U.S. OLYMPIC FESTIVAL ROUNDUP : Cornell, Jordan Selected to National Softball Team

ST. LOUIS — Sheila Cornell and Barbara Jordan, both long-time standouts at the American Softball Assn. major division level, will be part of the 17-member U.S. national team that will play in the World Championships.

The team officially will be announced today.

Cornell, 32, from Burbank, and Jordan, 29, a former Cal State Northridge All-American, will compete as part of the U.S. team in St. John’s, Newfoundland, from July 30 to Aug. 7.

Another 17-member squad, which also will be announced today, will play an exhibition series against China, July 22-23. Amy Chellevold, from Thousand Oaks, Jenny Dalton, from Glendale, and Karen Walker, from Woodland Hills have been selected to that team.

Cornell, a first baseman who played at Taft High and starred at UCLA, is a nine-time ASA major-division All-American. Jordan, an outfielder, has been an All-American five times, after helping Cal State Northridge win two NCAA Division II national titles.

Chellevold, a first baseman, is a former Thousand Oaks High volleyball and softball star who plays for Arizona, as does Dalton, a second baseman who slugged a Southern Section record 28 home runs for Glendale High. Walker, a utility player, was an All-American at UCLA after earning All-City honors three times for El Camino Real High.

In other developments Wednesday at the Olympic Festival:

Jon Baer, opposite hitter for Northridge last volleyball season, had a match-high 26 kills to lead the East to a 15-6, 15-9, 15-8 decision over the South.

Peter Piexoto, a Northridge teammate of Baer’s, contributed 11 kills and four blocks. Tom Stillwell, a UCLA-bound middle blocker from Notre Dame High, had two blocks, one kill and a service ace for the South.

In other volleyball action, the West team dropped to 0-2 when the North rallied from a 14-9 deficit in the final game for an 11-15, 15-9, 10-15, 15-13, 19-17 victory.

Craig Hewitt, a former Chatsworth High and Northridge middle blocker, played well in a losing cause. Hewitt made 22 kills, hit at a .475 percentage and contributed a match-high eight blocks.

Paul Severns of Glendale and Doug Hughes of Moorpark contributed for the North. Severns, a 6-9 middle blocker who played at Pierce before transferring to Loyola Marymount, had eight kills, a service ace and a team-high five blocks. Hughes, who plays for UC Santa Barbara, added four kills.

In women’s volleyball, Jennifer Johnson of Sherman Oaks had team-high totals of 14 kills and four blocks, but her South team still lost, 15-12, 15- 3, 10-15, 15-5, to the East.

In diving, Nancy Janik of Simi Valley finished ninth in the three-meter springboard event. Janik accumulated 441.50 points. The winner, Veronica Ribot-Canales of Miami, had a score of 516.60.