Poe, Martinez Named Top O.C. Athletes

Saddleback pitcher Ryan Poe and Orange Coast runner Araceli Martinez are the Orange County community college athletes of the year.

Saddleback baseball Coach Jack Hodges and Cypress softball Coach Brad Pickler are the coaches of the year.

Poe, a sophomore right-hander from Trabuco Hills High, was 14-1, had a 2.56 earned-run average and 110 strikeouts and eight walks in 137 innings.

Martinez, a sophomore from Estancia High, set a state record in winning the 10,000 meters in 36 minutes 28 seconds at the state championships. She also won the 5,000 at the state meet and was a member of Orange Coast’s state championship cross-country team in the fall. She is going to Cal State Dominguez Hills in the fall.

Sports information directors vote on the awards.

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Moving on: Michele Bailon, shortstop on Cypress’ state championship softball team, has accepted a scholarship to Southwestern Louisiana. She hit .355 with 38 runs batted in.

Amber Farroux, a center on the Cypress women’s basketball team, has signed with Cal State San Bernardino.

Darren Chandler, an outfielder at Orange Coast, has signed with UC Santa Barbara. Chandler, from Canyon High, hit a team-high .365 with 57 hits, 35 runs batted in and 13 doubles for thePirates.

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Summer jobs: Santa Ana softball Coach Kim Nutter is playing for the Tampa Bay FireStix of the Women’s Professional Fastpitch League this summer.

Nutter, who will play first base and the outfield, is being coached by Lisa Bassi, who is also the softball coach at Fullerton College. Nutter and Bassi were teammates at Cal Poly Pomona.

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This and that: Marian Dorn of Cypress is the community college women’s golf coach of the year. Her Cypress team won the state title in the fall. Dorn, who also coaches the men’s team, will be honored June 13 in Sacramento.

There will be a memorial service for Wendell Pickens, who helped found the Orange Coast athletic department, at 4:30 p.m. June 20 on the campus baseball field.

Pickens, who died April 30 at age 86, was the school’s baseball coach from 1949 to 1968. His teams won two state titles, four Southern California titles and eight conference titles.

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Albert Gasparian, who has coached the Golden West women’s volleyball team to nine state titles in 15 years, has been elected to serve on the American Volleyball Coaches Assn. Board of Directors. He will represent junior colleges/community colleges, replacing Ray Bechard, who had coached at Barton County Community College in Great Bend, Kan.