Hart Coach Feels Pinch While Players Maintain Perfect Record

Coaching a league-championship baseball team that is 22-0 and overflowing with talent would seem like a stress-free occupation.

But as his team rolls along, Hart Coach Bud Murray is finding the ride far from easy.

Put simply, Murray says he’s starting to feel pressure.

“I think it’s my responsibility to keep these guys playing hard,” Murray said. “And it’s really hard to keep them pushing with all the success we’ve had.”

Murray is continually impressed by his players, who seem to approach every game with the same invincible attitude--an attitude that, so far, has produced an invincible team.

For example, in a game at San Gabriel earlier this year, the score was tied in the bottom of the eighth and San Gabriel proceeded to load the bases with none out.

Trouble? Hardly. A strikeout and a double play later, the Indians were out of the inning. They won in nine.

“I honestly thought we were going to lose that game,” Murray said.

But he has learned that his team just won’t stomach a loss. So Murray will try to hide his concern.

“Oh, yeah,” he said. “I try not to let the kids know.”

Guessing game: Sylmar Coach John Klitsner was understandably hesitant when discussing the possibility of Olonzo Woodfin’s return.

Woodfin, an All-City pitcher who broke his ankle three weeks ago and was expected to miss the rest of the season, had his cast removed earlier this week and could be back in time for the City Section 4-A Division playoffs.

“The doctor said there may be a possibility,” Klitsner said. “Who knows? Nobody knows. He got his cast off, that’s all. It’s still in a brace and he’s not doing anything.”

Having Woodfin back for the playoffs would help, Klitsner said, but he has other things on his mind. “We’re just trying to make it to the playoffs,” he said.

Sylmar (11-8, 10-5) has lost four of its past six East Valley League games. The Spartans are in second place, four games behind Poly. Sylmar leads North Hollywood by 1 1/2 games, Grant by 2 1/2 and Fairfax by 3 with three league games to play. Four teams qualify for the playoffs.

“We got out of the gate fast and now everybody has caught up to us,” Klitsner said.

Struck down: Saugus right-handers Jeff Bodeau and Roger Salkeld, the top two strikeout leaders in the Valley area, have both missed recent starts because of injuries and the Centurions have dropped two of the past four games.

Salkeld suffered a bruised right hand when he was hit by a pitch last week against Antelope Valley, but he is expected to return today against Canyon. Salkeld (6-2, 86 strikeouts, 1.46 earned-run average) will throw with his middle finger taped.

“I have a bruised bone,” he said. “It hurts to throw. I have the same speed, but I don’t have the control.”

Bodeau (6-4, 92 strikeouts, 1.83 ERA) missed a start Tuesday because of a sore arm and says he does not know when he will be able to pitch.

“Lack of practice,” Bodeau said. “It kept raining and I couldn’t get any practice in. I wasn’t throwing correctly and it finally caught up with me. If I threw today, it would have nothing on it, like batting practice.”

Bringing out the best: As a rule, Newbury Park baseball Coach Gary Fabricius does not let his pitchers bat, but he might change that rule if pitcher Rob Teasdale keeps teaming with Dan Smith in the lineup.

Teasdale has been on base twice--once as a pinch-runner and once when he singled in his only at-bat of the season. Smith has immediately followed with home runs in both instances.

Saturday, Teasdale singled and Smith hit a grand slam in a 22-0 win over Agoura. On April 22, Teasdale pinch-ran against Westlake and Smith hit a two-run homer in the Panthers’ 6-2 victory.

Win some, lose some: Monroe lost three players to academic ineligibility, including pitcher Ron Robart, who was 4-3 with a 3.68 ERA and a shutout against Granada Hills. Robart was batting .302 and had driven in 10 runs.

Starters Alex Chahanian (.319) and Ernesto Echevestez (.368) were also lost to poor grades.

However, the Vikings received good news when sophomore left-hander Sean Henson became eligible. Henson defeated Birmingham, 5-3, Monday.

Trivia time: The Chatsworth boys’ volleyball team has won 53 consecutive West Valley League matches. Who was the coach of the last team to beat Chatsworth? (Answer to follow.)

Fearsome foursomes: The City Section, after hearing complaints from players and coaches, has revised pairings for the City golf championships, scheduled for May 17-18 at Harding Park golf course in Griffith Park.

Formerly, players from the 2-A and other divisions were included in the same foursomes with players from the 5-A level, often with disastrous results. Even Magnet League players were paired with 5-A League players.

“It was pretty ridiculous,” said Coach Ray O’Connor of Taft, the defending 5-A and City champion. “Last year we had a kid who was a two-handicapper playing with a kid who shot 134. That can really affect the game of the better players, waiting around all day for some kid to find his ball.”

This year, coaches will submit the names of their best players, who will be paired according to ability rather than where the player is rated on his team.

Add Taft: Don’t bet against Taft successfully defending its title. The Toreadors again finished first in the 5-A League with an 8-0 record after beating Birmingham, 402-427, Monday at El Caballero Country Club. David Solomon shot an even-par 71 and teammate Roger Makemson shot 78, which included a 3-under 35 on the back nine.

Trivia answer: Granada Hills’ Tom Harp was the coach of the last West Valley League volleyball team to beat Chatsworth, but he was at Cleveland at the time. Harp started Cleveland’s program in 1982 and coached his team to a five-game win over the Chancellors in 1983.

Track and field: Saugus assistant Octavio Castaneda has been coaching discus throwers in the Santa Clarita Valley for 28 years, yet he witnessed a first at last week’s Golden League preliminaries as four of his proteges threw the discus farther than 150 feet. Damiean Jenkins, John Characky, Tom Erickson and Tom Hayes qualified for today’s league finals with throws exceeding 150 feet.

“I’ve had better individual throwers in the past,” said Castaneda, who is in his ninth year at Saugus after previous stints of 13 years at Canyon and six at Hart. “But I’ve never had a group of throwers as good as this one.”

Jenkins (173-5), Characky (167-8), Erickson (159-6) and Hayes (154-10) are ranked first, second, fourth and sixth on the Valley-area list. Jenkins also leads the Southern Section.

Agoura woes: John Sommers of Agoura, the Ventura County champion in the pole vault, broke his ankle in practice Tuesday and will be sidelined for the rest of the season. “He came down after a jump and his shoe got caught on the mat,” Coach Bill Duley said.

The injury dealt a serious blow to Agoura’s Southern Section 1-A Division title hopes. Sommers, a junior who had cleared 14 feet, is one of the division’s top vaulters.

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