The Preps / Scott Howard-Cooper : Redondo’s Davison Puts Up Big Numbers

Questions and (some) answers: Star of the future--or the present?

Only a junior, Scott Davison of Redondo has 54 runs batted in this baseball season, two short of the Southern Section record by Chris Donnels of South Torrance in 1984. Davison, in his third year on the varsity, is batting .565 and as a pitcher is 11-1 and averaging 12 strikeouts per seven innings.

Friday night, when Redondo beat Compton Centennial, 25-0, in a game called after five innings, 14 of the 15 outs he recorded came on strikeouts. He also drove in seven runs.

Impressive. But so was his performance in the Redondo tournament: A no-hitter against Compton Dominguez in the first round, 9 straight strikeouts and striking out 12 of the 14 batters he retired in the semifinal against Huntington Beach Edison, and winning all five games. An MVP effort if there ever was one.

“I don’t think anyone anticipates this kind of year,” Redondo Coach Harry Jenkins said. “After next year, he’s probably going to hold five or six career Southern Section records.”

Bob Brooks, a senior, may end up holding one this season. Batting ahead of Davison, he has walked 35 times, two shy of the Southern Section single-season record by Kraig Johnson of La Habra Whittier Christian in 1983.

This week, as Davison, the Bay League MVP last season as a sophomore, and Brooks go for their records, the Sea Hawks will go for their ranking. They’re No. 1 in the 3-A Division with an 18-6 record and have a two-game series against El Segundo, the No. 2 team, Wednesday night on the road and Friday night at home.

Looking for the newcomer of the year in track?

How about a senior?

Dave Bultman, a weight man at Simi Valley Royal, is the state leader in two events after transferring from Independence High in San Jose. He has thrown 192 feet 1 inch in the discus and put the shot 62 feet last Friday night in the Marmonte League finals at Camarillo High.

Does tradition win games?

Who knows, but in the case of the L.A. Jordan football team, which has a 1-16-1 record the last two seasons, it couldn’t hurt. The Bulldogs have hired Darryl Divinity, a two-time All-City defensive back and the 1980 2-A Player of the Year at the school, as coach.

Was the world really collapsing on the Simi Valley baseball team last week, or did it just seem that way?

The Pioneers, two weeks ago The Times’ second-ranked team in the Southern Section, have lost four straight, most recently a 7-3 nonleague decision Saturday at home to Mission Hills Alemany--a game in which Coach Mike Scyphers and shortstop Greg Gerber were ejected.

Scyphers got the boot in the sixth inning for questioning the infield umpire on two calls that led to a pair of Alemany runs. After leaving, he stood behind the center-field fence and illegally flashed signs to his team.

In the top of the seventh, center fielder Darren Aurand was dispatched to tell assistant coach Rob Sullivan to go to the mound. Aurand relayed the message to Gerber, who was kicked out when he walked to the dugout to talk with Sullivan.

That game was played the day after another painful incident for Scyphers. Instead of hitting infield practice, he changed the routine and played second base, giving the batting duties to senior catcher Tim Laker.

Laker hit a hard grounder to Scyphers, hitting the coach in the ankle.

Even with its recent problems, the Pioneers (18-6) are assured a playoff spot and can win the Marmonte League title with a victory Wednesday over Royal, provided Westlake loses to Camarillo the same day.

Is this finally the year for the Calabasas swim team?

The Coyotes, who have finished fifth or better, but never first, in the previous 10 years in the Southern Section 2-A final, have what Coach Dave Hersham calls his best team ever. What the team also has is four section leaders.

In marks reported before May 4, Eric Weitz was No. 1 in the 100-yard backstroke with 55.56 and the 200 individual medley with 2 minutes flat, and Richard McCarty led in the 100 butterfly with 54.74. Weitz and McCarty also joined Mike Litter and Kenji Bek for the best 200-medley relay team mark, 1:43.6.

Prep Notes Compton basketball Coach Eddie Thomas, who compiled a 228-153 record in 16 years at his alma mater, died of a heart attack May 1 at Martin Luther King Hospital in Los Angeles after a two-month illness. He was 49. Thomas was admitted to a Bellflower hospital in March with a heart problem, was released four weeks ago and was admitted to Martin Luther King. Under Thomas, the Tarbabes reached the Southern Section 4-A semifinals in 1976-77, led by Player of the Year Purvis Miller. Tony Carter, an assistant at Cal State Dominguez Hills the last four years, will take over at Compton. . . . Wrestler Todd Tomazic of Placentia El Dorado was named to the second team in the 167-pound division on the Asics Tiger All-American squad selected by editors of Wrestling Masters and Pennsylvania Roundup magazines. . . .