Woodland Hills Enters Final of Legion Playoffs One Game Up on North Hollywood

Using Newhall-Saugus as their final steppingstone, Woodland Hills and North Hollywood advanced to today’s 11 a.m. championship game in the American Legion District 20 playoffs.

In a pair of games shortened because of the league’s 10-run rule, both teams battered Newhall-Saugus on Saturday at Birmingham High. North Hollywood’s 15-5 win in seven innings followed Woodland Hills’ 13-1 triumph in eight.

“You’re looking at a manager who ran out of pitchers,” Newhall-Saugus Coach Tom Pedersen said. “We just had a rough day, that’s all. The hitters in this tournament are so good. You can’t fake your way through these hitters. We could not have been competitive on the mound Sunday.”

Against the offense North Hollywood and Woodland Hills produced, Newhall-Saugus wasn’t competitive on the mound Saturday.

North Hollywood’s Merritt Robinson and Tim Marquez each had four runs batted in to lead a 13-hit attack. Each added a home run and a double, bringing back memories of power-hitting days gone by.

“It’s about time,” said Robinson, whose three-run shot in the second gave North Hollywood the lead for good, 6-4. “I’ve had a power shortage. I hit 11 homers in my sophomore and junior years combined and last year hit four in American Legion. That was my first this year.”

In the first game, Woodland Hills led 16-1 in the top of the ninth inning before district Commissioner Mel Swerdling reminded one of the umpires about the league’s 10-run rule, which ends a game if a team leads by 10 runs or more at the end of a completed inning.

“Wipe those last three runs out,” Swerdling said. “Cut it off at the eighth inning.”

In the eighth, highlighted by Rob Bumgarner’s two-run home run to center field, Woodland Hills scored seven runs.

Of Woodland Hills’ 13 runs, Newhall-Saugus’ beleaguered pitching staff allowed three to score on wild pitches. Two other runners advanced into scoring position on wild pitches.

To win the double-elimination tournament, North Hollywood will have to win two games if it hopes to advance to the Sixth Area tournament which starts Thursday at UCLA.

Woodland Hills beat North Hollywood, 6-2, on Pablo Suarez’s four-hitter Friday and is clearly in the driver’s seat.

“Somebody’s going to have to play awfully well to beat us twice,” Woodland Hills Coach Marc Hersh said. “Adam Schulhofer pitches, and if he gives us a good seven innings, we should be home free.”

North Hollywood Coach Ray Washington said he would most likely counter with Marquez. But pitching wasn’t North Hollywood’s problem against Woodland Hills the first time.

“Hopefully we’ll hit a little better than we did,” Washington said.

If North Hollywood does, neither team will be home free.