Topping Is Big West Softball Player of Year

Cal State Fullerton catcher Jenny Topping was selected Tuesday as Big West softball player of the year, leading a group of six Titan players on the all-conference first team.

Topping leads the conference with a .423 batting average, 14 home runs and 58 runs batted in.

Other Titans named to the first team were pitcher Jodie Cox, first baseman Monica Lucatero, outfielder Yasmin Mossadeghi, designated player Brittany Ziegler and utility player Gina Oaks, a pitcher and third baseman.

Fullerton’s second-team selections were pitcher Christy Robitaille, shortstop Amanda Hockett and outfielder Kristy Halagarda.

Pacific shortstop Adrienne Ratajczak, a senior who played at Western High, earned first-team honors for the third consecutive season.

Cindy Ball of Pacific was selected pitcher of the year, and Brian Kolze of Pacific took coach of the year honors.

The Titans won the conference title for the second consecutive season and open play in the NCAA regional at Tucson, Ariz., Thursday.

SAILING

The Orange Coast College crew finished fourth in the men’s varsity eight in the Avaya Collegiate Championship Sunday at Lake Lanier in Georgia.

Georgetown won the grand final, covering the 2,000-meter course in 6 minutes 4.7 seconds. Michigan was second in 6:07.7, and third-place Trinity College of Hartford, Conn., finished in 6:12.4, holding off Orange Coast (6:13.5). OCC Coach Dave Grant said the college will not send a boat to the Henley Royal Regatta in England in July.

Two other OCC boats reached finals in the national regatta for colleges that don’t offer rowing scholarships. The OCC women’s eight finished second to Williams College of Williamstown, Mass., in the junior varsity division. The men’s novice boat finished fifth.

The UC Irvine women’s crew, competing in the novice eight division, didn’t make the final but won its consolation race.