MacKenzie’s Wait Never Ends : Canoga Park Stranded in Dodger Stadium Parking Lot

Two hours after Canoga Park High celebrated its first City Section 4-A championship Thursday night, the players were still in the Dodger Stadium parking lot, playing a spirited game of pepper.

The Hunters didn’t mind letting the victory linger, but by that time they would have rather been at the home of winning pitcher Adam Schulhofer, where a reception for the team was scheduled.

Because of a misunderstanding by the bus driver, the entire team was left standing in the dark until 11:30 p.m., well after fans had left and most of the exits had been sealed.

“It took me 37 years to get here, and it looks like it might take 37 years to get home,” quipped Doug MacKenzie, who has coached at Canoga Park since 1951.

The Hunters were left stranded when the driver assigned to carry them home was told they had already left the stadium.

While a bus was being dispatched, the Hunters killed time by playing pepper with the broken bats of major league players Ozzie Smith and Tim Raines, souvenirs given to outfielder Aaron Marks by a Dodger clubhouse attendant.

“The guy was emptying them out of a trash can and was going to get rid of them,” Marks said. “So I grabbed them.”

Relief pitcher Mike Roberts--who saved the 5-4 win over Poly by getting the last two outs--was wielding one of the bats. Other players milled about, talking about the season and more baseball to come.

“Don’t we start American Legion practice tomorrow?” junior Mike Kerber groaned.

Many Poly players looked like kids in a candy store during pregame warm-ups. It wasn’t too far from the truth.

Barbara Whiteside, the mother of reserve catcher Harold Whiteside, had supplied the team with a box of Bazooka bubble gum before every game.

“Twice this season she brought Bubble Yum instead,” Poly’s Danny Gil said as he grabbed a supply. “We lost those two games.”

A second-inning triple by catcher Rodrigo Fuentes that hit the base of the wall in straightaway center field looked like it was shot from a bazooka.

But Fuentes got so caught up in the excitement that he didn’t notice half the Poly team standing in front of the dugout with hands raised, signaling Fuentes to take third standing up. He threw his 5-10, 185-pound frame into a head-first slide instead and skidded in safely, well ahead of the throw.

“I was excited, I just ran,” Fuentes said. “I didn’t even see those guys.”

A coin flip decided which school was the home team. Poly won the toss, but that didn’t bother Canoga Park.

“Even if we had won the flip, we would have chosen this dugout,” Canoga Park Athletic Director Martin Denyer said.

The Dodgers keep their clubhouse closed when on the road, so Poly had to dress in an auxiliary locker room. Canoga Park, meanwhile, had full use of the visitors’ facilities.

Many of the fans didn’t miss the opportunity to behave as though it were just another Dodger game.

Poly fans broke out a beach ball in the second inning, and took particular delight in keeping it away from Dodger ushers. The ball bounded onto the field before being retrieved by a Poly player.

Also disturbing play was a brawl between two fans on the Poly side that was not broken up for several minutes.

Gil, who was the East Valley League most valuable player, hit only one home run during the regular season. In Tuesday’s 6-4 semifinal victory over Chatsworth, he hit a three-run home run to ignite a Poly rally, and he hit another three-run shot into the Dodger bullpen during the seventh inning Thursday.

Gil, a senior shortstop, finished the season with 40 runs batted in, including eight in his last two games.

The Poly offense had its chances in the final, stranding nine runners. The Parrots left two runners on in the sixth and stranded the tying and winning runs in the seventh.

As Poly Coach Jerry Cord walked to the dugout after exchanging lineup cards before the game, the distance of the dugout from the field made quite an impression.

“That’s a long darn walk out there,” Cord said.

Much to his chagrin, Cord was forced to make a similar trek sooner than he would have liked. In the third inning, the coach had to replace starting pitcher Nick Lymberopoulos, who had surrendered three consecutive extra-base hits, with Greg Nealon.

When MacKenzie had finally secured his first title, he didn’t forget the person who was with him every step of the way. As he took the microphone behind home plate to introduce his team, he first recognized his wife of 31 years, Anita.

“Before I introduce the team,” MacKenzie told the crowd, “I’d like to introduce the person who put up with this for all these years--Mrs. Mac.”

As Anita MacKenzie stood, the crowd applauded warmly.

Vince Kowalick contributed to this story.