Notebook : Marina to Retire Crouch’s Soccer and Softball Jerseys

Marina has retired the numbers of only three athletes: basketball players Bob Losner (No. 52) in 1975, Rich Branning (No. 10) in 1976 and Cherokee Parks (No. 44) in 1991.

But Marcy Crouch can do all of them one better. Crouch will have her No. 22 soccer jersey and No. 7 softball jersey retired, Athletic Director Larry Doyle announced last week.

“I’ve never heard of anybody having two numbers retired, but that doesn’t mean it hasn’t happened somewhere,” said Doyle, who takes jersey numbers pretty seriously. “Sometimes you do that when everything’s real emotional, and you don’t realize how big a deal it really is. You can retire a jersey and the next year, someone can do something better--you won’t have any jerseys left.”

That was the case with Losner, who set the school scoring record, and Branning, who broke that record the next year.

Crouch leaves Marina as a two-time Southern Section player of the year in softball and two-time defensive player of the year in soccer. She spearheaded five Division I titles for the school--the last three soccer titles and the last two in softball. The soccer and softball teams were ranked No. 1 in the state.

“I’m kind of glad it’s coming to end,” Crouch said of her high school career. “The attention is getting kind of embarrassing.”

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Orange County had four of the top six teams in the final Cal-Hi Sports magazine state softball rankings. Marina (24-5) finished No. 1, Pacifica (27-3) was fourth, Foothill (23-3) fifth and Mater Dei (27-5) sixth. Woodbridge (24-9) was 20th.

Fremont Washington (27-0) was second and Fresno Bullard (30-1) third in softball.

Fountain Valley (26-3-1) was the top basketball team. La Quinta (28-3-1) finished fifth, Sonora (24-4-1) 14th and Mater Dei (20-6) 17th.

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New Costa Mesa football Coach Jerry Howell got a vote of confidence from former Coach Myron Miller in front of 60 Mustang players at a meeting last week.

There had been some talk that if Miller’s Delaware Wing-T offense was scrapped, there wouldn’t be much support for the new coach--meaning there wouldn’t be many players in the fall.

“That was blown out of proportion,” Howell said. “There was a security blanket problem. Myron told them the offense the coach runs doesn’t matter; it will work if the players work at it.

“I told the kids that we have so many starters returning, and they’re so effective, I’m not going to change it. We’re going to expand it a little bit. . . . We’re going to leave the offense intact and build upon the base that they already have.”

Howell, who was a head coach at Foothill, came from Azusa where he was an assistant. Miller, who turned the program into a winner in his three years there, left to coach Tustin.

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The third Summer All-Star Classic boys’ basketball game, featuring 22 top senior players from Orange and San Diego counties, will be held June 24 at Orange Coast College.

Last year, the team from Orange County, led by 37 points from Tony Gonzalez (Huntington Beach High/Cal), evened the series with a 116-114 victory. San Diego won the inaugural game, 107-89.

Among the players expected to participate this year is Jelanie McCoy, a 6-foot-11 All-American from San Diego St. Augustine who will play for UCLA next season.

The Orange County team will be led by Tustin point guard Doug Gottlieb, The Times’ county player of the year who is headed for Notre Dame, and Mater Dei’s Shaun Jackson (Wyoming) and Clay McKnight (UC Irvine).

Other county players are Servite’s Mark Seaton (Stanford), St. Margaret’s Damion Raibon (San Francisco), Sonora’s Craig Clark (San Jose State), Estancia’s Kevin Byrne, Katella’s LaByron Clayton, Santa Ana Valley’s Michael Riggins, Troy’s Jeff Sand and Trabuco Hills’ Rob Warnick.

The county team will be coached by Paul Hoover, an assistant coach at Santa Ana Valley and an organizer of the event.

The game begins at 7:30 p.m. The evening will include a halftime three-point shootout and slam dunk contest with celebrity judges. A 5:30 p.m. game will feature top eighth-graders from both counties.

Tickets are $7 for adults, $5 for students and $3 for players wearing National Junior Basketball jerseys. Proceeds will go to the American Cancer Society and Santa Ana Valley basketball program.

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Pete Bonny, Marina girls’ basketball coach, also has dabbled as a drummer for a rockabilly band, the Hot Rod Trio, but the group recently added some new members and converted to Western music.

They call themselves The Roundups, but instead of playing the hits of Elvis and Johnny Burnette, they’re now playing “I’m Walking the Floor Over You” and singing the songs of Flatt and Scruggs. Talk about culture shock.

“It was different,” Bonny said. “The first set we learned, I had never heard of one song.”

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The American Basketball Council released results from a survey taken in January, 1994, that found 47.6% of American girls ages 12-17 played basketball in 1993, and that 41% of all basketball players that age are female.

The National Federation of State High School Assns. reported that during the 1993-94 season, 412,576 girls played basketball--more than any other sport, including second-place track and field (345,700). Among boys, 530,068 played basketball, second only to football (929,134).

Greg Hege, president of Porter Athletic, said that “female participation is the strongest single reason that sales of basketball equipment is rising.”

Participation by girls in tournaments sponsored by the Amateur Athletic Union and the Police Athletic League also soared, from 7,000 in AAU tournaments in 1983 to 70,000 in 1994; PAL tournament participation has increased from 16,000 in 1991 to 36,000 this year.

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There must be something in the water at La Quinta. Or in the food or air.

Or maybe the Aztecs know something the rest of us don’t.

But there haven’t been too many other schools that have produced back-to-back 15-game winners, as La Quinta did with Jim Livernois last year and Craig Jones this year. Both equaled the single-season county record for victories established by Andy Messersmith in 1963.

Coach Dave Demarest--whose teams have appeared in three consecutive Southern Section Division III finals, and who this season became the first county team to win back-to-back titles--insists he is not creating pitchers from some secret formula.

“First of all, your teams have to be having great seasons,” Demarest said. “Last year, Jim won four of his games in the playoffs, and Craig won five in this year’s playoffs. But we also have a tradition of having at least one very good pitcher; since 1978 we’ve had one La Quinta pitcher on the first or second all-county team.

“I think what is more unusual is that, since 1980, we’ve been averaging about 22 wins a season. Somebody has to get an abundance of them. A pitcher’s record reflects the team’s record. We also play good defense and we score runs.”

There’s another aspect. Demarest is not afraid to let his catchers call the games. And he’s just as willing to let the pitcher have the final say in what pitch is thrown.

“A lot of credit goes to Kenny Granger, Joe Link and Mark Uklea, the catchers we’ve had here recently,” Demarest said. “A catcher can only learn how to call a game by calling a game. And we also try and teach the pitchers not only how to pitch but also why you throw the pitch you do.”

Eric Maddy and Times staff writers Bob Rohwer and Mike Terry contributed to this story.

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County Champions

A list of Orange County teams that won State and section championships during the 1994-95 school year: CIF State Champions Girls’ Volleyball Div. I Newport Harbor Div. IV Calvary Chapel Boys’ Basketball Div. I Mater Dei Girls’ Basketball Div. II Woodbridge Southern Section Champions Football Div. I Mater Dei Div. V Newport Harbor Girls’ Volleyball Div. I Newport Harbor Div. IV Calvary Chapel Girls’ Tennis Div. II Laguna Beach Water Polo Div. II Esperanza Boys’ Cross-Country Div. II-A Villa Park Div. III-AA El Modena Girls’ Cross-Country Div. III-AA El Modena Boys’ Basketball Div. I-A Mater Dei Div. IV-AA Corona del Mar Girls’ Basketball Div. I-A Mater Dei Div. II-AA Woodbridge Div. II-A Brea Olinda Boys’ Soccer Div. III Woodbridge Girls’ Soccer Div. I Marina Wrestling (Individual Team) Div. I Calvary Chapel Wrestling (Dual-Meet Team) Div. I Calvary Chapel Baseball Div. I Fountain Valley Div. II Sonora Div. III La Quinta Div. V Calvary Chapel Softball Div. I Marina Div. II Woodbridge Boys’ Volleyball Div. II Tustin Boys’ Swimming and Diving Div. I Mission Viejo Div. II Laguna Hills Golf Valencia Badminton Div. I Garden Grove