SOUTHERN SECTION BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIPS : 3-A Preview : Lucky Frog a Big Hit With Troy Batters : Since Batting Averages Have Soared, They Won’t Leave the Dugout Without It

Beware, Mark Pratt, when you take the mound at 4:30 this afternoon in Dodger Stadium.

The Troy High School hitters will have a special weapon in store for the Arlington starting pitcher. It’s what they call a kenji voodoo doll, and they believe it will provide mystical powers in the Southern Section’s 3-A championship game.

A kenji voodoo doll? Actually, it’s nothing more than a Japanese good-luck charm that David Shirota, Troy’s leadoff hitter, has brought to each of the Warriors’ playoff games.

“My mother bought it for me after we clinched the Freeway League title,” Shirota said. “It’s a frog on a little key chain. Frogs are considered good luck in Japan.”

Each player on Troy’s team rubs his hands over the frog, or kenji, before he goes to the batter’s box, and it has worked like a charm: Troy has compiled a .401 team batting average.

“I forgot to bring the frog to our game against Alhambra and everyone on the team got on me,” Shirota said. “I had to send a friend home to get it.”

Diane Shirota also bought her youngest son a head band with an inscription of the rising sun and the words “first place” written across the front.

“It’s kind of dumb-looking,” Shirota said. “It looks like something Ricky (The Dragon) Steamboat would wear. But I’m a firm believer in the kenji voodoo doll.”

There was nothing wrong with Shirota’s hitting skills before his mother bought him the charm. Shirota was one of the premier hitters in Orange County this season, batting .453 with 39 hits and 26 runs scored.

“David Shirota is a born leadoff hitter,” said Bruce King, Troy coach. “He has the best on-base percentage on the team. He’s very smart and always looking to improve.”

Shirota is the student body president and ranks 15th in his class. He takes pride in being the school’s leader as well as the baseball team’s leadoff batter.

“I tried to make school more fun for everybody this year,” he said. “I thought the school year went very smoothly. My role on the baseball team was to get on base and score.

“I’m the little guy on the team who lets the big guys drive me in. I try to make things happen.”

Last season, Shirota tried to make things happen in a big way. He conceded that he swung for the fences, and he batted only .250. This year, he concentrated on hitting line drives.

He was the county’s leader in hits most of the season, but he slumped in the Warriors’ final three regular-season games, getting only three hits in 15 appearances.

“I started swinging too big again and was stepping out of the box,” he said. “I made an adjustment for our first playoff game against Savanna and got three hits and scored twice. That’s more of what I should be doing.”

Last fall, Shirota was the Warriors’ big-play performer on the football team. He caught 44 passes for 861 yards and eight touchdowns, averaging 19.6 yards a catch.

Shirota plans to end his athletic career after today’s game. He will enroll at Cal State Fullerton next fall and plans to major in business administration and finance.

Although Shirota will end his playing career, he is interested in becoming a coach some day.

“I’ve coached two teams at the Fullerton Boys Club and really enjoyed it,” he said. “I learned to understand and appreciate what my coaches go through here at Troy. I’d love to coach.”

If Shirota does become a coach, he’ll likely introduce his players to the powers of the kenji voodoo doll.

3-A Notes Chris Robinson (13-2) will start for Troy, even though he pitched eight innings in a 6-5 semifinal victory over John W. North of Riverside on Tuesday. . . . The Warriors are trying for the school’s first team championship in its 25-year history. Troy had a boys’ soccer team and a girls’ softball team reach title games, but lost in both contests. . . . Arlington is the third representative from the Ivy League that Troy has faced in the playoffs. The Warriors eliminated Corona and North. . . . Arlington’s top hitter is shortstop Layne Lambert with a .456 average. Mark Pratt is a left-hander with an 11-4 record.