Ziegler’s Best Pitch Helps Oak Park Pull Out an Unlikely League Win

As Oak Park Coach Steve Goldstein grew impatient waiting for the outcome of last week’s Tri-Valley League basketball game against Bishop Diego, he marked a loss in his score book before the game clock expired.

With two seconds to play, Oak Park trailed by two points, 48-46, and had fouled Bishop Diego’s best shooter.

“I already put the game in the loss column,” Goldstein said. “I figured we had lost. What can you do with two seconds left and their best shooter at the free-throw line?”

Chris Anderson, however, missed the front end of the one-and-one and Oak Park had enough time to execute the perfect one-second scoring play.

Scott Ziegler, who also pitches for the baseball team, threw a fastball toward the Oak Park basket. Richard Chavez caught the pass and made a short jump shot to tie the score, 48-48, at the end of regulation.

Oak Park (6-5, 10-11) outscored Bishop Diego, 6-2, in overtime to win, 54-50.

“That was a miracle finish,” Goldstein said. “I’ll never lose hope again until the game is over.”

Guess who?: Crespi Coach Paul Muff has stopped trying to understand the vagaries of his team. The Celts, who are 13-11 overall and 5-6 in Del Rey League play, have beaten each team in the league once, with the exception of St. John Bosco, which they play Friday night.

That means Crespi has defeated Loyola, the league champion, and Notre Dame, which lost a title shoot-out to Loyola on Tuesday. It also means the Celts have lost to some lesser opponents.

“I never know whether to be happy or mad at this team,” Muff said after Crespi upset Loyola, 65-58, Friday. “We beat the best two teams in the league and then we turn right around and lose to the worst teams.”

Crespi, for instance, defeated Notre Dame and followed with losses to Bosco Tech and St. Francis.

“We don’t seem to have much trouble getting up for the big guys, but I don’t know what happens against the lower division,” said Ken Lynch, a junior forward. “We should be fighting for the league title right now.”

Ouch!: Granada Hills forward Kyle Jan has a fractured fifth metacarpal. Translation: He broke his hand and is out for the season.

“Right above the pinkie,” Jan said.

The injury occurred during practice two weeks ago when Jan landed after a layup and slammed his hand against the gym wall. The 6-4 senior played against San Fernando and Chatsworth before visiting a doctor and learning the hand was broken.

Jan, a Times All-Valley wide receiver, said the injury is not serious.

Addition and subtraction: Granada Hills Coach Bob Johnson lost more than Jan this week. The Highlanders’ roster dwindled to six after Amir Hatam and Robert Debose were declared academically ineligible. At San Fernando, Calvin Lard, a 6-3 junior who had been academically ineligible all season, joined the team this week.

Shrine game: Invitations go out today to the 32 members of the South team in the 37th annual Shrine all-star football game, scheduled for July 23 at the Rose Bowl. The South team is coached by Bob Richards of Thousand Oaks and Dick Bruich of Fontana. Thousand Oaks won the Southern Section Coastal Conference title with a 12-1-1 record and Fontana won the Big Five Conference with a 14-0 record.

Included on the South team are running back Marc Monestime of Thousand Oaks, wide receivers Kyle Jan (Granada Hills) and Gil Valencia (Camarillo), and linemen Eric Anhalt (Royal), Kyle Cummings (Crespi) and Brian Jacobs (Hart).

Selected as alternates are quarterback Jeremy Leach (Granada Hills), running back J. J. Lasley (Crespi), linebackers Mack Humphrey (Thousand Oaks) and David Wilson (Reseda) and lineman Joe Howe (Burroughs).

Broken backboard: No, the backboard was not shattered as a result of a ferocious slam dunk, although San Fernando sophomore center Lance Whitaker (6-7, 225) could probably do a decent impression of Darryl Dawkins.

“It was a little metal ball,” Coach Dick Crowell said. “It’s called a silencer.”

The Tigers were forced to practice half-court basketball for two days last week until the backboard was replaced, at a cost of $800. Crowell said that an unidentified student shattered the backboard and fled the gym.

Leaderless Saracens: Harvard’s six-game winning streak came to an abrupt halt last week when the Saracens dropped consecutive Santa Fe League games to league-leading Cathedral and second-place Bell-Jeff. Harvard played Cathedral without leading scorer Charles Patton, who was sidelined because of a strained hip muscle.

Patton started against Bell-Jeff but exited early in the second quarter after aggravating the injury.

Harvard Coach Greg Hilliard said Patton’s presence would not have affected the outcome.

“We just got outplayed in every facet of the game,” he said. “It was a complete reversal of the first time we played them at our place and blew them out. This time, they blew us out.”

Add Harvard: Hilliard says Patton’s injury will be carefully evaluated.

“We’re taking it day by day,” he said. “He wants to play right now, but I’m thinking more about the future, hopefully the playoffs.”

Crashing Eagles: Chaminade soared to a 6-1 record in the first half of the Santa Fe League season, but as of the start of this week had lost three consecutive games and four of the past five.

“I don’t know what’s happened,” Chaminade Coach Mike Lynn said. “If I could tell you right now, maybe it wouldn’t have happened.

“I do know that certain teams have played us differently in the second half of the season than in the first half. Bell-Jeff, for instance, was a completely different team than the one we beat earlier. They’re much better.”

Weak second-half play has added to the Eagles downward plight.

“We’ve played very poorly in the third quarter for most of the year,” Lynn said. “It seems like we’ve stopped attacking when we have a lead at halftime. Instead of trying to increase the lead, we just try to maintain it.”

Missed it by three quarters: Calabasas seemed mentally prepared to beat Santa Clara for the first time in Frontier League play, then psyched itself out of a victory.

“The guys were so pumped up, it was unbelievable,” said Coach Bill Bellatty, whose team had taken an 18-8 first-quarter lead. “We made two three-pointers to start the game and it looked like no one would beat us.”

Calabasas, however, went from unbeatable to beaten in the second quarter.

Calabasas did not score until Kevin Shaffer made a shot with 1:18 left in the quarter. The Coyotes’ only other basket came on a three-point shot by Howie Gaynor at the buzzer.

“I called three timeouts but nothing worked,” Bellatty said. “We couldn’t put the ball in the hole. It was just one of those things.”

Santa Clara led by four at halftime and won, 54-42.

“I think we learned we’re capable of playing with the bigger teams like Santa Clara. But we can’t let our emotions affect us during the game,” Bellatty said.

Staff writers John Ortega, John Lynch, Vince Kowalick and Steve Elling contributed to this notebook.