Hill, Five Ventura Teammates Sign Letters

Free safety Marcus Hill of Ventura College, state junior college defensive player of the year, is among six Pirates who have signed letters of intent with four-year colleges, choosing Division II Angelo State in Texas.

Hill, 6 feet 3 and 210 pounds, who attended Oxnard High, helped Ventura play in a bowl game for the first time in nine years.

Other signees are: linebacker Ryan Cuthbert (6-2, 240), of Nordhoff High, to Tusculum University in Tennessee; defensive lineman Luis Espino (6-7, 280) to Portland State; defensive back Curtis Speller (5-11, 190) to Louisiana Tech; defensive lineman Brent Walker (6-4, 280) to Middle Tennessee State; center Todd Therien (6-2, 270), from St. Bonaventure High, to Western New Mexico.

Sedric Hurns, an All-City defensive back at Taft High who sat out last year, signed with San Jose State.

BASEBALL

Michael Jackson, a left-handed pitcher from Crespi High, has accepted a scholarship to Gonzaga. Jackson was 7-2 with a 2.57 earned-run average last season.

Adam Sperling, a top pitcher at El Camino Real High until he was forced to transfer last fall to Chatsworth for disciplinary reasons, said he hopes to return to El Camino Real for the spring semester and get permission from Coach Bob Ganslee to rejoin the team.

TENNIS

Marissa Irvin of Stanford, 1997 Southern Section champion at Harvard-Westlake High, beat Massoumeh Emami of Kentucky and teamed with Teryn Ashley for a three-set doubles victory in first-round matches Thursday in the Rolex National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships at Brookhaven Country Club in Dallas.