AMERICAN LEGION PLAYOFFS : DeGrasse Gives Team a Date With Glendale

The “Dating Game’s” loss was Van Nuys-Notre Dame’s gain Wednesday at Pierce College.

Van Nuys-Notre Dame starting pitcher Tim DeGrasse was scheduled to audition for that TV bastion of love and exotic trips after he finished his work on the mound Wednesday.

“Some guys from my school tried out for it and they told me that they gave them my name,” said DeGrasse, a 1987 graduate of Notre Dame High. “I wanted to do it.”

But before DeGrasse could worry about being the next eligible bachelor in the world of game shows, he had to keep Van Nuys-Notre Dame eligible in the winners’ bracket of the District 20 American Legion playoffs.

He accomplished that, pitching his seventh straight complete game of the year, a 4-0 first-round victory over Granada Hills. Van Nuys-Notre Dame plays Glendale in the second round today at 11 a.m. at Birmingham High. Glendale scored a 17-8 win over Encino-Tarzana, which plays Granada Hills in the double-elimination tournament today at 11 a.m. at Pierce.

After the game, a thoroughly relaxed DeGrasse, lounging on the ground and leaning against a fence behind the stands, said: “I am so tired I don’t even want to move.”

Pitching nine innings of two-hit ball and getting struck by a line drive in the leg in the fourth inning had taken its toll on the right-hander.

And so he had decided that this wasn’t the day to mix the game of baseball with the game of dating.

It would have been just fine with Granada Hills if DeGrasse had decided to skip this engagement. Despite displaying uncustomary wildness, DeGrasse shackled Granada Hills from the start, striking out the first three batters he faced.

“I think he was just wild enough to be effective,” Granada Hills Coach Chris Johnson said.

DeGrasse, who relied mostly on his fastball, struck out eight but walked seven. During the Legion regular season, in which he was 6-0 with six complete games and a 1.31 earned-run average, he allowed only 11 walks in 43 innings.

Van Nuys-Notre Dame scored the only runs it needed off Granada Hills starter and loser Colin Hines (4-2, 1.25 ERA in regular season) in the bottom of the first inning.

After Brian Woolley led off with a single to right, Greg Haptor, a .340 hitter during the regular season, hit a 2-2 pitch to left field for a run-scoring triple.

When Granada Hills shortstop Gino Tagliaferri made an errant throw to third base on the relay, Haptor scored to make it 2-0.

Van Nuys-Notre Dame scored its other runs on an RBI single by Tony Ljubetic in the seventh and a sacrifice fly by Jeff Antoon in the eighth.

For Tagliaferri, the game was particularly rough. After batting .414 and leading Valley-area Legion players during the regular season with 11 home runs and 32 RBIs, he struck out swinging four times against DeGrasse.

“It was my worst game ever,” Tagliaferri said. “It’s never happened to me before.”

If only the “Dating Game” had Tim DeGrasse in its lineup, it might not have happened this time.

Newhall-Saugus 19, Woodland Hills 3: Newhall-Saugus routed the defending champion in a game shortened to seven innings by the 10-run rule to advance to today’s second round, playing Reseda-Cleveland in the winners’ bracket at 3 p.m. at Birmingham.

Leading 10-3 going into the bottom of the sixth, Newhall-Saugus (18-4) scored nine runs to turn the game into an embarrassment for Woodland Hills (16-6). Gary Morgan delivered the big hit in the sixth, clouting a three-run home run. He finished with five RBIs.

Newhall-Saugus collected nine hits off five pitchers and benefited from 15 walks, including 5 in the 9-run sixth.

Roger Salkeld (8-1) pitched a complete game, allowing seven hits, six walks and one earned run. He struck out 10.

Newhall-Saugus is scheduled to pitch Travis Regnolds (5-0) today against Reseda-Cleveland.

Reseda-Cleveland 5, Chatsworth 2: Kirk Surabian scattered eight hits and allowed one earned run to increase his record to 6-1 and advance Reseda-Cleveland (16-6) into a second-round matchup with Newhall-Saugus. Surabian walked three and struck out four.

Jim Doushgounian led Reseda-Cleveland’s seven-hit attack against Chatsworth starter Pierre Amado and two relievers, collecting three hits and driving in one run. Mario Valencia added two RBIs.

Ty Powell and John Haselbusch each had two hits and an RBI for Chatsworth (16-6), which plays Woodland Hills today at 3 p.m. at Pierce.

Glendale 17, Encino-Tarzana 8: Even though Glendale (16-6) amassed 20 hits off three pitchers, Encino-Tarzana Coach Wayne Sink seemed unimpressed.

“It was a dinkers and bleeders game,” he said. “Bloopers, bleeders, ones with eyes, they all ended up hits.”

Regardless, Glendale (16-6) is headed to a second-round matchup today with Van Nuys-Notre Dame. Encino-Tarzana (16-6) plays Granada Hills in the losers’ bracket.