Topping Tops List of County All-Americans

Washington freshman Jenny Topping, a graduate of La Habra High, was named to the NCAA softball Division I All-American first team, as selected by the National Fastpitch Coaches Assn.

She is joined by UCLA shortstop Natasha Watley, the only true freshman on the first team. UCLA will play Oklahoma in today’s championship game of the College World Series.

Watley, from Woodbridge High, stole a school-record 32 bases and batted .434 during the regular season.

Third baseman Toni Mascarenas (Pacifica High), a junior at Arizona, was a second-team selection along with teammate Lauren Bauer (Foothill) and Washington’s Jaime Clark (Foothill).

Third-team picks include Cal State Fullerton first baseman Monica Lucatero, a sophomore from Mater Dei High; Marissa Young (Mater Dei), a freshman at Michigan; Lindsey Collins (Fountain Valley), a junior at Arizona, and Lovianne Jung (Fountain Valley), a sophomore at Fresno State.

* Former Edison outfielder Yasmin Mossadeghi, from Cal State Fullerton, along with teammate Lucatero and Fresno State’s Jung, were named to the NCAA Division I All-West Region first team.

Lucatero hit .343 and drove in 39 runs. Jung hit .391, with a team-high 14 doubles. She scored 41 runs, had four triples, 34 runs batted in and seven stolen bases.

Second-team All-West honors went to former Villa Park catcher Kendra Wood (UC Santa Barbara) and former Westminster outfielder Krissy Keene (New Mexico).

Wood hit .296 and had 11 doubles. Keene hit .347 with 23 RBI.

Young was also selected to the NFCA’s All-Great Lakes Region first team, All-Big Ten second team and NCAA Region 8 all-tournament team. She posted an 18-4 record and 1.47 earned-run average in helping the Wolverines to the conference championship. Young batted .277 and led Michigan with 37 RBIs.

MORE HONORS

Former Esperanza middle blocker Kari De Soto has been named female athlete of the year at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.

A 6-foot-3 senior, De Soto was named an All-American by Volleyball Magazine after being selected first-team All-Big West Conference. She ranked sixth in the nation in blocks (1.66 per game avg.) and seventh in hitting percentage (.393). Her effort earned an invitation to try out for the U.S. national team.

* Long Beach State senior distance runner Johann Appell, formerly of Estancia High and Orange Coast College, received academic All-American honors for a second consecutive year in the men’s District VIII university division.

Appell’s grade-point average is 4.0 and he is studying kinesiology and physical education.

He finished fourth at the Big West outdoor track & field championships in the 1,500-meter run. Earlier this year, he was chosen as a second-team Academic All-American in the fall/winter at-large category.

NOTABLE

UC Santa Barbara softball pitcher Loren Thornburg, formerly of Dana Hills, had the most wins (15) in school history. She was a second-team All-Big West choice and helped lead the Gauchos to their best record in school history (30-21).

* Senior All-Americans Donna Mills, formerly of Newport Harbor, and Araceli Martinez, formerly of Estancia, represented Cal State Dominguez Hills this past weekend at the NCAA Division II Women’s Track and Field Championships in Raleigh, N.C.

* UC San Diego’s Amy Tranckino, from Dana Hills High, and sophomore Lyndsey Tadlock lost in the semifinals of this year’s NCAA Division III tennis doubles competition in St. Peter, Minn.

UC San Diego moves to Division II in the fall.

Second-seeded Tranckino also advanced to the semifinals in singles.

* Scott Schutze, a 6-1, 200-pound wide receiver from Fountain Valley, and Justin Patterson, a 5-11, 190-pound linebacker from Mater Dei, are redshirt freshmen who participated in spring football practice at UC Davis.

Also at the workouts, which ended May 20, was 6-3, 245-pound defensive end Chad Jenkins, who played at Huntington Beach.

The Aggies were 10-2 last season and lost to Northeastern Oklahoma State at Tahlequah in the NCAA Division II quarterfinals. UC Davis could set an NCAA record in the fall if it posts its 31st consecutive winning season.