High School Notebook : Out of Left Field, Rookie Saves Day in Right

There was only one thing going through Don Phillips’ mind when the L. A. Lutheran right fielder jogged to his position last Tuesday in a game at Marshall Fundamental: Hit the ball to somebody else.

Don’t get the wrong idea. Coach Al Ludtke cares very much about his players’ attitudes. The thing is, Phillips is not one of Ludtke’s players. In fact, Phillips had not played baseball since he was in Little League five years ago.

So what was Phillips doing starting in right field?

Saving the team from forfeiting.

With four of the team’s 12 players on spring vacation, L. A. Lutheran was in a bind--forfeit its nonleague game against Marshall Fundamental or find a ninth man.

“I got a couple of calls from guys who knew I had some kind of baseball experience,” said Phillips, a junior whose brother Chad plays on the team. “So I just said, ‘OK.’ ”

Phillips, who runs the 400 for the school’s track team, changed into his uniform in some nearby restrooms and took his place in the outfield.

His fear of a batted ball coming his way materialized, though, when a Marshall Fundamental fly drifted into right early in the game. Much to his relief, Phillips caught it. He caught one more fly before ending his errorless streak by dropping a third chance.

“When I caught the first one, I was really relieved,” Phillips said. “But when I dropped the third one, nobody got mad, so that was OK.”

Nobody was angry with Phillips for his performance at the plate, either; he struck out twice and walked once as the Lions won, 5-4.

Then there were two: Quincy Watts of Taft, the defending state champion in the 100 and 200 meters, has narrowed his college choices to UCLA and USC, according to Taft assistant Hilliard Sumner, Watts’ sprint coach.

Watts, who previously stated that Florida and Arizona were among his final choices, dropped the Southeast Conference and Pacific 10 schools because of the distance from his Woodland Hills home.

“They’re both good schools,” Sumner said. “But they’re a long way from Southern California.

“And the feeling is that it will be easier for Quincy to keep his grades up if he’s close to home. It’s easy for an 18-year-old to get undisciplined if he’s across the country.”

Add Watts: Sumner said Watts will compete in four events at the prestigious Arcadia Invitational on April 9. Which events he will run remains uncertain.

“He’ll definitely run in the 100 and 400 meters and the 400-meter relay,” Sumner said. “But we’re not sure about the other. It’ll either be the 1,600 relay or the 200.”

Sumner’s decision will be based on Jonathan Hart’s progress. Hart ran a disappointing 54-second third leg on Taft’s 1,600-meter relay at the Pasadena Games on March 26. Watts ran a scorching 45.7 anchor leg, but Taft still finished a well-beaten fifth in 3:19.85.

“If I feel Jonathan can run a 50-second relay leg, then Quincy will run in the 1,600 relay,” Sumner explained. “If not, Quincy will run the 200.”

Though Watts doesn’t run the 400 very often, Sumner has set a high goal for the 6-3, 197-pound senior.

“He should be able to run 45.2,” Sumner said. “He ran 45.67 on the anchor leg at Pasadena and he really didn’t want it until the last 100 meters. If he wants it from the start, 45.2 is possible.”

Sleepless night: How much baseball is too much? Royal Coach Mike McCurdy found that three games in 24 hours exceeded his limit.

Royal’s baseball marathon began with an 8-0 loss to Damien in the first round of the Pomona tournament Monday afternoon. The Highlanders were supposed to play again at 8:30 p.m., but three extra-inning games bumped Royal’s starting time back. The team started taking infield practice at 11:15 p.m.

“About 100 to 150 people stayed around,” McCurdy said. “It got a little bit chilly around 1 or 2, but the weather was nice on the whole.”

Royal’s 5-4 win over South Hills ended at about 2:15 a.m. After a return trip to Simi Valley, the team was back in Pomona for an 8 a.m. game Tuesday. Royal lost to Edgewood, 6-2.

Murderer’s Row Jr.: While all the talk around school has centered on Hart’s undefeated baseball team, the Indians’ softball team has been making some impressive noise of its own. The junior varsity team, that is.

Hart’s junior varsity (6-2) dumped defending City Section 4-A Division varsity champion Sylmar, 17-6, in the Hart tournament. Hart then gave All-City pitcher Beth Silverman of El Camino Real a scare before falling, 4-0.

The Indians have destroyed almost every JV team they have faced. The Indians beat Sylmar, 49-0; Notre Dame, 15-2; and Canyon, 13-1.

Staff writers Steve Elling, John Ortega and Chris J. Parker contributed to this notebook.