All-City Pitcher Birkins Signs Letter With UCLA

Kurt Birkins, an All-City pitcher at El Camino Real High, has signed a letter of intent with UCLA.

Birkins, a left-hander, pitched all 10 innings of El Camino Real’s City 4-A championship win over Chatsworth at Dodger Stadium.

Birkins, who was 11-2 with a 2.93 earned-run average this season, picked the Bruins over Cal State Northridge and Loyola-Marymount.

Left-hander Barry Zito of Pierce College, a lower-than-expected third-round draft pick by the Texas Rangers, has yet to sign a contract, his father said.

Zito, who was 9-2 and led the Western State Conference with 108 strikeouts last season, was the 83rd player selected overall, despite projections that he would be chosen sooner. Zito, who is pitching in the Cape Cod League until Aug. 15, rejected a signing offer of $287,500, Joseph Zito said. The family has made a counter offer.

Zito, 6 feet 4 and 190 pounds, blossomed as a freshman at UC Santa Barbara before transferring to Pierce to become eligible for the draft. Joseph Zito said Barry is considering transferring to a four-year school and has drawn interest from USC and UCLA.

GOLF

Craig Steinberg of Van Nuys advanced to the second round of the California Amateur Championship by defeating John Lepak of La Habra Heights, 1 up, Wednesday in the first round of match play at Pebble Beach Golf Links.

Steinberg, a four-time Southern California Amateur champion, is trying to win his first state championship. He was medalist in the stroke-play portion of the tournament, shooting three-under-par 141 over two rounds Monday and Tuesday. He plays Ed Cuff Jr. of Temecula in the second round today.

Bobby Rodger of Redlands, who recently completed his freshman year at Pepperdine, defeated Willy Burtner of Santa Clara, 3 and 2, and will play Andy Miller of Napa, son of 1973 U.S. Open champion Johnny Miller, in the second round.

Tim Hogarth of Chatsworth, a semifinalist last year, lost to 1988 finalist Randy Haag of San Francisco Danville, 4 and 3.

The quarterfinals and semifinals are Friday, and the 36-hole championship match is Saturday.

Anne Lee of Northridge is in second place, two strokes behind Angela Rho of Fullerton in the girls’ portion of the American Junior Golf Association’s Nabisco Mission Hills Desert Junior tournament in Rancho Mirage.

Lee is at one-over-par 145 entering today’s final round.

Justin Ohye of Calabasas is at five-over-par 149, nine strokes behind Jimmy Dunn, Matthew Cohn and Dusty Schmidt in the boys’ tournament. Ryan Wyman of Valencia is at 150.

SOFTBALL

The Southern California Stealth 16-and-under team earned a berth in the ASA national championships by winning six games in a qualifying tournament last weekend in Atlanta, Ga.

Amanda Fortune of Hart High pitched two shutouts.

Amanda Oleson of Agoura High went nine for 17, Justina Kahaku of Canyon High had five hits and five runs batted in and Sara Hall of Calabasas High had four hits and four RBIs.

MOTOR SPORTS

A.J. DiMarzo of Saugus won the Grand American Division main event Saturday at Mesa Marin Raceway in Bakersfield.

Dave Blankenship finished second and Aaron Staudinger was fourth. Both live in Stevenson Ranch.

TRACK AND FIELD

Distance runners Marisol Barajas and Patricia Loera of Valley College and sprinter Krystal Harris of Eisenhower High in Rialto have signed letters of intent with the Cal State Northridge.

Adam Kaplan of Monroe High won the young men’s javelin competition at the USA Track & Field Regional 15 championships on Saturday in Las Vegas.

He had a career-best 168 feet 6 inches. It qualifies him for the national championships next month in Seattle. Kaplan plans to attend Northridge this fall.

SOCCER

The Valley United Stars’ under-14 girls’ team advanced to the quarterfinals of the 1998 Far West regional tournament with a 6-1 victory over Capital of Idaho on Wednesday in Albuquerque, N.M.

Celisse Hayden scored twice and Jenna Fodor, Lindsey Redlin, Diana Sanguinetti and Jenny Farenbaugh added goals.

The Stars, who are 3-0 in the tournament, play New Mexico in the quarterfinals today.

BASKETBALL

Pepperdine recruit Brandon Armstrong, a 6-5 guard from Vallejo High in Northern California, will not be eligible to play next season because he failed to achieve a qualifying SAT score.

As a partial qualifier, Armstrong will attend Pepperdine on scholarship and practice with the basketball team in his first year at the school, Coach Lorenzo Romar said.

Harvard-Westlake High will play Cleveland at 4 p.m. and Burbank will play Muir at 3 p.m. today in the semifinals of the Valley Sports Foundation boys’ Tip-off Classic. The final will be played at 7:30.

In the girls’ semifinals, Eagle Rock plays Westlake at 2 p.m. followed by Chatsworth and Alemany. The final will be played at 6 p.m. All games are played at Harvard-Westlake.

Shannon Spielbuehler, a senior guard at Hart, has transferred to Village Christian. She was All-Foothill League last season.

FOOTBALL

Glenn Adriatico of Burroughs High, Michael DeLeon of Highland and Richard McDonald of Moorpark College will play football at Division II UC Davis in the fall.