Regional Plans Remain Up in Air

Usually at this point in the season, Cal State Fullerton’s baseball and softball teams are nearly assured of NCAA regional tournament berths.

This year is different.

“I told our team a little over a week ago that it might take a miracle for us to make it,” softball Coach Judi Garman said.

Garman faces the possibility of sitting out the postseason for the first time since she founded the Titan program in 1980.

But the softball team has won five of its last six games, improved its record to 27-21 and might have an outside chance of making the NCAA field if the Titans finish strong in their three remaining doubleheaders. They play Cal State Northridge, UC Santa Barbara and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo this week.

The Titans helped their cause last week by sweeping doubleheaders against Utah State and Nevada Las Vegas, then splitting a doubleheader with nationally ranked Long Beach State.

The baseball team has failed to advance to a regional only four times in the last 21 years. The Titans appear to be on the bubble this season, but their chances for an at-large bid improved last weekend with a three-game sweep of Nevada, the Big West’s Northern Division leader.

Nevada, ranked No. 24 at the time, had the Big West’s best overall record and had beaten Southern Division leader Long Beach State in two of three games a week earlier in Long Beach.

Fullerton is 30-19-l after Tuesday’s 11-8 victory over fourth-ranked UCLA. The Titans have two three-game series remaining, one at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo this weekend and another at home the following weekend against UC Santa Barbara. The conference tournament, which determines the automatic NCAA bid, is May 15-18.

“The series against Nevada was the best 27 innings of baseball we’ve put together all year,” Titan Coach George Horton said. “I also thought Sunday’s game was the best nine innings we’ve had in terms of intensity.”

The Titans won the three games, 5-2, 14-10 and 13-9.

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Horton has seen a change in the last two weeks.

“We’re a better team now because we are a team now,” Horton said. “We’re playing unselfishly, and we’re showing a lot more versatility. We hit only one home run in those three games, but we scored 32 runs. The consistency of the offense was good the whole weekend.

“Maybe it’s because the expectations have gone away. Earlier in the season, we were too results-oriented, but I think we’ve got to the point where we’re focusing on doing things the right way and not worrying about the results so much.”

The sweep of Nevada gave Fullerton the Big West’s second-best conference record (17-7) behind Long Beach (20-4). That might be important in a year when the Big West might get no more than one at-large bid in addition to the automatic berth. Nevada is 15-9 in the conference, 31-16 for the season.

One negative from the weekend was that No. 3 pitcher Brandon Duckworth had some pain in his back during a workout Friday and missed his scheduled start Sunday. “We hope that it won’t be a problem, and he’ll be back this weekend,” Horton said.

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The road probably will be more difficult for the softball team, even though Fullerton has won 12 of its last 16 games.

The Titans aren’t ranked among the top seven teams in their region, and Garman expects no more than five teams to advance out of that division. “A lot will depend on who gets the automatic bids,” she said.

But Garman is enjoying the team’s improved play.

“I think the biggest key has been our pitching,” Garman said. Jana Oetgen is 14-10 with 2.33 earned-run average and Donna Coombes is 11-9 with a 3.15 ERA. “Our defense has solidified, and we’re playing well now in the tough situations,” Garman said. But the surge might have come too late. “It’s going to be an uphill battle, but three weeks ago there wasn’t any hope,” Garman said.

Titan Notes

Dante Powell has been called up from triple-A Phoenix by the San Francisco Giants, becoming the 24th former Fullerton player to make it to the major leagues. Powell scored the winning run in the ninth inning recently in a 4-3 victory over Atlanta, beating a throw to the plate by strong-armed right fielder Andruw Jones. “If it had been anyone but Dante, you wouldn’t have sent him home,” Manager Dusty Baker was quoted, referring to Powell’s well-known speed on the bases. . . . Titan men’s basketball assistant coach George Fuller considered applying for the vacant women’s basketball head coaching job, but decided against it. The school has not announced a replacement for Deborah Ayres. . . . Relief pitcher Mike Greenlee was chosen Big West pitcher of the week. He had two saves against Nevada, bringing his season total to six.

Coming Attractions

Here’s a look at key games this week for Cal State Fullerton:

* Baseball at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, 7 p.m. Friday and 1 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

* Men’s and women’s track at Steve Scott Invitational, 10 a.m. Saturday at Long Beach State.

* Softball against Cal State Northridge 5 p.m. today, against UC Santa Barbara 5 p.m. Friday and against Cal Poly San Luis Obispo 1 p.m. Saturday. All games at Fullerton.