MacLean and Hawking Recuperate From ‘Spring Fever’ After Defeat

Don MacLean and Butch Hawking ditched school Friday. The Simi Valley seniors stayed home and watched college games on television.

It was a different type of spring fever for the pair--the two had just been sprung from basketball season. They needed time to unwind.

“I was sitting home recapping the season and thinking about college,” said Hawking, a senior guard. “I had too much on my mind to handle school.”

Thursday night, the Pioneers failed to handle Manual Arts, 81-77, in the second round of the state playoffs. It was more than the end of a season, however, that Hawking was thinking about. It was the end of an era.

Behind Hawking, MacLean and Shawn DeLaittre, all seniors, Simi Valley won 81 games in three seasons and posted a record of 28-4 this year. The Pioneers won the Southern Section 4-A Division championship in the process and won a first-round state playoff game Tuesday against Santana of the San Diego Section.

Now that the season has ended, the trio has other concerns, such as where to attend college. Hawking is considering Air Force, Citadel, Northern Arizona and Pepperdine. MacLean is considering UCLA, Pitt, Georgia Tech, Kentucky and Nevada Las Vegas. DeLaittre, steady at forward all season, also has received Division I interest.

Now that he finally has some free time, Hawking said he plans to start visiting schools immediately. He expects to hear about a possible appointment to the Air Force Academy by month’s end. MacLean, who has made his allotted visits, is using the TV to narrow his choices.

“There’s a game on just about every hour,” Hawking said Saturday. “He’s getting a chance to see how well these teams are doing in their tournaments.”

After finally having time to kick up his feet and think about it, Hawking said ending the season on a down note was not as bad as he first expected.

Though a very successful high school career ended with a loss, Simi Valley’s first at home in 40 games, it was not an unhappy ending.

“I’m doing all right,” he said. “I guess in a way, I am kind of glad the season’s over. But, hey, we did still win the (Southern Section) title.”

Add basketball: Cleveland Coach Bob Braswell was incensed when he learned that none of his players were named to the 11-member All-City Section 4-A Division team.

From the Valley, only Taft’s Dedan Thomas and El Camino Real’s Brent Lofton were selected. That prompted Braswell to promise to rectify what he considers a ridiculous oversight.

“I think we need more local voices on the selection committee,” Braswell said. “There is not enough input. I can’t see how there can be players from a fourth- or fifth-place team on that list when we were ranked No. 2 in the City all year and didn’t get anybody named.”

Taft finished fourth in the Valley League. El Camino Real finished fifth.

“I think we have some players that could score as many points as any of the players on those lists,” Braswell said. “Those are some good players, sure, but it’s not just scoring that matters.”

Cleveland, which was eliminated in the first round of the 4-A playoffs, substitutes liberally, cutting into many players’ individual statistics, Braswell said.

“We have guys who could score 20 a game if I wanted them to,” he said.

Bombs away: Simi Valley pitcher-first baseman Scott Sharts is still doing the job on both offense and defense. On Friday, the senior right-hander struck out 16 batters in the Pioneers’ 11-1 win over Long Beach Poly. He also drove in two runs.

All he did Saturday as a first baseman was hit 2 home runs, giving him 5 on the season, as Simi Valley (5-1) defeated Westlake in an El Segundo tournament game, 9-4.

“He hit two bombs,” Simi Valley Coach Mike Scyphers said. “And then they walked him twice.”

Sharts nearly belted a third, but he hit the ball to straightaway center, the deepest part of the Westlake field.

“He didn’t miss that one by much,” Scyphers said.

Sharts, a preseason All-American, has 22 home runs in his three-year varsity career, 3 shy of the Southern Section record of 25, set by Mike Arthurs of Templeton from 1985-87.

Nickname: Three Granada Hills baseball players came up with an off-beat nickname as they wiled away the time going through preseason workouts.

Sean Brown, Darryl Stephenson and Kevin Carmichael, all of whom played receiver for football Coach Darryl Stroh, have named themselves after the Three Amigos, the receivers of the Denver Broncos. Sort of.

The Highlander trio, the only blacks on the baseball team, jokingly call themselves the “Three A-Negroes.”

“We even started dressing alike,” Stephenson said. “It’s all just for fun.”

Stephenson said he was not sure which of the three made the nickname up, but he thought it was Carmichael. Stroh, who is also the baseball coach, did not want to know.

“I don’t know how or who came up with it,” Stroh said, laughing. “I know it sure wasn’t me.”

Add Granada Hills: Highlander receiver Kyle Jan is out to prove himself.

“I’m going to make people sorry for not getting me,” he said.

More than a month after recruits could first sign with universities, Jan has yet to sign. Jan (6-4, 195) caught 65 passes for 950 yards last season and set a school record with 15 touchdown receptions. Jan said the University of New Mexico, which recently signed Granada Hills quarterback Jeremy Leach, contacted him last week and said it would let him know tonight about a pending scholarship offer. If that falls through, Jan, who said he turned down a scholarship offer from Cal Lutheran, plans to walk on at UCLA, where he has been accepted.

“I went there last week and the coaches said I could walk on and make the team,” Jan said. “They said there’s no doubt I can play as a freshman if I prove myself. They said right now, with where I’m at physically, it didn’t look like I’d need to redshirt next year.”

Steven Fleischman contributed to this notebook.