Woodfin Hangs Up Plastic Spikes After Season-Ending Ankle Injury

Olonzo Woodfin needed a break, but he wanted to take one, not suffer one.

Woodfin, an All-City pitcher at Sylmar, will be able to take the rest of the season off but only because he broke his right ankle during practice Friday.

“He’s through for the season,” Sylmar Coach John Klitsner said. “He’ll be in a cast six to eight weeks and spend several weeks in rehabilitation.”

Woodfin was an All-City and Times’ All-Valley pitcher last year. A senior left-hander, Woodfin (4-1) had 47 strikeouts in 41 innings this season and an 0.68 earned-run average. He also led the team in doubles (6) and was second in batting (.466 in 30 at-bats) and runs batted in (10).

The injury occurred during an intra-squad game when the back cleat in Woodfin’s shoe broke as he was rounding second base. “I heard it snap,” Woodfin said of his ankle. “I was hoping it wouldn’t hurt too bad, so I sat and waited. But it swelled up, so I went to the hospital.”

Woodfin was given a temporary cast and told to return Tuesday when a specialist would be able to more accurately diagnose the injury.

“He said it’s nothing that’s long term,” Woodfin said. “As soon as it heals, it heals. I’ll be back.”

But not soon enough for Sylmar. Klitsner said before the season began that his team could advance to the City Section 4-A championship. But now. . . .

“Anybody who loses a pitcher of his caliber is going to be hurting,” Klitsner said. “We’re definitely going to miss him.”

Even more frustrating for Klitsner is how the injury occurred.

“That’s the fifth or sixth pair that the exact same cleat has broken,” said Klitsner, who would not identify the shoe company because of the possibility of lawsuits. “Whoever came up with the theory that plastic cleats are safer, well, that’s the second No. 1 pitcher that I’ve lost.”

In 1985, The Spartans’ Joe Hiner suffered a similar injury.

The Spartans almost lost one of their top hitters in their 8-4 victory over Fairfax on Monday. Donnie Kelley, who was leading the team in batting average (.500), RBIs (16), runs scored (15) and triples (4), had one of his cleats snap as he was rounding first.

Still rolling: The West Valley volleyball league may be getting stronger, but Chatsworth is making sure everyone knows who is still the boss.

When the Chancellors’ defeated Taft, 15-4, 15-4, 15-17, 15-4, Monday, it not only gave Chatsworth a one-game lead in the league race, it was also the Chancellors’ 46th consecutive league victory.

Chatsworth has won seven consecutive league titles and had twice tied Taft for first before that.

Catch of the day: Trailing, 2-0, entering the bottom of the fifth inning Monday, Kennedy right fielder Bruce Carreau made a spectacular catch that robbed Birmingham’s Justin Bass of an extra-base hit.

“It was an absolute, big-league play,” Birmingham Coach Wayne Sink said. “He made a great, leaping dive to his right. He must have been five feet off the ground and totally horizontal.”

Inspired by the snag, Kennedy knocked Birmingham horizontal by scoring three runs in the sixth and five in the seventh to win, 8-5.

“There’s no doubt the catch changed the momentum of the game,” Sink said. “They came out smoking after that.”

Down but not out: St. Genevieve Coach Kevin Kane was still smarting over the Valiants’ 3-2 loss to Notre Dame in a nonleague game Friday. St. Genevieve (10-2) led, 2-0, after 3 1/2 innings but gave up one unearned run in the fourth inning and two in the fifth.

“I thought about it a lot over the weekend and I guess I feel like the guy who locked his keys in the car when the blonde drives by in the Corvette and winks at him,” Kane said. “You’re so close, yet you’re still so far.

“But I think it was good for us. We had been pretty lucky until the other day. Now we know what our weaknesses are.”

Hump day: Westlake may be disappointed with its 2-2 Marmonte League record, but the Warriors have gotten over a hump of sorts.

Going into Friday’s game against Camarillo, Westlake had never beaten the Scorpions in 15 attempts. That included a 2-1 loss to Camarillo on the final day of last season’s league schedule. Had the Warriors won that game, they would have won their first league championship. Instead, Simi Valley was crowned.

Westlake, behind a three-run homer by Carlton Lance and three hits by Mike Lieberthal, finally put an end to Camarillo’s dominance with a 9-5 victory.

Close but no cigar: Burroughs Coach Ed Knaggs was in a bind going into the seventh inning of last Friday’s Foothill League roller-coaster ride against Schurr.

Going into the bottom of the seventh inning, the Indians trailed, 12-10, after having earlier overcome a 7-1 deficit.

Knaggs, naturally, turned to the guy who has been carrying Burroughs on his shoulders all season--power-hitting second baseman E. J. Pape. Only problem was, Pape could barely walk.

He turned his ankle days earlier and had missed Burroughs’ past two games. But Knaggs reasoned that pinch-hitting an injured Pape was worth a shot--a home run shot.

“I figured I’d try to get the leadoff man on with a push bunt,” Knaggs said. “Then I figured I’d give E. J. a shot to tie it up.”

Unfortunately for Burroughs, the push bunt was pushed right to Schurr’s first baseman and the leadoff man was an easy out.

Which, of course, left the bases empty for Pape. Who, of course, slugged a home run. A solo home run. And Burroughs lost, 12-11.

“He just crushed it,” Knaggs said. “It took him about three minutes to hobble around the bases.”

Elbow room: An elbow injury to Monroe pitcher Tim Costic has made the left-hander a full-time first baseman for now. But he isn’t letting his senior season slip by.

Costic, who batted .327 with 2 home runs, 15 RBIs and 12 runs scored last year, is obliterating those marks. Through 15 games, Costic was batting .425 with 3 doubles, 4 triples, 4 home runs and 17 RBIs.

As a pitcher, Costic (1-2) was one of the team’s two starters. An elbow strain suffered in preseason play has limited him to only 13 innings pitched.

“He’s probably two or three weeks away from being able to pitch again,” Monroe Coach Kevin Campbell said.

Where credit isn’t due: Birmingham Coach Wayne Sink said his team was “credited” with four errors in last week’s 15-0 loss to San Fernando. By his own tally, however, Birmingham--a team noted for sound fundamentals--butchered far more plays.

“I had us for 14 or 15 errors,” Sink said. “We overthrew the cutoff man, turned fly balls into triples, allowed four runs after an error that should have been the third out, made baserunning errors and were swinging at balls in the dirt when we were down by six runs.”

Streaking Warriors: Westlake’s golf team, the two-time defending Southern Section champion, defeated Hart, 387-435, last Thursday at Valencia Country Club, the team’s 65th consecutive dual-match victory in a streak that dates to 1983.

The Warriors (12-0) also have knocked off some top-flight teams in tournament play. Over the past two weeks, Westlake has won the 10-team Western States Invitational in Monterey, held at Poppy Hills and Rancho Canada golf courses, and the 30-team Palm Springs Invitational, held at La Quinta and Desert Princess country clubs.

Westlake plays Torrey Pines High at Rancho Santa Fe Country Club in San Diego on Friday.

Staff writers Tim Brown, Brian Murphy, Steve Elling and John Ortega contributed to this notebook.