Edwards Shoulders Load for Hart With Odd Bent Toward Pitching

After pitching five innings of one-hit ball to lead Hart to an 18-3 rout of Arroyo Grande in the first round of the Southern Section 4-A Division baseball playoffs Friday, pitcher Jason Edwards revealed a strange fact about himself.

It seems that Edwards’ shoulder is out of place. Not dislocated. Just plain out of place. And it has been that way since birth.

Edwards (11-0) has gone nearly his whole life without realizing it. It wasn’t until last week that he learned the news.

“My shoulder was real stiff, so I went to a masseuse,” Edwards said after the game, an extraordinarily large ice pack embracing almost his entire right arm. “She told me that my shoulder is out of place with my body.”

Whatever stiffness Edwards was suffering from did show occasionally Friday as the junior right-hander occasionally had trouble keeping the ball down. But, true to form, he almost always came through with a big pitch when he needed one.

Although the news about his shoulder would seem to be something to worry about, Edwards was not fazed and said the problem would not affect his pitching. Arroyo Grande certainly can attest to that.

Beaten at their own game: All season, the Chatsworth volleyball team has sent teams home shaking their heads in admiration of the Chancellors’ defense. While his team may have a strong front line, Coach Steve Berk always said that Chatsworth’s success starts in the back row.

Friday night, it stopped.

Palisades beat Chatsworth, 16-14, 15-8, 11-15, 15-8, in the City Section 4-A championship.

The Dolphins won, not because of dominating play at the net, but because, for the first time this season, Chatsworth’s opponent passed better than the Chancellors.

“They outplayed us,” Berk said. “Their defense was excellent. They picked up balls that we had thought were points and had given up on. They have defensive skills that we don’t have.”

The Dolphins were able to accurately pass deflected spikes with one hand numerous times and seemingly had a hand on every Chatsworth spike.

“They were always in the place we hit it,” outside hitter Greg Weaver said. “We’d go up, change our mind, but they would still be there. It was hard to get a kill.”

According to Berk, that’s a skill Palisades players always have. “The beach kids can do that because they’ve been playing so much,” he said. “It’s not something you teach, it’s just experience.”

Add Chatsworth: Dr. Robert Horn, a political science professor at Cal State Northridge and the father of Chatsworth’s Chris Horn, attended the match although he skipped CSUN’s graduation ceremonies that day in which he was to be honored as a “distinguished professor.”

Horn was not at the ceremonies because he was on his way back from the Soviet Union where he had attended a two-week seminar on U. S.-Soviet relations. Horn left the seminar a half-day early to see the Chatsworth match but didn’t want to miss a whole day to attend the graduation.

“It’s a matter of priorities,” he said.

Watts weighs anchor: Although Taft qualified easily in the 1,600-meter relay for Thursday’s City Section track finals at Birmingham High, the Toreadors will not run in the finals, at least not with anchorman Quincy Watts.

“I don’t feel it’s fair to put that kind of pressure on him,” Taft sprint coach Hilliard Sumner said Saturday. “He’ll have to run the 200, 400 and 400 relay before that and I just don’t see our team doing anything in that event.

“If I thought we were capable of running 3:15, then I’d run Quincy. But if we’re going to run 3:19, it’s not worth it.”

Taft, the defending City champion in the 1,600 relay, as well as the two-time defending team champion, ran 3:19.04 to place third in the second heat of the City semifinals Friday at Birmingham.

Three teams, headed by Crenshaw’s 3:16.94, had faster qualifying times than did the Toreadors.

Unsung swinger: Guess who leads Canoga Park, the defending City 4-A champion, in home runs entering the playoffs.

You say it’s Mike Kerber, last season’s 4-A Player of the Year? No. Although he’s batting .520 and has 6 doubles and 18 runs batted in, Kerber has only one home run.

How about Adam Schulhofer, who recorded a win in last year’s championship game against Poly? Strike two. Although he’s batting .410 and has 6 triples and 10 RBIs, Schulhofer also has only one home run.

If you guessed Del Marine--and you probably didn’t--you’re right. Marine smacked two home runs against Taft in the Hunters’ West Valley League finale Wednesday to raise his total to three. Not many, Marine admits, but when you play your home games in the wide-open spaces of Lanark Park, that’s plenty.

“Well, you know, there’s no fence,” said Marine, who is batting .373 and has 15 RBIs. “Same thing at Taft in left field. That shot I hit would have been a double in any park with a fence. It depends on what park you hit them in.”

Marine’s solo shot in the first inning, however, sailed over the right-field fence--the only fence he has cleared.

“The only time I got to jog,” Marine said, “was at Taft.”

Showtime: Hoover Coach Bob Cooper was furious when Simi Valley hit two home runs Friday to beat his Tornadoes, 3-0.

Actually, it wasn’t just the home runs that were difficult to swallow. He didn’t appreciate what he saw as overly exuberant celebrating by the Pioneers. After home runs by Jesse Anguiano and Jeff Sommer, the team congregated at home plate and down the third base line to congratulate the sluggers.

Cooper said after the game that in the major leagues, the pitcher would have retaliated by hitting the next batter “in his ear hole.”

“If they do it in the final game of the 5-A playoffs, fine,” Cooper said. “But that’s bush.”

Doug Ferber and staff writers Tim Brown, John Ortega, Chris J. Parker and Vince Kowalick contributed to this notebook.