Brooks Earns NAIA Coaching Honor

Monte Brooks of The Master’s College was selected NAIA coach of the year in the Pacific Northwest-Far West region after guiding the Mustangs to a school-record 34-10 season.

Senior shortstop Danny Cato, from Saugus High, was selected to the all-region team for the second consecutive season. He batted .366 and had a team-high 14 doubles.

He is joined on the team by pitchers Ruben Escobar, a senior right-hander who had an 11-1 record, and Matt Berry, a freshman right-hander who was 7-3. Escobar set a school single-season record for victories.

Also chosen were sophomore outfielder Rob Avila, who led the Mustangs with 46 runs batted in; junior outfielder Preston Sprinkle, the team’s slugging leader with a .644 percentage; junior catcher Aaron Penberthy, who had a team-leading 12 home runs and sophomore first baseman Chris Kollmann, who led the team in batting at .385.

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First round and last: The season came to an abrupt end for three junior college teams from the region, who were eliminated in the first round of the Southern California Regional last weekend.

Pierce, Western State Conference South Division champion, got one victory in a best-of-three first-round series against Harbor. Glendale and Oxnard each scored one run while being swept.

Glendale (27-17) reached the playoffs for the first time since 1981, but the Vaqueros lost to top-seeded Saddleback, 9-0 and 8-1. Oxnard (27-13) lost to Cerritos, 4-0 and 6-1.

“Now I see, after playing a team like Saddleback, that we’ve got to go after the quality players and challenge those teams from the Orange Empire from here on out,” Glendale Coach Denny Barrett said.

TRACK AND FIELD

April’s best: Seniors Joe Criner and Beth Burton have been selected Cal State Northridge men’s and women’s athletes of the month for April.

Criner lowered the school record to 10.30 in the 100 in a heat of the California-Nevada championships.

Burton set a school record of 52 feet 9 inches in the shotput.

VOLLEYBALL

Lettermen: Pepperdine has received letters of intent from three players, two who are expected to fill a hole at middle blocker.

Chris Van Reusen, a 6-foot-6 senior from Edison High in Huntington Beach, is a member of the U.S. junior national team.

Van Reusen played swing hitter for the Chargers, but is expected to be moved to middle to help fill the void left by departing seniors Chris Jacobson and Rick Tune.

Tim O’Connell, a 6-5 middle blocker from St. Louis University High, also could compete for time in the middle.

The Waves also signed Matt Showley, a 6-4 outside hitter from Francis Parker High in San Diego.

SOFTBALL

Home improvement: Gil Mendoza, new coach at Moorpark College, has a long history at the school. He served as baseball coach from 1977-84 and was an assistant football coach for almost 20 seasons.

Mendoza, 58, father of Camarillo softball players Jessica and Alana Mendoza, plans to remodel the softball facilities at Moorpark by next season.

Plans include enclosing the field with chain-link fencing, building a storage facility and press box, and utilizing the space that will become available when four adjacent tennis courts are demolished.

Mendoza and his crew are prepared to do all of the work themselves.

“It’s exciting and, of course, the help that I’m going to have is really great,” he said.

Mendoza, who also has taken an assistant job with Cal Lutheran football this year, is a full-time physical education teacher at Moorpark College.