UCLA in Northridge’s Sights; This Time Bruins Can’t Duck

Bits and pieces as another school year draws to a close. . . .

Rumor has it that UCLA avoided playing Cal State Northridge in softball this season because the Bruins do not like to face teams they might meet in the playoffs.

Alrighty, then. That was then and this is now.

Coach Janet Sherman and the Matadors should finally get a crack at UCLA this weekend in the four-team NCAA regional hosted by Cal State Fullerton.

Northridge (41-14) is ranked sixth and UCLA (40-8) is fourth. How the two ended up at the same regional when the talent at some of the other regionals is diluted is mind-boggling. It boils down to money. The NCAA apparently doesn’t want to send West Coast teams to Massachusetts or Louisiana or Michigan.

The Matadors no doubt want a piece of UCLA but hey, ladies, don’t overlook that juggernaut called Southwest Missouri State (34-20), the one you play in the first round on Friday.

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A few professional baseball scouts say it’s a tossup between Cal State Northridge catcher Robert Fick and third baseman Eric Gillespie in terms of which college player from the region will be snatched first in the June draft.

That Fick is a left-handed-hitting catcher who has power (24 home runs) enhances his stock considerably.

Others to watch: Pierce’s slugging third baseman, Mike Glendenning; Canyons’ power-hitting outfielder, Rick Nadeau; Oxnard right-hander Josh Towers, and Glendale’s 6-foot-4 right-hander, Garrett Lee.

Glendenning, who has 17 home runs, is a draft-and-follow player whose rights are owned by St. Louis. He has until about five days before June 4, the first day of the draft, to sign with the Cardinals or become eligible for the process.

One scout projects Towers will go about the 18th round.

Very precise.

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Trivia: Which former Pierce infielder played 15 major-league seasons, mostly with Baltimore and the Angels, but finished his career with St. Louis?

Hint: He always kept the Yellow Pages opened to the chiropractor listings.

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Planning to attend Cal Lutheran’s best-of-five series with Claremont-Mudd in the NCAA Division III West Regional today through Saturday at Moorpark College?

If so, try to be among the first 108 people through the gate. They’ll be the ones with a chance to grab the stadium’s theater-type seats behind the plate.

The other “accommodations” are as hard as, well, concrete.

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Ron McClurkin’s hiring last week as a full-time men’s basketball coach and teacher at Oxnard made guys associated with Los Angeles City College athletics one for three in job-seeking derbies.

McClurkin, who teaches physical education and health at L.A. City, struck pay dirt while Mike Miller and Howard Fisher came up empty-handed after shopping for new jobs this spring.

Miller, the Cubs’ basketball coach, was a front-runner for the Cal State Northridge post that went to Bobby Braswell, the former Cleveland High coach.

Fisher, Miller’s assistant at L.A. City and a former assistant to Lee Smelser at Canyons, reportedly was among three finalists at Oxnard.

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The top stories of the school year, selected by a committee of one:

1. Ventura wins men’s and women’s basketball state titles.

2. Pete Cassidy is fired as Cal State Northridge basketball coach.

3. Tony Fuller suddenly resigns as Pepperdine’s basketball coach.

4. Lorenzo Romar replaces Fuller; Braswell replaces Cassidy.

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In the film “Seven,” Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt portray detectives hunting down a brutal killer who’s knocking off people for committing one of the seven deadly sins.

The nut case in the flick forgot one: Surfing the Internet.

Just ask those seven--is that a coincidence or what?--baseball players at The Master’s who reportedly went cyberspacing for spicy stuff and got into hot water with administrators at the fundamental Christian school.

The Master’s cut the season short and Coach Jack Mutz stepped down to become assistant athletic director, although that move was said to be unrelated to the Internet incident.

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Funny how well Cal State Northridge’s baseball team has done without former Coach Bill Kernen’s pitching philosophy of “you have to finish what you start.”

The Matadors (47-15) take a school single-season-record 13 saves into Santa Clara for a best-of-three series Friday and Saturday against the West Coast Conference champion, with an automatic berth to an NCAA regional at stake.

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As expected, Ventura College has become a feeding program for Phil Mathews and his University of San Francisco basketball team.

Mathews, who coached Ventura for 10 seasons, has signed four of his former players.

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Timpani, maestro.

Yes, the much-anticipated Western State Conference athletic supremacy results are in for 1995-96 and Bakersfield College is the undisputed king, followed by Ventura.

Bakersfield had 105.5 points and Ventura finished with 88. The region teams finished as follows: fourth, Moorpark (70.5); seventh, Valley (47); ninth, Pierce (40); 10th, Glendale (38); 11th, Canyons (37); 12th Oxnard (21), and 13th, Mission (17).

Points are awarded for order of finish in each sport throughout the school year.

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The WSC surely didn’t show much supremacy in the first round of the Southern California baseball regional last weekend.

The four conference teams in the playoff were a combined 1-8 in their best-of-three series against teams from the Orange Empire and South Coast conferences.

Only Cuesta won a game. Canyons, Oxnard and Pierce were unceremoniously dispatched.

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Trivia answer: Third baseman Doug DeCinces, who played high school ball at Monroe.