaches for the 28th annual Kiwanis Orange County High School all-star game, scheduled for June 6 at Glover Stadium in Anaheim. Opening ceremonies are at 6:30 p.m. with the game at 7 p.m.

Times staff writers Martin Henderson and Michael Itagaki contributed to this story.