No End in Sight for MacKenzie and Canoga Park, 3-2

Bob Lofrano, Chatsworth High baseball coach, always has been a fan of Doug MacKenzie, so before his team’s 3-2 loss to Canoga Park on Thursday, Lofrano decided to present the Hunters’ popular coach with a token of his appreciation.

The Chatsworth public-address announcer summoned MacKenzie to home plate and informed the crowd of the coach’s retirement after 37 years of meritorious service as a Canoga Park teacher. A grinning Lofrano then appeared from the Chatsworth dugout and presented MacKenzie with a goodby present on this, his farewell tour:

A sunburst-orange Chatsworth baseball cap.

MacKenzie laughed but took the opportunity to chide the announcer. He might have retired from teaching, but somehow, in some capacity, he plans to be back next season. Orange cap or not, MacKenzie intends to cap his coaching career at a later date.

“I keep telling everybody a million times,” MacKenzie said, “I retired from teaching on Monday, but I hope to be coaching somewhere next year--if anybody will have me.”

If the way MacKenzie’s team is playing now has any bearing, the school might keep him around to coach indefinitely, which would be fine with MacKenzie. If a guy’s going to put himself out to pasture, could there be a better place than a baseball field?

If any team could have hung up its hat after a sluggish start, it was Canoga Park. After a 1-3 start, the Hunters quickly have moved back into contention for the league title.

Canoga Park right-hander Mike Kerber threw a five-hitter and struck out eight as the Hunters extended their winning streak to nine. The win moved Canoga Park (11-3, 7-3) to within a game of Chatsworth (14-4, 8-2) in the West Valley League standings with five games left, including another meeting with Chatsworth at Canoga Park later this month. Chatsworth won the first game between the teams, 8-6.

“We’re a lot better than we were before,” Kerber said. “I think we have a pretty good chance to go a ways now.”

If the Hunters’ streak continues, Kerber, a 6-4 junior, likely will play a big part. Sidelined earlier in the season because of tendinitis in his right elbow, Kerber (3-0) has allowed two earned runs in 17 innings while recording 23 strikeouts. Against Chatsworth, Kerber threw 106 pitches and walked one batter.

With Kerber and Adam Schulhofer (6-1) as the Hunters’ 1-2 pitching punch, even Lofrano admitted that Canoga Park looks pretty healthy on the hill.

“It’s not so much how many runs they are scoring now that makes the difference,” Lofrano said. “It’s how many they allow.”

Chatsworth starter Pierre Amado (5-1) didn’t allow much, either. The junior left-hander pitched a complete game and allowed four hits, but three came in the second when Canoga Park scored two runs.

Amado started the inning by hitting Mickey Snook in the foot. Kerber followed with a single to right that put runners on first and third. Mike Urman, who entered the week batting .516, lined the first of his two triples--this one to left-center--to score Snook and Kerber.

For the next four innings, it was Amado vs. Kerber. From the third through the sixth, Amado retired 10 of 12 batters. The two batters who reached base on walks later were erased on steal attempts by catcher John Dunn.

Kerber fed Chatsworth a curve-change-fastball combination and was cruising until the sixth, when Chatsworth closed to 2-1 with an unearned run. With one out, Joel Wolfe was safe on an error by second baseman Ricardo Banuelos, and Rex McMackin followed with a run-scoring double.

Canoga Park added what seemed to be an insurance run in the seventh when Urman tripled to right and pinch-runner Juan Soriano scored on a wild pitch by Amado. But Chatsworth scored again in the bottom of the inning when Scott Harris launched a two-out home run over the right-field fence to cut the lead to 3-2. Kerber, who had struck out the first two batters in the inning, then fanned Donovan Wallace to end the game.

Lofrano tipped his hat to both teams.

“I tell you, I have no complaints whatsoever with the way this was played,” Lofrano said of the game, which lasted 1 hour, 40 minutes. “This was a great high school baseball game.”