DIGEST : Camarillo Finally Persuades Victoria to Take Softball Job

Nichole Victoria, pursued as the successor to a popular coach who had been fired, Thursday accepted the position of softball coach at Camarillo High.

Victoria, 23, a former Camarillo and UCLA star, did not apply for the job but accepted it a week after Athletic Director Carl Thompson offered.

“I decided Camarillo was the place to be,” Victoria said.

She will work as a substitute teacher after she graduates from UCLA this month and earns her preliminary teaching credential.

Camarillo has all but two players returning from a team that was 22-6-1 under seventh-year Coach Darwin Tolzin. He was fired after the season for violating Southern Section rules by pitching batting practice to a player on a Sunday. Camarillo forfeited its second-round playoff victory over San Marcos because of the infraction.

Victoria, who holds several Camarillo records in softball and basketball, was the starting catcher at UCLA in 1994 and played on four teams that advanced to the Women’s College World Series.

Football

Taft High assistant Tom Stevenson confirmed Thursday that John Brown has been removed from the team’s coaching staff for personal reasons.

The City Section investigated Taft last spring following allegations of illegal recruiting by Brown, a former Chatsworth High lower-level coach.

Junior running back Chris Ross of L.A. Baptist, who unexpectedly quit playing football after last season, has rejoined the Knights. Ross, the Knights’ leading rusher in 1994 with 968 yards, rejoined the team four days into practice at the urging of teammates. Ross will not be eligible to play in tonight’s game against Boron.

Sophomore Robert Ralston, a 6-foot-1, 175-pound punter for Moorpark College, has been named a preseason first-team All-American by J.C. Grid-Wire magazine.

Jim Musick has been named the starting quarterback for defending Frontier League champion Nordhoff, which opens tonight at Fillmore. Musick, a 5-foot-11, 160-pound junior, won the job over 5-foot-7, 140-pound classmate Matt Cresto.

Contributing: Steve Henson, Bryan Rodgers, Tris Wykes, Peter Yoon.