Another Knee Injury Spells Trouble for Souza’s Season

Brazilian Tadeu Souza, a 6-foot-8, 230-pound forward who played basketball at Dana Hills High in 1996-97 and signed last November with Long Beach State, may not be available for the 49ers next season after undergoing reconstructive surgery on his left knee last week.

Souza averaged 14 points and eight rebounds last season at Mineral Area Junior College in Park Hills, Mo. He came to Dana Hills as an exchange student and earned second-team all-county honors. He averaged 18.5 points and 8.3 rebounds for the Dolphins, but injured his right knee late in the season. That injury also required reconstructive surgery.

“He doesn’t deserve this,” Mineral Area Coach Tim Gray said of Souza’s latest injury. “He’s a nice kid and he was a real factor for us. His perimeter game is good, but he really has some interior skills. Those eight rebounds were only in about 22 minutes of play because we were very deep and played a lot of people.”

Gray said he believes Long Beach State will seek a medical redshirt year for Souza. If the NCAA grants the request, Souza would retain two seasons of eligibility beginning in the 2001-2002 season.

Souza had a redshirt season at Mineral Area in 1997-98 to continue therapy on his injured right knee, Gray said.

PLAY BALL

Georgia Tech catcher Anne Knobbe, who played softball at Brea Olinda, had a strong senior season, although the Yellow Jackets (25-33) finished the year with a 10-game losing streak.

Knobbe ranks among the top 20 in the NCAA in home runs and RBIs. Through 57 games this season she was hitting .388 with 16 home runs and 51 RBIs.

Freshman Lauren Schwendimann (Foothill) pitched a perfect game recently as Northwestern registered a 12-0 softball victory over visiting Michigan. Schwendimann struck out four. It was the first perfect game of her career and the first thrown by a Northwestern pitcher since 1994.

Through 131 innings, Schwendimann (11-9) had an earned-run average of 1.81.

Teammate Brett Nakabayashi, a freshman infielder/outfielder from Irvine, had started 38 games and was batting .331.

POLO PLAYOFFS

Former Edison girls’ soccer and water polo player Amber Prestegard has recovered from the broken wrist she sustained as a high school senior in 1999. A freshman driver at San Diego State, she is expected to start for the Aztecs at the NCAA women’s water polo championships that begin Friday at Indiana.

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