LOCAL NOTES

BASEBALL

Santa Ana College can clinch its eighth Orange Empire Conference title in 13 years with a victory today over Cypress. The game begins at noon at Cypress.

Santa Ana (31-5-1, 17-4 in conference), which clinched a tie for the championship with a 17-3 victory over Saddleback on Thursday, has a 3 1/2-game lead over Cypress (30-8, 13-7) with three games to play.

Santa Ana, Cypress and Riverside (13-8 in conference) have already clinched three of the four berths in the Southern California regional tournament. Golden West (8-12), Saddleback (7-14) Fullerton (7-13) and Orange Coast (7-14) are battling for the final spot with one week remaining in the regular season.

The Dons won their last conference title in 1997, when the school was named Rancho Santiago. They also won conference titles in 1988, 1990-93 and ‘95, and state championships in 1993, ’95 and ’96.

SOFTBALL

Irvine High’s Jessyca Thompson has signed with Vanguard to play softball, according to the university’s sports information office.

Thompson, an outfielder, was a second-team All-Sea View League selection last season and is batting .310 this year.

DIVING

Derek Starks, Louis Gagnet and Kimberly Driscoll, all of the Mission Viejo Nadadores, will compete in the Western National Junior Diving Championships today and Sunday at USC.

Starks and Driscoll won the 13-and-under divisions last year. Gagnet won the 14-15 division last year.