COLLEGE OF THE CANYONS NOTEBOOK: COC HOPES IT CAN DEFY THE ODDS IN PLAYOFFS.

Byline: Heather Gripp Staff Writer

VALENCIA - The College of the Canyons softball team knows its odds are not good heading into the Southern California regional playoffs beginning today at Fullerton College. But the Cougars have been underdogs for a long time now and have done better that way than when many considered COC a favorite for a fourth consecutive conference title.

Motivated by a newspaper article about the Cougars' struggles, COC finished the season strongly. The Cougars won their last five games and climbed the Western State Conference Blue Division standings with a series of victories over teams high in the standings, clinching second place on the final day of the regular season. They are seeded 12th out 16 teams in the double-elimination tournament from which four teams advance to next weekend's state tournament in Fresno. COC opens against No. 5 Mt. San Antonio College, a team that is 32-16 and has beat the Cougars twice this season.

``It's going to be rough,'' COC coach Ray Whitten said. ``We're definitely not favored.''

Just don't tell the Cougars (21-20) they can't win. They've been out to prove otherwise since seeing the article about their woes.

``I handed it to one of them,'' Whitten recalled. ``I said, 'Do you want to read it or should I read it to you?' She said she'd read it herself. She got some of the girls and they went over under a tree and read it. She came back and said, 'We're not going to lose.' ''

Freshmen Carly Caldaronello and Jennifer McLarty were significant factors in being able to win. Caldaronello hit a team-high .415 with a .450 on-base percentage, 13 doubles, three home runs and 31 RBI. McLarty was the workhorse of the staff, pitching 143 innings and going 12-9 with a 3.36 ERA. She was 10-3 with a 2.55 ERA during conference.

``We just all knew what we had to do if they wanted to get into playoffs,'' Whitten said. ``We had some big wins against good teams. Three of them were really, really critical.''

The key victories included wins over conference champion Moorpark, Citrus and Bakersfield.

``That was a good ending to the season,'' Whitten said. ``Now we've just got to go from there.''

--Repeat: Sophomore Tommy Barber became just the second player in conference history to win back-to-back WSC men's golf Player of the Year honors. He secured the award by shooting a 69 and 74 while leading COC to a repeat title at Monday's 36-hole WSC finals at Santa Maria Country Club. The Cougars (82-8) shot 362 in the morning round and 371 in the afternoon to finish 31 strokes ahead of second-place Moorpark.

Southern California Regionals are Monday at the Legends Golf Club in Beaumont.

--Runners advance: The Cougars qualified to participate in 15 events at today's Southern California prelims at Cerritos College. Strong performances at last week's WSC finals allowed the following athletes to advance: Derrick Teal and Marquis Brignac in the 100 meter dash, Thomas Catlin in the 400, Eric Johnson in the 800, Drew Dilworth in the 110 hurdles and 400 hurdles, Erik Mirable in the pole vault, Aaron Akodu in the triple jump, Jerome Taylor in the shot put, Beckie Warloe in the women's 400, Joselyn Ontiveros in the 800 and 1,500, Julianna Diaz in the 3,000 steeplechase, and Alyceia Kimbrough in the high jump. The 4x400 men's relay team of Catlin, Cedric Thompson, J.J. Arrington and Kevin Pritchett also advanced as did the women's team of Ontiveros, Diaz, Warloe and Leah Bingham.

Regional finals are next weekend at Walnut.

--Swimming solo: Freshman Christine Castellano was the lone member of the Cougars swim team to qualify for this weekend's state finals at Pasadena City College. She is competing in the 200 individual medley, 100 backstroke and 100 breaststroke. Her qualifying times in the 200 IM (2:13.15) and 100 backstroke (1:03.03) at last week's WSC finals set school records.

Castellano also was part of the 200 medley relay team that set a school record with a 2:01.58 finish. Naamah Ussery, Pam Milner and Corrin Mannino were the other members of the record-setting team. But since the time was only good enough for fourth place, they did not advance.