COC NOTES: COC PLAYS ON AND ON : SPRING BREAK? NOT THIS YEAR.

Byline: Rizza Yap Daily News Staff Writer

College of the Canyons center fielder Alanna Gomez played a Western State Conference softball game Tuesday. She will play one more today. And another one Thursday. (Her team was supposed to compete on Monday, too, but the game was postponed since Glendale failed to reserve officials.)

There's nothing like constant competition for an avid softball-lover, but this kind of schedule doesn't leave Gomez or the rest of her teammates much of a spring break - ``or so you call it,'' Gomez said.

Blame it on the rain. With El Nino wreaking havoc in game scheduling, the Lady Cougars - like other spring sports teams that play in the great outdoors - have been cramming games in weeks predicted to be shower-free. As a result coach Ray Whitten was forced to pencil in two make-up matchups this week (on top of two WSC games originally scheduled before the season began), which forced players to alter their vacation plans.

``Some people had planned to take a trip to Mexico, but that's impossible to do now,'' Gomez said. ``I was planning on working because I need the extra hours, but everyone pretty much had to cancel their work schedule for this week.''

Is there a silver lining for the Lady Cougars?

``They (coaches) guaranteed us Friday off,'' Gomez said.

Before a Tuesday road game against Bakersfield, Canyons last played against Pierce College on Thursday. Gomez said a new lineup worked wonders as the Lady Cougars defeated the Brahmas 10-0 in five innings, recording their first mercy-rule victory of the season. The win improved Canyons to 6-10, 2-2 while Pierce fell 9-9, 3-3.

Scheduling fiasco: At last, the field was dry and the weather was just right. But Monday's WSC make-up game between Glendale and Canyons - it was rained out last Tuesday - had to be rescheduled for next week. The host Vaqueros did not schedule officials, Gomez said.

``Finally, we had the perfect conditions and instead we spent the whole afternoon trying to figure out when we'd play again,'' Gomez said. ``Glendale said that since they messed up, they'll play at our field this time. Still, we weren't too happy on Monday.''

Saturday and Sunday's Ventura tournament was rained out as well. The Canyons squad drove to Ventura in the morning and was advised to return at a later time. It did, but the rain only poured harder, so the Lady Cougars finally called it a weekend.

WSC break: Conference action was absent this week so the Canyons golf team spent a wet Monday competing in the Citrus College Invitational held at the Glendora Country Club. The tournament featured 18 teams that played through a 20-minute downpour on a muddy course.

The Cougars, who as a team average 378 in conference, shot 406 to share fifth place with Riverside. College of the Desert took the championship with a score of 388, Pasadena was second at 401, Saddleback third at 402 and Santa Ana fourth at 403. Individually, College of the Desert's David Wren placed first with an even-par 72. Canyons' Justin Rockey, Alex Kuyumjian and Carlos Robledo each shot 80, Kyle Brandt 81 and Brian Vranesh 85.

``It's a difficult golf course, long and tight,'' coach Gary Peterson said. ``The greens were very nice, they were just very wet. But it was very wet for everybody.''

Canyons will practice today, Peterson said, before taking the rest of the week off. On Monday the team resumes WSC competition at Saticoy Country Club, Ventura's home course.

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Photo

PHOTO COC golfers from left, Kyle Brandt, Justin Rockey, Carlos Robledo, Alex Kuyumjian and Brian Vranesh.

Tom Mendoza/Daily News