SPORTS NOTEBOOK: WSC honors for 6 Vaqs

GLENDALE — The following are odds and ends from the local sports scene.

THREE GCC PLAYERS PICKED FOR ALL-WSC Sophomore pitcher Richie Valenzuela was named to the All-Western State Conference first team, as one of six Glendale Community College baseball players to earn all-conference recognition, according to a press release from the college earlier this month.

Valenzuela, who transferred from L.A. Pierce this season, went 2-2 in seven starts with a 3.45 earned-run average. He struck out 28 batters to 13 walks and pitched one complete game.

“Richie was our most consistent starting pitcher throughout the year,” Vaqueros Coach Chris Cicuto said. “We were lucky to get him, we thought he would be good, but we didn’t know how consistent he would really be. Statistically, he did a great job for us.”

Hoover High graduate Jason Ochart and Clay Dungfelder, both sophomores, made the all-conference second team.

Ochart, who played the outfield, led everyday players on the team with a .318 batting average. He hit two home runs and drove in 13 runs while scoring 15. Dungfelder made 13 appearances out of the bullpen and started one game on the mound, tallying a 1-0 record with a 5.76 ERA and 14 strikeouts to four walks.

“He did a good job getting on base for us, he’s got great speed, which helped out his starts a little bit,” Cicuto said of Ochart. “He did a good job in the outfield and was definitely a good leader for us his sophomore year.

“Clay had a rough start to the season, but he had a really good attitude. He held teams down for extended innings and got us out of jams.”

Honorable mentions went to catcher Erik Suarez, shortstop Ruben Padilla and pitcher Joe Stephen, all freshmen.

Suarez hit .289 with 17 RBIs and 16 runs and had a team-best .983 fielding percentage. Padilla batted .279 with 14 RBIs and 17 runs and stole seven bases in 10 attempts and Stephen went 4-4 in 10 starts with a 4.02 ERA and 31 strikeouts.

“Those are good awards for those freshmen coming back,” Cicuto said.

GCC finished the season 15-21 and 7-14 in conference play.

VELASQUEZ, VILLAGE STILL GOING STRONG La Crescenta resident Maddie Velasquez and the Village Christian softball team are still going strong in the CIF Southern Section Division V playoffs.

The Crusaders, who started out as a wild-card team despite being ranked in the division’s top-four for much of the season, defeated Godinez, 9-0, in their opener and Duarte, 2-0, on Thursday in the first round.

Velasquez, a junior outfielder, had hits in each game.

Next up, Village Christian (22-5) hosts Beaumont today in a second-round matchup.

Should the Crusaders prevail, they would host either West Covina or San Dimas on Thursday in the quarterfinals.

Velasquez currently leads Village with 33 hits and 10 doubles. On the season, she’s hitting .384 with 18 runs, 15 runs batted in and 16 stolen bases.

TROTTA TAKES BABE RUTH TITLE In the seven-team, 2010 La Crescenta Babe Ruth tournament, upsets were the name of the game and fifth-seeded Trotta emerged as the champion, defeating the seventh-seeded Police, 11-8, in the if-necessary final on Saturday afternoon at Stengel Field.

Trotta was led by Babe Ruth All-Stars Paul Dean, Ryan Garcia, Dakota Low, Kyle Tremain, Ryan Cancelosi, Brian Gadsby and Sean Garcia.

Trotta began the tournament with an 8-2 win over second-seeded Sanfilippo on May 15 and then topped third-seeded CV Tile, 15-6.

After an 8-2 loss to the Police, Trotta eliminated top-seeded Crippen, 8-7, before defeating the Police in two straight games to claim the title.

In all, 54 All-Stars were named for the tournament, with 18 13 year olds, 18 14 year olds and 18 15 year olds.

Police players named included Tanner Dunning, Jerimiah Martin, Richie Alfonso, Blake Ruff and Manny Serfaty.

For Crippen, Max Warner, Johnny Karalis, Will Davis, Bruno Alonso, Riley Sullivan, Jake Noud and Cam Briggs were among those selected.

Bilt-Well players who made the All-Stars included Kyle Currie, Thomas Phillips, Tyler Renta, John White, Ken Lim and Nick Gonzalez.

Sanfilippo players were Nick Cosful, Max Cunning, Jacob Yonan, Chris Okimoto, Austin Brines, Kevin Hello and Skyler Payne.

Brett Klein, Jimmy Smiley, Nolan Rea, Joey Torres, Bryan Wang, Nolan Mulligan and Joshua Jun were CV Tile players picked.

Campbells All-Stars included Chase Walker, Wes Walker, Brandon Ortega, Nick Diaz, Josh Cook, Ryan Powell, Jon Psaltis and Preston Taylor.