Rumor of Actor Helping Malibu Baseball Program Loses Sheen

The hot rumor around Frontier League baseball circles this season has been that actor Charlie Sheen is involved in the Malibu baseball program.

One coach thought Sheen had paid for the Sharks’ new outfield fence. Another had heard that Sheen was on the Malibu bench for games.

“I’d love to have [Sheen] in our program but that’s simply not the case,” Malibu Coach Bob Ryan said. “He worked out at one of our practices back in February and said he’d like to help support the team and we’ve never seen him since. But maybe if we let the rumors go and they get strong enough he’ll come back and join us.”

Name game: Hart High freshman Ryan Parmenter acknowledges he is known in swimming circles as the “other Parmenter,” falling in the shadow of L.A. Baptist freshman Jennifer Parmenter. He often is confused as a brother or cousin of Jennifer, who barely missed a berth on the U.S. Olympic team at the trials last month.

But Ryan, who is not related, is making a name of his own. He set the school record in the 500-yard freestyle in a dual meet last week and a Hart record in the 200 freestyle at the Royal Invitational on Saturday. But he is still compared to Jennifer. Until recently, both practiced with the Canyons Swim Club.

“It depends who’s asking, but sometimes I’ll just play along and pretend I’m her brother,” Parmenter said. “I’ll tell people I’m the neglected one. But then I’ll tell them it’s really just a weird coincidence. It’s like having two swimmers named Jones on the same team. That happens all the time.”

Jennifer Parmenter does have a brother, but Kevin Parmenter, not yet in high school, is making his mark as an up-and-coming diver.

Valley stars: They might be thousands of miles and a time zone away, but Saturday’s Mountain Pacific Sports Federation volleyball finals in Hawaii will have a strong Valley connection.

And it’s not just because Cal State Northridge will compete in the four-team event at the Special Events Center in Honolulu.

Two of the nation’s top collegiate players will participate in the tournament. Starting for UCLA will be middle blocker Tom Stillwell, a graduate of Notre Dame High who leads the nation in blocking average with two a game, and UC Santa Barbara will feature outside hitter Donny Harris, a La Canada graduate who ranks fourth in the nation with a kill average of 6.40 a game.

Stats

Ryan Wilson of Arkansas, a 1993 graduate of Agoura High, moved to third on the all-time Razorback list in the 5,000 meters when he ran a world-leading time of 13 minutes 28.2 seconds to win the event in the Mt. San Antonio College Relays on Saturday night.

Wilson’s performance came shortly after Amy Skieresz of Arizona had set a school record of 15:45.59 to finish fourth in the women’s 5,000. Skieresz was the runner-up in the 3,200 for Agoura in last year’s State championships.

Quotebook

“If they don’t want to be here, why make them stay?”

--Tony Gonzales, forward for California’s basketball team, commenting in the San Francisco Chronicle about teammates Tremaine Fowlkes and Michael Stewart, who have appealed a decision by the school denying them permission to talk to Pepperdine about transferring there.

“I’m cautiously optimistic because my confidence was beat up pretty bad after our last two matches of the regular season. We played horrible and with no emotion.”

--Cal State Northridge volleyball Coach John Price, commenting on the Matadors’ upcoming playoff match against UCLA. Northridge upset Long Beach State in a first-round Mountain Pacific Sports Federation match Saturday.

Things to Do

The Cal State Northridge softball team will play its final home games this weekend. The Matadors, ranked No. 5 in the country and with a 12-2 record at home, host Southern Utah at 1:30 p.m. Friday and Utah at 1 p.m. Saturday in Western Athletic Conference doubleheaders. On Sunday, Northridge and Utah will continue a game that was suspended in the first inning two weeks ago.

Contributing: Rob Fernas, Irene Garcia, Michael Lazarus, Paige A. Leech, John Ortega, Tris Wykes.