Crosby Takes Dad’s Advice, Picks Up His Production at Plate

Long Beach State shortstop Bobby Crosby got off to a slow start this season, but he thinks he’s back on the right track now.

“I’ve always been a little bit of a slow starter,” Crosby said, “but I think I was trying to do too much.”

Crosby, who played at La Quinta High, began the season with high expectations. Baseball America selected him as the Big West Conference’s top player and rated him a high draft choice.

Crosby, who had only two hits in his first 24 at-bats, said he got some good advice from his father, Ed, a scout for the Angels.

“My Dad told me just relax,” Crosby said. “He said to just go out and play the way I have the last two seasons and to have a good time because this could be my last season playing in college.”

Crosby had raised his batting average to .292, and had three homers and a team-leading 22 runs batted in heading into a series against Cal Poly San Luis Obispo this past weekend. He drove in at least one run in six of seven games during a recent stretch.

“I was probably trying to hit everything out of the park early in the season,” Crosby said . “I’ve always been a pull hitter, but I think I was trying to pull everything. Now I’m trying to take what the pitchers give me, and go to the opposite field when that’s what I need to do.”

Last season, he batted .348 with 10 home runs and 29 RBIs. He was selected to the all-conference first team. He also was a standout for Team USA during the summer.

“I’m not all the way back yet,” Crosby said, “but I feel I’m getting there now.”

Crosby had two hits off Cal State Fullerton pitcher Kirk Saarloos last Sunday, including a leadoff home run in the first inning of the 49ers’ 5-3 loss.

On Tuesday, he was three for six with a home run and two RBIs in Long Beach’s 13-6 victory over Loyola Marymount.

SUDDEN IMPACT

Center fielder Rachelle Bock, a freshman from Fullerton High, leads the North Dakota softball team with 15 runs batted in through 19 games.

Bock has started every game for the Fighting Sioux (7-12) and has 16 hits in 56 at-bats (.286). She has not committed an error in 29 chances.

Before the season started, North Dakota Coach Paula Sondreal said on the school’s web site that Bock had the ability on defense to make an immediate impact.

“Rachelle defensively is phenomenal,” Sondreal said. “She’s definitely one of the best defensive outfielders I’ve ever seen. Offensively, she has the potential to be a good contact hitter.”

At Fullerton, Bock was a first-team All-Freeway League selection as a senior and a second-team all-league pick as a sophomore and junior.

A CENTURY OF SUCCESS

Center Aprile Powell was chosen most outstanding player of the tournament after leading Cal Poly Pomona to its fourth NCAA Division II women’s basketball title March 24.

Powell, who attended Century High, recorded her 16th double double of the season--26 points and 18 rebounds--in the Broncos’ 87-80 overtime win against North Dakota in the championship game. She worked mainly inside and hit nine of 16 shots from the field, but her three-point jumper with about five minutes left in regulation capped a nine-point Bronco rally that tied the score, 61-61.

Cal State Dominguez Hills reliever Brian Cortes, a high school classmate of Powell’s, was named baseball pitcher of the week in the California Collegiate Athletic Assn. for the week of March 12.

A 6-foot-1 sophomore, he recorded a win and two saves in victories over Cal State San Bernardino. He struck out three and did not allow a run in 2 2/3 innings of work. Cortes leads the CCAA with nine saves in 13 1/3 innings.

NOTEWORTHY

USC’s Brooke Thomas, a sophomore from Laguna Hills High, had a personal-best time of 4 minutes 36.3 seconds in winning the 1,500 meters recently when the Trojans defeated defending NCAA women’s outdoor track and field champion Louisiana State in a dual meet. Thomas finished 11th in the Pacific 10 Championships last season with a time of 4:51.04.

Washington’s Tia Bollinger, a freshman from Mater Dei, was recently chosen Pacific 10 Conference softball pitcher of the week for her effort in the Kia Klassic at Fullerton. Bollinger went 3-0 and gave up only seven hits for the three games. She struck out 17.

Lisa Monreal, who pitched at Cypress High and Cypress College, was named CCAA softball player of the week for March 19-25. She was instrumental in the circle and at the plate for Cal State Dominguez Hills, which won four consecutive games. In two complete-game victories, Monreal struck out 14 and allowed only two earned runs. As a batter she was five for 11, scored four runs and drove in another.

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Staff writers Paul McLeod and Bob Rohwer contributed to this story.