Chaminade Spreads the Spotlight Around

Hey, maybe there is more to Chaminade High’s lineup than Stanford-bound right-hander Maureen LeCocq.

LeCocq, The Times’ Valley pitcher of the year in 1998, usually gets the attention, but several of her teammates had the rare chance to claim the spotlight in the days surrounding the Eagles’ upset of nationally ranked Santa Ana Mater Dei, 1-0, in the Thousand Oaks tournament final Saturday.

Infielder Erin Taylor and catcher Lauren Rousselet committed to colleges late Monday, Taylor choosing Miami of Ohio and Rousselet opting for Cal State Northridge.

Seldom-used senior outfielder Amanda Pearlman delivered clutch pinch-hit sacrifice bunts in the last inning of the semifinal and final, earning all-tournament honors despite not having an official at-bat.

Sophomore second baseman Lindsey Weinstein made a crucial defensive play in the final inning against Mater Dei and continues to establish herself among the region’s top pressure players.

She’s also among the region’s few left-handed middle infielders.

“OK, so we do things a little unorthodox here at Chaminade,” Coach Steve Harrington said. “But it was critical to have her in the infield. She’s that good.”

Chaminade (18-6-1), ranked No. 2 in the region by The Times, has won 14 consecutive games and appears ready to make a run at the Southern Section Division IV title.

Of course, LeCocq has been important, too.

On Monday, she improved to 17-2 by firing a no-hitter against Alemany to clinch the Eagles’ second Mission League title in a row.

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Move over Jodie Cox . . . you’ve got company.

The Quartz Hill senior was believed to be the region’s career home run leader among active players. But senior Crystal Roberts of Grace Brethren in Simi Valley has 27 home runs, according to Coach Janeen Skinner.

Cox, who had 25 career homers before Tuesday, and Roberts are chasing the section record of 28 set by Jenny Dalton of Glendale in 1990-92.

Because Skinner has never reported Grace Brethren’s statistics, Roberts’ home run total came as somewhat of a surprise.

According to Skinner, Roberts went without a home run as a freshman, hit seven as a sophomore and hit 15 last season, which, by the way, would be a section season record.

“Crystal is one of those kids that records don’t mean that much to her,” Skinner said. “She’s probably excited about it but would never say anything about her individual play.”

Roberts, a 6-foot, 140-pound shortstop-pitcher who is headed to Biola on a partial scholarship, had a career batting average of .803 before this season, Skinner said.

“She could probably be starting on any Division I [high school] team around here,” Skinner said.

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Alemany (9-13) will miss the section playoffs for the first time in at least 23 seasons, the last 17 under Coach Dudley Rooney.

To make matters worse, the Indians’ section record of 75 consecutive league victories was recently broken by Boron, a Division VI team from the Desert Mountain League.

“I’m getting beat in the present and the past these days,” Rooney said.

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Simi Valley played a new role last week in a Marmonte League game against Westlake--spoiler.

The Pioneers, usually league title contenders this time of year, have fallen out of the championship race, but they still can win big games.

Simi Valley rallied for four runs in the sixth inning to upset Westlake, 5-3, on Thursday. The loss dropped Westlake out of a three-way tie for first place with Newbury Park and Thousand Oaks, a fact not lost on Simi Valley.

“You would have thought we won the [section] championship,” Coach Suzanne Manlet said.

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Paraclete is ranked No. 4 in Division V and can clinch a share of its 21st consecutive league championship today in an Alpha League game against Pasadena Marshall.

But the Spirits (18-8) could lose a playoff seeding later today if it doesn’t win a coin flip with unranked co-champion L.A. Baptist (11-11).

With Paraclete and L.A. Baptist having split their season series, the Alpha League requires a flip to determine the order of playoff entry. Should L.A. Baptist win the toss, it would knock Paraclete out of the top four in the division, and possibly out of the top 10.

“Technically, we could end up playing a No. 1-ranked team in the first round after being ranked all season,” Spirit Coach Margaret Neill said. “That would kind of stink.”

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An 18-0 loss to No. 2-seeded Carson on Tuesday in the City Championship playoffs ended North Hollywood’s season, but the Huskies (10-6) have plenty of reasons to be optimistic about the future.

Five starters will return from a lineup that won its second consecutive East Valley League championship and advanced to the upper-division playoffs for the first time anyone at the school can remember.

“We’re trying to let people know that there’s another team in the Valley other than El Camino Real and Kennedy,” said Coach Frank Galvan, who is 19-12 in two seasons at North Hollywood.

Sophomores Claudia Andrade, Nicole Moses, Sarah Pessagno and Cathy Martin, and junior Christina Schaeffer will be keys next season.

Pessagno and Nydia Mejia, a junior, shared the pitching duties this season, giving North Hollywood two experienced hurlers to rely on in 2000.

“We are very optimistic,” Galvan said.

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Some intriguing playoff matchups could await El Camino Real (21-3).

The top-seeded Conquistadores likely will face defending champion San Pedro, the No. 4-seeded team, on Tuesday in the City Championship semifinals, a rematch of the 1998 City 4-A final won by San Pedro.

Kennedy (18-2) is seeded No. 3 and could meet El Camino Real in the final.

It would be the third time in four seasons that the teams have met in the final.

The Conquistadores defeated Kennedy for titles in 1996 and ‘97, and they edged the Golden Cougars, 1-0, in a Northwest Valley Conference game this season.

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The top 16 teams in the City Section, as judged by a committee, received berths into the Championship-bracket playoffs, with the next 16 placed in the Division bracket.

Among the teams selected for the Division playoffs are Granada Hills and Reseda, which had a combined 8-29 record.

Staff writers Dave Desmond and Paige A. Leech contributed to this notebook.