Football: Crescenta Valley’s Brian Gadsby shows what ‘team’ means

At 11:15 a.m. on Friday, standout pitcher Brian Gadsby, a UCLA commit from Crescenta Valley High, landed at LAX after playing in the Babe Ruth World Series. By 1 p.m., he was home. By 2 p.m., he was on the football field throwing passes for the first time in nine months.

All summer, there had been speculation whether Gadsby, a 6-foot-2, 160-pound senior quarterback, would give up football to focus on baseball. He had passed for 2,465 yards and 33 touchdowns as a junior.

But he has developed into one of the top pitchers in Southern California and didn’t participate in any summer football workouts. Why does he want to keep playing football?

“I thought it was the right thing to do,” he said Saturday after his second day of football practice. “It’s my senior year. I couldn’t just leave my team like that.”

It’s no wonder coaches cherish having Gadsby on their team.

Asked how felt to throw the football for the first time since last November, Gadsby said, “It was a little awkward at first. I was throwing it like a baseball. I got the hang of it by the end of practice.”

So he’s playing football to be with friends and help the team succeed.

What a concept.

Whenever the season ends, that will be it for Gadsby.

“Unless Coach [Jim] Mora wants me to come out for UCLA, it’s going to be my last year,” he said.

Having Gadsby around on any team will make that team stronger.

Twitter:@LATSondheimer