Matadors Draw Inspiration From Their Own G.I. Joe

Joe Skarda has tried nearly every sort of therapy for the physical and mental ailments resulting from his year in Vietnam serving as a helicopter-gunship door gunner.

He’s found one that works, yelling his head off at Cal State Northridge baseball games.

Dubbed the team’s “No. 1 Fan,” by the players’ parents and girlfriends, Skarda sits in the front row along with his wife, Susan, wearing a bright-red Matador T-shirt.

The Skardas have attended nearly every game for two seasons and have traveled with the Matadors all spring on their road to the Division I regionals.

The team came to the Skardas’ home in Northridge for a barbecue and the players were awe-struck by Skarda’s war memorabilia. His helicopters were shot down 13 times and he has had many operations as a result, including neck surgery three times in the past 15 months.

“What he went through was amazing to think about,” third baseman Eric Gillespie said. “He was 23, not much older than we are now.”

The Matadors showed appreciation for Skarda’s support last week by giving him a plaque after they defeated Santa Clara to gain an automatic berth in the NCAA tournament.

“That blew me away,” said Skarda, 52. “Those guys are incredible.”

Bum wheel: A severely sprained left ankle prevented senior Merlin DeMartinis of Harvard-Westlake High from competing in the Division III pole vault Saturday in the Southern Section divisional track and field championships at Veterans Stadium in Long Beach.

DeMartinis, runner-up in the Division III pole vault last year, re-injured the ankle in practice last week and didn’t want to risk further injury.

“He’s been nursing it along all season, but it finally got to the point where he felt like he needed to give it a rest,” Harvard-Westlake Coach Jonas Koolsbergen said. “He’s planning on making an impact at [Occidental College], both in football and track as a freshman, and he didn’t want to take a chance that the injury would prevent that from happening.”

Stats

Kristine Bostick of Antelope Valley College set her third school record in three weeks Saturday when she placed third in the 400-meter low hurdles in the State Junior College championships at Cerritos College.

Bostick, a freshman from Palmdale High, timed 1 minute 3.80 seconds after running 1:04.68 to win the Southern California championships on May 11 and 1:06.00 in the Southern California preliminaries the previous week.

Junior Elinor Tolson and freshman Erika Bowling of Cal State Northridge moved to eighth place on the all-time Matador lists in their events Saturday during the American West Conference championships.

Tolson won the 400 low hurdles in 1:00.84 and Bowling placed second in the 400 in 55.19. Freshman teammate Zarinah Tillman won the 400 in a career-best of 54.71 to solidify her hold on second on the all-time Northridge list behind Kim White, who timed 54.30 in 1980.

Things to Do

Many of the region’s top high school football players will be tested for speed, strength and agility in the Ventura County combine today at 4 p.m. at Rio Mesa High.

Spartan Coach George Contreras expects representatives of more than 30 colleges to attend. Schools participating are Buena, Channel Islands, Hueneme, Moorpark, Newbury Park, Nordhoff, Oak Park, Oxnard, Rio Mesa, Santa Clara, Santa Paula, St. Bonaventure, Thousand Oaks, Ventura and Westlake.

Contributing: Rob Fernas, Steve Henson, John Ortega.