Mendoza, Ball Earn Awards

Jessica Mendoza and Cindy Ball, former teammates at Camarillo High, were named player and pitcher of the week in their college conferences.

Mendoza, The Times’ Ventura County player of the year in 1998, went 11 for 17 (.647) with four doubles, a triple and a home run in five games to earn the Pacific 10 player of the week honor.

Mendoza, a sophomore outfielder who set six Stanford single-season batting records as a freshman, hit two doubles in a 4-3 upset of No. 2 Arizona. She’s hitting .470 this season.

Ball, The Times’ Ventura County pitcher of the year in 1998, struck out 18, walked three, allowed only two earned runs in 17 innings against New Mexico State and was selected Big West pitcher of the week. It is the second honor for Ball (12-6) this season.

TRACK AND FIELD

* Deneeka Torrey of Taft High, defending City Section champion in the girls’ 100-meter high hurdles and 300 lows, has signed a letter of intent with Colorado.

Torrey, who helped Taft win the last two City titles, took recruiting trips to Nevada Las Vegas and Colorado. A native of Jackson, Miss., Torrey has bests of 14.26 in the 100 high hurdles and 43.74 in the 300 lows.

* Rosanna Kirkendall of Lancaster High, who finished fourth in the girls’ 1,600 meters in the Southern Section Masters meet last year, has signed a letter of intent with Cal State Northridge.

Kirkendall has career bests of 5:03.65 in the 1,600 and 11:18.00 in the 3,200.

BASEBALL

* John Karavas, a senior second baseman at Harvard-Westlake, will attend Claremont McKenna and play basketball and baseball.

HOCKEY

* The Ventura Mariners defeated the Suffolk Silver Shields, 4-2, on Monday in a semifinal of the National B Junior championships in Blaine, Minn.

Austin Bear scored in the third period on an assist from Bobby Holoubek for a 3-2 Mariner lead. Dave Brown scored later to seal the victory on an assist by Jeff Worlton. Darren Partch and Cale Finseth also scored for Ventura, which trailed 2-0 in the first period.

Goalie Brandon Crawford-West stopped 30 shots by Suffolk.

The Mariners play the Iron Range, Minn., Yellow Jackets in the final. Iron Range defeated the Connecticut Clippers, 10-4, in the other semifinal.