Canyons Throws Its Staff at Antelope Valley to Win, 15-10

In preparation for the state tournament, College of the Canyons employed five seldom-used pitchers Tuesday to beat Antelope Valley, 15-10, in the final conference game of the season.

At Antelope Valley, Canyons used pitchers Jeff Ward, Chris Zavatsky, Charlie Perrault, Bob Bowman and Orlando Cepeda Jr., who have combined for only 113 innings this season. Starters Frank Halcovich and Darrin Beer have combined for 125.

Mountain Valley Conference champion Canyons (17-2, 33-5) plays host to Harbor Saturday at 1 p.m. in the first round of the tournament. Harbor defeated Pierce Tuesday, 6-3.

Harbor, which won the state championship in 1984, is no stranger to Canyons in postseason play. Canyons beat the Seahawks in the 1981 and 1983 state championship games. In 1984, Harbor beat Canyons in the second round, eliminating the Cougars from the tournament.

“This Harbor-Canyons thing is nothing new,” Canyons assistant Len Mohney said. “People talk about Harbor-Canyons games a lot. Jim O’Brien, the Harbor coach, is a fierce, fierce competitor. We really love playing them and I think they like playing us.

“If for some reason we were up in talent one year and they were down in talent, it wouldn’t matter when we got together. Their kids will be very, very excited to play us.”

Canyons and Harbor play one game Saturday, another Sunday and a second game Sunday, if necessary, in the double-elimination tournament. In other regional games Saturday, Long Beach plays at Taft, Rancho Santiago is at San Bernardino Valley and San Diego Mesa plays at Orange Coast.

Harbor and Long Beach are co-champions of the Metropolitan Conference. Because Harbor lost two of three meetings with Long Beach, the Seahawks represent the Metro as its second-place team.