Pitcher Missed Complete Game but Finished What He Started

Ever hear of a pitcher being credited with a victory and a save in the same game?

It almost happened last Thursday in Ventura College’s 7-4 victory over Cuesta in 11 innings in a Western State Conference game.

Right-handed freshman Jeremy Pierce started for Ventura but tired and was removed in the seventh with the score tied, 2-2. Pierce is the team’s third baseman when not pitching, so Coach Don Adams moved him to third.

Ventura scored five runs in the top of the 11th to break the deadlock and Adams summoned Pierce to the mound for the bottom of the inning with two men aboard.

“I asked him if he could throw because we didn’t have anybody left,” Adams said. “We had six pitchers left [on the roster] and we took only four on the trip. We used them all in the game. We didn’t have many options.”

The two Cuesta runners scored and were charged to reliever Pat Redican (1-0) but Pierce closed the door and picked up his second save.

Thinking positive: Increased confidence has translated to faster times in the 100-meter high hurdles for Elinor Tolson of Cal State Northridge.

Before this season, Tolson’s best college time was 15.00 seconds, but she lowered her best to 14.10 in a meet against Fresno State, UC Davis and Mt. San Antonio on April 30 and ran a wind-aided 13.76 to place third in the California-Nevada championships.

“Mentally, she believes that she can do some things now that she didn’t believe before,” Coach Don Strametz said. “I really noticed that Saturday after the prelims. She asked me, ‘What’s the school record? Do I have a shot at it?’ She never would have even thought about asking that last season.”

Hamstrung: A two-week break in training to rest a tender hamstring caught up with Northridge freshman Zarinah Tillman in the California-Nevada meet.

Tillman was ranked third in the 200 and fifth in the 400 with bests of 24.04 and 54.74 entering the meet, but she failed to qualify for the final of either event after not running at all since a meet against UCLA, Houston and UC Irvine on April 13.

“It was just asking too much after missing that much training,” Strametz said. “But she’s back training and I think she’ll be OK in another week or so.”

Stats

Pepperdine designated hitter David Rosato has a 10-game hitting streak and has raised his batting average from .229 to a team-high .349 over that span.

Oxnard College made the biggest turnabout in Western State Conference baseball play this season. The Condors finished the season with a 22-4 conference record. They were 11-15 last season.

Quotebook

“They’ll probably do it in alphabetical order.”

-- Camarillo High first baseman Jessica Ziese, after learning there were only 15 medals for the Thousand Oaks softball tournament champion Scorpions, who have 16 players on their roster.

Honors

Cal Lutheran won seven Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference championships in 15 sports this school year. The Kingsmen took titles in baseball, softball, men’s golf, men’s and women’s soccer, women’s basketball and women’s volleyball.

Cal State Northridge outside hitter Chad Strickland and Pepperdine outside hitter Kevin Barnett were named NCAA second-team All-Americans by the American Volleyball Coaches Assn.

Things to Do

Ted Pezynski and Ali BenMohamed of Monroe High and Paul Muite of North Hollywood are expected to battle for the boys’ 800-meter title Thursday during the Valley Pac-8 Conference track and field finals at Birmingham High. The meet will begin at 2 p.m.

Pezynski timed 1 minute 57.8 seconds in conference preliminaries last week with BenMohamed at 1:58.0 and Muite at 1:59.1.

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Contributing: Fernando Dominguez, Irene Garcia, Steve Henson, John Ortega, Peter Yoon.