VALENCIA'S MALETTE TO KICK AT CANYONS.

Byline: GERRY GITTELSON Community Sports

Brian Malette, a football kicker from Valencia High, plans to play at College of the Canyons this fall, hoping to become the third consecutive COC kicker to gain a scholarship to a four-year school.

After a solid season last year, Jason Thompkins has signed with Division II Minnesota State, and previous starter Josh Cummings is at Pittsburgh.

Malette, who kicked a school-record six field goals and averaged nearly 32 yards per punt last season at Valencia, has been practicing field goals off the ground. Kickers are allowed to use a tee in high school.

``I'm up to about 55 yards off the ground, so I'm just crossing my fingers I can be the next one at Canyons to get a scholarship,'' Malette said.

--Saugus High baseball player Travis Babin came through with a defensive gem during a 2-0 loss Saturday to Canyon. With runners on first and third in the third inning, the senior left fielder stepped in front of center fielder Ryan Erickson to catch a flyball, then threw 300 feet to home to nail tagging Cody Crim by two steps.

``My first thought was that was a pretty impressive play, but I didn't tell Travis to do that,'' Saugus coach George Lopata said. ``He's got a little bit stronger arm, but that was on him. Travis just took control and threw the ball on a line.''

--Canyon High baseball coach Chuck Crim earned millions of dollars during his Major League career - more than $2.83 million in 1991 with the Milwaukee Brewers, according to baseball-almanac.com - but Crim swears he won't bring a stack of $100 bills into the casinos when Canyon plays a four-day tournament in Las Vegas this week.

``Oh no way,'' he said. ``All I'm doing is taking my quarters to maybe play some slots.''

For Crim, the bigger jackpots have come during fishing contests. He said he once won $13,000 in a professional bass tournament.

--Wallace Bates' up-and-down football odyssey continues. The former prized recruit from Taft High of Woodland Hills originally signed a year ago with Oregon State but didn't qualify academically. Then he enrolled at College of the Canyons before taking a recruiting trip to Mississippi, signing with Ole Miss a few days later during national signing day last month.

Now Bates, a linebacker, has changed plans again and is back at COC, according to coach Chuck Lyon.

--Over the past two weeks, seven Hart High softball players have been stricken with flu-like symptoms. Coach Cathy Giordano is the latest.

``At the High Desert tournament game in Lancaster on Saturday, all the girls were coughing and sneezing on me, so I just knew I'd get it, too,'' Giordano said. ``Now it's spring break, and I was planning on playing golf all week - but not anymore. I'm really sick.''

--Despite recurring speculation that former Canyon quarterback Nate Longshore will bypass his second season at Cal to embark on a two-year Mormon mission, Longshore, a redshirt freshman, plans to stick around this season.

Longshore, who began spring drills this week, won't turn 19 (the minimum age to leave for a mission) until June 30, so the timing doesn't work because to leave this year would mean he'd essentially miss three seasons of football.

Longshore is competing with favored Joseph Ayoob for the starting job. Ayoob is a junior college transfer from City College of San Francisco.