Young Coach Has Perfect Start

There might have been a few eyebrows raised when Cal Lutheran University of Thousand Oaks selected former player Teri Rupe as its women’s softball coach after last season.

At 23, Rupe was the youngest softball coach in the National Assn. of Intercollegiate Athletics District 3 and certainly one of the youngest in the nation in the college ranks.

But so far, the choice appears to have been perfect, for both Rupe and the Regals.

Cal Lutheran, which has grown accustomed to success with two trips to the NAIA national championships in the past three years, is off to a 14-0 start that has surpassed even the coach’s high expectations.

“I knew we had a lot of potential, but I don’t think any coach sees their team going 14-0 at the start of the season,” Rupe said.

True as that may be, success is no stranger to Rupe.

She starred in high school for perennial City Section power El Camino Real of Woodland Hills, and it did not take long to establish herself as one of the top players at Cal Lutheran.

A three-time All-District 3 selection as a catcher, Rupe enjoyed her best season when she batted .306 in 1988. The Regals also reached the NAIA nationals in her junior and senior seasons.

She also had a successful debut as an assistant coach last season, when the Regals reached the NAIA bi-district playoffs before losing to Adams State of Colorado.

In addition, Rupe served briefly as a player-coach with the Regals during the 1989 season when former Coach Wendy Beckemeyer took a hiatus to get married.

So although this is not Rupe’s first try at coaching, she is anything but a seasoned hand. Rupe says it helps to have been a catcher during her college career.

“I definitely think catching has a lot to do with helping me as a coach because a catcher has a lot of responsibilities on the field,” she said. “As a catcher you see a lot of things that other positions don’t. You have a hand in every play on the field.”

With her closeness to the program, Rupe said, she wasn’t too surprised to be chosen as coach despite her age.

“It was more a case of being flattered that they’d have enough confidence in me to lead a program like this,” she said.

Rupe said the most difficult adjustment at first was separating herself from the players, several of whom had recently been her teammates.

“It made it a little difficult because of the age, but it has made it a lot easier having a group of players to work with like we do,” she said. “They respect me and I respect them and that’s the foundation right there.”

The Regals have a lot of new faces in their starting lineup this season, but Rupe didn’t want to use that as an excuse.

“We lost seven seniors and six of them started,” she said. “When you lose seven players, a lot of people consider it a rebuilding year. But with the people we have coming back, I don’t look at it as a rebuilding year.”

Not with the return of seniors Kim White at shortstop and Leslie Stevens at pitcher and juniors Michelle Campos and Brenda Frafjord in the outfield. White, an All-American last season, has a batting average of .429 and Stevens, an all-district player, has a 7-0 record, a 1.09 earned-run average and is hitting .400.

“We have two seniors and they’ve been to nationals twice, and we have two juniors who have been to nationals once,” Rupe said. “I think that’s definitely been a key.”

She said Cal Lutheran has also received consistent play from sophomores such as catcher Cheryl Aschenbach, second baseman Alysa Mathews, first baseman Justine Wright and pitcher Marjie Sievers. The team has a .339 batting average and 0.88 ERA.

Despite the team’s previous success and fast start this season, the Regals have yet to crack the NAIA top 25, although that doesn’t seem to disturb Rupe.

“I think we should be ranked, but based on who we’ve played I can understand why we’re not,” she said. “The main thing is based on who is ranked. I think we can compete with those teams.”

After falling one game short last season, Rupe said the team’s goal is a return trip to the NAIA tournament.

With the school moving to the NCAA Division III next season, she realizes this will be their last chance, although she likes the team’s chances.

“This is a young team and I think we’re only going to get better as the season progresses,” Rupe said.

College Division Notes

John Turek, interim men’s track and cross-country coach at Cal State Los Angeles since last June, has been named full-time to the positions. Turek, 35, was women’s track and cross country coach at Cal Poly Pomona from 1980 to 1988. . . . Sonja Akkerman, a senior center who led the NAIA District 3 in scoring and rebounding this season, has been named to the NAIA All-American second team in women’s basketball. Shannon Abrams of Point Loma Nazarene received honorable mention. Jeff Bickmore of Southern California College, Emilio Kovacic of Biola and Peter Partain of Westmont received honorable mention on the men’s team.

Perennial power Azusa Pacific continues to be the hottest baseball team in the Southland among College Division programs. The Cougars, ranked No. 15 in the NAIA, are 18-3 and have a school-record 15 consecutive victories. . . . In other divisions, Cal Poly Pomona gained the early lead in the California Collegiate Athletic Assn. at 8-3 and 16-15 overall after sweeping three games from Chapman last week and traditional power Claremont-Mudd sits atop the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference at 6-0 and 13-6 overall.

Cal State San Bernardino may be the Southland’s top NCAA Division III baseball team with an 11-7 record that includes three victories over Division I teams. The Coyotes, ranked No. 8 in Division III in a preseason poll, finished fourth last season. San Bernardino Coach Chuck Deagle is approaching his 200th victory. He has a 194-98-2 record.