Regals Look Like Head of Class

The Cal Lutheran softball team lost four of its top five hitters from last season, but the Regals still are considered the team to beat in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.

Cal Lutheran, which won the SCIAC titleand finished 27-21 last year, will rely on four returning starters.

But fortunately for first-year Coach Jodi Eyraud, one of those players is senior right-hander Kathy Proffitt.

Proffitt last season set school season records with 36 appearances, 192 2/3 innings and 25 complete games.

She was 17-13 with a 2.94 earned-run average. On Tuesday, she threw a no-hitter in a 5-0 victory over Cal State Dominguez Hills.

The Regals should benefit from the return of Christine Halcomb.

Halcomb, a junior right-hander who led the 1997 staff with a 10-2 record and a 1.27 ERA, missed last season because of mononucleosis.

Sophomore outfielder Kylie Gongola batted .346 and scored 30 runs, and is the only returnee to bat better than .300 on a team that batted .312.

Mandi Comer, a junior third baseman and Camarillo High graduate, is the only returning player to start all 48 games last season. Comer also set a school record with 15 doubles.

Senior Kristin Taylor, shuttled between the infield and outfield, batted .288 and scored 22 runs.

Newcomers include freshmen Jessica Armacost and Carrie Hardey.

Armacost, a second baseman, batted .328 for Calabasas last season. Hardey, from Avalon High, is the tallest Regal at 5 feet 10. She will pitch, catch and play first base.

Cal Lutheran, which last season finished with a No. 24 ranking in NCAA Division III after losing its final four games, split with Cal Baptist in a nonconference doubleheader on Feb. 6.

The Regals start conference play on Feb. 27 with a doubleheader against Redlands, which finished fifth last season.