High School Notebook : All-Star Games: Seniors’ Final Chance to Shine

Although their high school careers are officially over, the quest for notice and a possible college scholarship continues for many Valley-area baseball players.

All-star games for the area’s premier players dot the calendar and provide one more chance for players to turn some heads. College coaches often look again because the fallout from the June major league free-agent draft can mean wasted scholarships. Major league teams lure players who had signed letters of intent before the draft.

The college scouts’ “second season” unofficially began this weekend, during which three all-star events, headed by Saturday’s Bernie Milligan Game at Cal State Northridge, were scheduled.

The top seniors in Ventura County will compete today at Ventura College in the annual Ventura County game, and the California Baseball Coaches Assn. is sponsoring the annual North-South series this weekend at San Diego State. Because of the conflict with the Milligan game, many Valley-area players skipped last weekend’s tryouts at Rancho Santiago College. The only area player on the 18-member South team is Royal catcher Travis Kinyoun.

A team of 18 players will be chosen at the end of today’s final game of the three-game North-South series to play an all-star team from Oklahoma next weekend at San Diego State.

Chatsworth’s Bob Lofrano coached in the Milligan game and also helped screen nominees for the North-South all-star series. Although Lofrano’s high school season ended two weeks ago in the semifinal round of the City Section 4-A Division playoffs, his enthusiasm for baseball remains at mid-season level.

“These games are great opportunities for kids to be scouted, especially by the colleges who might be scrambling because they lost kids after the draft. This shows what great opportunities kids have in Southern California to play baseball and be seen,” he said.

Lofrano points to Frank Mutz, who went unnoticed as a catcher at Granada Hills until he starred in the North-South series and received a scholarship to play at Hawaii. He transferred to The Master’s and Nevada-Reno before signing with the California Angels. Mutz is currently playing for the Angels’ Class-A team in Reno.

Said Lofrano: “I’ve seen guys sign right on the field after one of those all-star games.”

Add all-stars: Among the newest additions to the all-star schedule are the area-code games, which are the brainchild of Bob Williams of Santa Rosa. Williams serves as the California chairman for the U. S. Baseball Federation, a national group with headquarters in Trenton, N. J., that sponsors amateur baseball tournaments.

Under Williams’ plan, the state is divided into five regions based on telephone area codes: Players living in the 818 and 805 area codes compose one team, for example. The teams are sponsored by major league organizations that supply uniforms, lodging expenses and wooden bats, a first for most high school players.

Each team consists of 20 players and no more than 13 may be high school seniors. The five regional teams plus the Australian junior national team will meet in a four-day tournament at San Diego State on July 14-17.

Lofrano, Simi Valley’s Mike Scyphers and Arcadia’s John Meiers will coach the 818-805 team, which is sponsored by the Milwaukee Brewers.

Lofrano already has commitments from seven players, including Joel Wolfe and Rex McMackin from Chatsworth. Also selected to play are Simi Valley’s Scott Sharts, Notre Dame’s Bobby Hughes, Poly’s Greg Nealon, Kennedy’s Gino Tagliaferri and El Camino Real’s Ryan McGuire.

Far East swing: Lofrano will take an all-star team selected from the five regional area-code teams to Japan from Aug. 19 to Sept. 1 for a series against Japanese and Korean youth teams.

The American team will play in a six-team series against the five area-code teams in Lodi on Aug. 10-14.

The U. S. Baseball Federation will help underwrite the trip but players must pay air fare.

Back in the U.S.: The U. S. Baseball Federation also sponsors a four-team tournament for high school juniors and seniors in Sioux Falls, S. D., July 10-15. Chatsworth pitcher Derek Wallace has been named to the West team is. A 16-player team will be chosen from that tournament to play in Australia next December during the holiday break.

Life goes on: Two days after leading Monroe to the City 4-A title, Tim Costic was back playing baseball for the Sepulveda American Legion team. Although he was physically present for the start of Legion play, his spirit was still in the playoffs. The junior first baseman-pitcher was 12 for 18 in five postseason games and had three game-winning hits, but he had only two hits in his first 10 at-bats in Legion play.

“It’s a big letdown after all the intensity of the playoffs,” he said. “I feel real lethargic. The games feel like intrasquad games. We played Chatsworth this week and I couldn’t even get up for them.

“But I’m not worried about it. Give me another week, and I’ll get back into it.”

Father against son: For the first time, members of the Cummings family will find themselves on opposite sides of the football field in the 37th Shrine all-star game July 23 at the Rose Bowl. Crespi’s Kyle Cummings has been selected to play for the South team and his father Larry will serve as trainer for the North team.

Larry worked the 1987 game for the South team and when the Shrine committee asked him last year to work the next game for the North, he accepted.

“I had no idea Kyle would be playing this year, but I guess it will be good for him. I’ll be out of his hair,” he said.

Kyle, a 5-11, 230-pound lineman, was selected the Valley area’s Lineman of the Year by The Times. He was a first-team All-Del Rey League selection at both nose guard and center. He will attend Colorado next fall where he has been invited to try out for the football team as a walk-on. He had a similar invitation at Oregon State.

Larry will remain at Crespi as an assistant coach and is probably locked in for the next three seasons. A second son, Clint, was MVP of the freshman team.

A day on the bay: One of Tommy Lasorda’s favorite lines, used to denigrate light-hitting batters, is, “He couldn’t hit water if he fell out of a boat.”

Last week, Steve Marden--who occasionally comes up with a good one-liner himself--could have. Hit water, that is.

For the third consecutive year, members of the San Fernando faculty invaded Marina del Rey and rented sailboats and anything else that would float. The San Fernando Yacht Club, as it has been dubbed, spent the afternoon cruising Santa Monica Bay.

“Imagine 60 of us out there overtaking the marina,” Marden said. “Actually, it’s just a nice way to end the year--a day on the bay, racing around, with dinner afterward.”

No ships were reported lost.

Staff writer Steve Elling contributed to this notebook.