Condo Owners Paid Price Last Season : Kerber Had Blast at Opponents’ Expense This Year
A year ago, Mike Kerber was pelting condos beyond the West Hills Pony League field with so many home runs that residents paid $2,000 to help build a 40-foot-high fence.
“I almost hit the building superintendent,” Kerber said. “That was the last straw.”
There are no buildings within slugging distance of the West Hills Colt League field, where Kerber played this season, so the 6-3, 180-pound 15-year-old was content to lose balls in tall weeds instead.
Kerber easily took the home run title in the Colt League, which ended its season Wednesday night. He hit 14 in 15 games--no one else had more than eight--and had a batting average of .479.
Kerber’s clout has come to be expected at West Hills.
“Mike Kerber has had a knack for hitting home runs for a long time,” West Hills Colt Director Mike Klentschy said. “And the competition isn’t diluted. Our Colt League draws from 11 high schools.”
Kerber has been hitting the long ball since he was a short guy at age 10. He hit two out that year in the West Hills Mustang League.
Bronco League came next and 16 home runs left Kerber’s bat in two years. At 13, he moved up to Pony League and hit 15 home runs in two years--13 of which hit the neighboring condominiums.
Add this year’s 14, and Kerber has 47 home runs in six years of youth baseball. All have cleared fences.
Kerber, who will begin his sophomore year at Canoga Park High in the fall, hit only one home run while playing for the Canoga Park junior varsity team last spring.
“We play at Lanark Park (in Canoga Park),” Kerber said. “There are no fences and the outfielders just drift back and haul in long fly balls.”
A first baseman, pitcher and catcher, Kerber hopes to break into the lineup of the Canoga Park varsity next year. The varsity also plays its home games at Lanark Park.
“I don’t like Lanark,” Kerber said. “But I won’t adjust my swing.
“I don’t try for home runs, anyway. I’m happy every time I make solid contact.”
Even if Kerber can’t clear the heads of many outfielders at Lanark, he can look forward to another season at West Hills. The Colt League is open to 16-year-olds.
