Saddleback’s Luster Receives ‘Big Stick’ Award

Saddleback College sophomore shortstop Jimmy Luster won the “Big Stick” award as the top hitter in Southern California and was selected to the all-state team.

Luster, from Santa Margarita High, hit .431 with 85 hits, including 19 doubles and 12 home runs. He also set the college’s single-season record for runs batted in with 74.

Saddleback first baseman Jason Marion and pitcher Mike Pazzulla also were all-state picks.

Marian, who hit .425 with 13 home runs and 63 RBIs, has signed to play next year for the University of New Orleans.

Other all-state selections were catcher/outfielder Brandon Pack (Cypress), pitcher Ron Corona (Cypress), center fielder Richard Lane (Santa Ana), second baseman Shaun Larkin (Cypress), center fielder Cory Sullivan (Cypress) and shortstop Josh Shaffer (Santa Ana).

BOYS’ BASKETBALL

* Former Servite Coach Scott Hamilton has been hired to be an assistant athletic director at West Hills Chaminade.

In eight years at Servite, Hamilton had a record of 110-71. But the Friars were 15-13 this season and his contract was not renewed.

GIRLS’ BASKETBALL

* Pat Christian has been named girls’ basketball coach at Canyon.

Christian’s primary coaching background is with boys’ teams. He was freshman coach and varsity assistant at Bellflower St. John Bosco, including 1994 when it won the Southern Section Division II-A title. He also coached a girls’ travel team briefly, and currently coaches two boys’ travel teams. This is his first varsity head coaching position.

He replaces Nelson Herrera (107-51), who resigned after six years. The Comanches were 23-6 last season.

FOOTBALL

* Derek Early, a 6-3, 240-pound offensive tackle at Santa Margarita, will attend Pennsylvania and plans to play football, his father, Creighton Early, said.

RUNNING

* Southern California College has signed six athletes, three of them from the state of Washington, according to Coach Bryan Wilkens.

They are Quiyon Verner, a hurdler from Tacoma Baptist High, Shawn Johnson, a cross-country and distance runner from Enterprise, Ore., Dan Davis, a long distance runner from Scotia (Calif.) Fortuna Union, Melody Strauss, a jumper and hurdler from Mt Vernon, Wash., Jessica Martinez, a cross-country and middle distance runner from Santa Maria Righetti and Maria McDonough, a sprinter from Seattle Shoreline Christian.

HONORS

* The Orange County Sports Celebrities honored 11 scholar-athletes last week at an awards luncheon in Irvine, where the group awarded each a $1,500 scholarship.

OCSC also presented its Jim Valentine Courage Award to Kate MacDonald, an Irvine High senior who played soccer despite years of pain from a back injury she suffered in the eighth grade. She underwent years of unsuccessful treatment before her spinal fusion surgery last April. She earned first-team All-Sea View League honors last fall and plans to attend UC Irvine this fall.

The 11 recipients:

* Kevin Dykes (El Modena), 4.81 grade-point average, football, wrestling and track and field; Jennifer Inmon (Foothill), 4.07 GPA, basketball; Lisa Massoth (Esperanza), 4.00 GPA, cross-country and track and field; Kelly McKibben (Valencia), 4.32 GPA, basketball, volleyball, track and field; Rebecca Miske (El Toro), 4.29 GPA, soccer, cross-country and track and field; Tara Moore (Westminster), 4.13 GPA, basketball, volleyball, track and field and swimming; Dustin O’Malley (Cypress), 4.12 GPA, track and field, basketball and tennis; Renee Orem (Los Amigos), 4.29 GPA, volleyball and track and field; Tiffany Whitton (Brea Olinda), 4.35 GPA, softball, soccer, water polo and cross-country; Adam Shaeffer (Los Amigos), 4.11 GPA, baseball, and Guillermo Vargas (Katella), 4.36 GPA, cross-country and track and field.

COLLEGES

* Southern California College officially changes its name to Vanguard University on July 1. The school’s nickname, currently the Vanguards, will be changed to the Lions. The changes were announced last November.