DeGrasse Takes Serious Approach to Rectify His Wayward Pitching

Tim DeGrasse made it all the way back in a matter of days.

DeGrasse, a freshman pitcher for Valley College, inherited a 7-1 lead when he relieved Joey Kane on Tuesday in a Southern California Conference game against East Los Angeles College. By the time it was over, DeGrasse had lost the lead and Valley had lost the game, 13-8.

Thursday afternoon, DeGrasse started against East L. A. and rebounded by allowing just one run in eight innings as Valley (6-4-1 in conference play) won, 6-1.

“I wasn’t ready to pitch Tuesday,” said DeGrasse, who played at Notre Dame High. “I was fooling around in the dugout before I pitched and that doesn’t help me at all. I learned from it.

“I knew I had the potential to be at my best for the start. I won’t be messing around anymore.”

Valley cannot afford to fool around if the Monarchs hope to challenge conference-leading Harbor (9-2). The Monarchs got off to a 5-0 start in conference play but had lost three in a row before Thursday’s win.

Bolden honored: Cal State Northridge senior forward Pat Bolden, who averaged 16.4 points a game last season and is fifth on the school’s all-time scoring list (1,081), was named the team’s most valuable player at Thursday night’s team awards banquet.

Other winners included: Jemarl Baker, defensive player of the year; Carl Cooper, most inspirational; James Hecht, most improved, and Todd Bowser, Coaches Award.

Troy Dueker won the the Newt Meyers Sportsmanship Award presented by the Kiwanis Club.

Record setters: Two CSUN freshman school records fell at last week’s Northridge Invitational at Northridge.

Sean Rapp, a 6-2, 170-pound graduate of Patrick Henry High in San Diego, scored 6,127 points in the decathlon, breaking Mark Kibort’s 1979 mark of 6,187.

Although Rapp’s numerical total is less than Kibort’s, it is a superior effort because Rapp produced his with the new javelin and with the new scoring tables. The javelin was redesigned in 1986 and the subsequent version cannot be thrown as far as the earlier model. Also, the scoring tables have been upgraded since Kibort’s mark.

“I figure there’s a 70-80 point differential between Sean’s mark and Kibort’s,” Northridge Coach Don Strametz said. “He definitely would have broken the record with the old javelin and the old tables.”

There was no doubt about the women’s freshman 400-meter relay team.

Laural Isles, DeAngela Smith, Shawnette Sapp and Mary Coleman placed third with a time of 48.67. That same foursome set the previous record of 49.07 in February.

Leaders of the pack: Cal State Northridge outfielder Lenn Gilmore continues to lead the CCAA in home runs (12), runs batted in (46) and runs scored (35) and is 10th in batting (.354).

Utility player Chae-Ho Chong (.372) is sixth in batting and outfielder John Bonilla is seventh.

Add leaders: Cal State Northridge softball players dominate the list of top batters and pitchers in the CCAA.

Lisa Erickson is the top batter (.449), but teammate Lisa Martin is second in batting (.418) and leads the conference in pitching (11-1, 0.19 ERA, 8 shutouts). Debbie Dickmann (13-2, 0.34 ERA, 9 shutouts) is second in pitching.

No bull: The Pierce baseball team continues to struggle. The Brahmas (9-10, 3-8 in the Western State Conference) have scored only nine runs in their past five games and pitchers have been victimized by a defense apt to commit critical errors. Left fielder David Clemons, however, remains a bright spot, batting .426.

Showdown: College of the Canyons may have one of its toughest tests of the season today when the Cougars play host to Ventura in a WSC doubleheader.

Canyons established a school record for consecutive wins (18) Thursday with a 5-1 victory over Glendale and extended its home winning streak to 32. Canyons will start left-hander Tim Nedin (8-0) in the first game and right-hander Pablo Suarez (3-1) in the nightcap.

Stroker ace: The Cal State Northridge golf team travels to Palo Alto this weekend to compete in a 54-hole tournament.

Last week, Tony Chieffo of Northridge shot a three-day total of 210 to take top individual honors as the Matadors won a tournament played at the Dry Creek Ranch Golf Course. Rick Irwin of Northridge was second (221) and Wayne Tyni finished third (222).

Clinic: The third annual Cal State Northridge Football Coaches Clinic will be held Saturday, April 16, at Northridge.

Bill Redell of Crespi High, Rich Lawson of Chaminade and Bob Richards of Thousand Oaks are among the coaches who will make presentations.

Information: (818) 885-3227.

Awards time: Darlene May, women’s basketball Coach at Cal Poly Pomona, has been named California Collegiate Athletic Assn. Coach of the Year by the Women’s Basketball Coaches Assn. May, with 368 victories, is the winningest active women’s coach in Division II. Pomona won the CCAA title this season and has won three national titles.

Staff writers Gary Klein and John Ortega contributed to this notebook.