American Legion Notebook : Kerber Hurt by Agony of Success

When a guy sits behind the dish, he takes his share of punishment. And the way Mike Kerber sees it, a guy has to dish it out, too.

Kerber, the 1987 City Section 4-A Division Player of the Year as a junior at Canoga Park High and a two-time Times’ All-Valley selection, is usually the Woodland Hills (West) catcher. After playing in the Bernie Milligan All-Star Game on Saturday, however, catching was about the last thing he wanted to do in Sunday’s doubleheader.

Kerber, who will attend UCLA in the fall, was nearly flattened by a foul tip in the Milligan game, his right shoulder taking a pounding like a punching bag.

“It hit me so hard it almost bounced all the way back to the pitcher,” Kerber said. “I guess it’s more of a muscle bruise than anything, but it really hurts.”

Kerber, who doubles as a right-handed pitcher and went 4-4 with an earned-run average of 2.84 for Canoga Park last season, was so sore Saturday night that he was unable to raise his arm higher than his shoulder.

Twenty-four hours later, unable to pitch or catch, he found another way to contribute. As the designated-hitter, Kerber tripled in the first game and was 3 for 3 with a homer and three runs batted in in the second as Woodland Hills swept Sepulveda, 6-1 and 10-6.

Add Woodland Hills (West): Coach Gary Gibson calls it the “Mac Attack,” primarily because of the last names of a particular threesome, yet partly because he has some 100% prime beef in the lineup.

Through last weekend, Ryan McGuire (10 for 26), Dan McAdoo (7 for 25) and Carl McFadden (5 for 14) have not exactly been small fries. McGuire and McFadden both started for El Camino Real last season while McAdoo, a 1987 graduate of Faith Baptist, played at the University of San Diego.

Dust to dusted: Woodland Hills (East) left-hander Travis Arsenault was cruising along in Saturday’s game against Chatsworth with a 4-3 lead in the sixth, threatening to hand Chatsworth its first loss of the year, when a not-so-funny thing happened. Or, at least the umpire didn’t laugh.

Angry over a pitch that was called a ball, Arsenault made a trip toward home plate--which was followed by a trip to the showers.

“He thought he was getting squeezed,” Woodland Hills (East) Coach Don Hornback said. “So he walked up there, reached over and dusted off the plate.”

The home plate umpire immediately booted Arsenault. Chatsworth, with two runs in the seventh, then kicked dirt in a few faces, taking a 5-4 win.

“He was in control,” Hornback said of Arsenault’s pitching, but not necessarily of his composure. “He stays in and we probably win.”

A Royal pain: It was bad enough that Royal lost the second game of a doubleheader, 14-11, on Sunday to Conejo to fall to 0-6 in District 16 play. But the team found ways to inflict even more pain on itself.

In the sixth inning, with a Conejo runner on third base and Royal trailing, 9-0, a routine fly ball to center turned into a, well, bang-bang play at second.

Royal center fielder Jason Jones caught the ball in shallow center and fired it back to the infield. Unfortunately, shortstop David Bernstein was expecting a throw through to home plate.

Bang, the ball hits Bernstein. Bang, he hits the ground.

“Jones nailed him right in the back of the knee,” Royal Coach Bryan Mulligan said. “He was trying to go home but he threw it right on a line, practically into the ground. We almost had to drag Bernstein off the field.”

Jason Part IV: Jason Shapiro of Woodland Hills (East) has been hit by a pitched ball four times in his first six games.