After a Long Search for a Winner, Costic Built His Own Near Home

Tim Costic stood at second base at Dodger Stadium, and for the first time that night the Monroe High junior first baseman allowed himself to take in the sights.

“I saw how big the place was,” he said. “The grass was so green and the place looked beautiful. The scoreboard was really big in the outfield and I saw the fans going crazy in the stands. I realized then that I really was at Dodger Stadium.”

Costic, The Times’ Valley Player of the Year, had the look of a winner that night after he doubled home the decisive run in Monroe’s 3-2 win over San Fernando in the City Section 4-A Division championship game June 2. The victory capped the Vikings’ improbable run through the playoffs, giving the school its first baseball championship in 14 years.

Monroe became an unlikely champion, winning the title despite a losing record of 13-16 and a fourth-place finish in the Mid-Valley League. The Vikings had to win a tiebreaker game with Birmingham just to reach the first round of the playoffs.

And the Vikings’ arrival atop the City baseball heap seemed as unlikely as Costic’s arrival at Monroe.

Costic grew up a long home run from the Monroe baseball field, just around the corner from the Sepulveda school. By the time he reached high school age, he already was a Little League legend. As a 14-year-old, he co-starred with future Monroe teammate Brian Eldridge on the Mission Hills all-star team.

They reached the Senior Little League World Series in Gary, Ind., before losing to Taiwan and placing fourth. Costic led the team to the divisional round of the playoffs a year later, establishing himself as a promising young high school player.

But at which high school he would play remained unsettled. Because of Monroe’s flagging performance in recent years on the athletic fields, the Costic family was reluctant to assign Tim to the anonymity of playing for losing programs. Not only did the baseball team have its problems, but the basketball program struggled, too, and Costic planned to play both sports in high school.

“Monroe just didn’t have a good reputation in basketball and baseball,” Costic said. “People were telling me to go somewhere else. Even the students there said their sports program wasn’t much.”

Tim’s father Chris checked out private schools and was so dubious of Monroe’s athletics programs that he considered sending Tim to a different City Section school, fully knowing the idea violated City rules.

City Section bylaws mandate that in order for a student to attend a school other than the one in his geographical area, he must move and establish a new residence. The Costics had no intention of moving.

“We talked about getting a phony address,” Chris said. “I knew it took place in Little League and I heard it took place in high school. I don’t believe in kids moving around. I think it’s improper and tends to unbalance the competition. But we talked about it.”

The Costics talked with Art Martinez, the former Taft High coach who was active in the Mission Hills Little League, and he advised against the deception, pointing out that Tim could lose his eligibility if he were caught.

“Art said that some people moved around and the City can’t police it real well, but it would have been tough living with myself if we went that route,” Chris said.

Besides, the idea unnerved Tim.

“I wouldn’t have felt right about it. I knew the other guys I played with were going there and I wanted to keep playing with them. I knew we had some good players going there so I figured, ‘How bad could we be?’ ”

While the Costics weighed their decision during the spring of Tim’s final year at Holmes Junior High, he and his father scouted Monroe’s rookie baseball coach, Kevin Campbell. After a few visits, the decision became clear. They liked what they saw in Campbell, who found the best route to the Costics’ heart: He shared their passion for a well-kept field.

“We really like the way he worked on the field. It looked good, like someone cared about it,” Chris said.

The senior Costic works as an administrator in the grants department at UCLA but has spent much of his free time in recent years with a rake in his hand. When Tim joined the now-defunct Sepulveda Little League, his father became the league’s unofficial groundskeeper, a role he continued when Tim moved to the Mission Hills league. His trusted assistant at both jobs was Tim.

“I’ve always roped him into it and he’s been pretty cooperative,” Chris said of his son. “He would even mow the grass before his games.”

When Campbell needed someone to tend to the Monroe field last summer, he turned to the Costics, who added that field to their list of credits.

“I asked Tim if he wouldn’t mind watering the field because he lived so close,” Campbell said. “Not only had they watered it, but they edged the entire infield and pitcher’s mound and pulled all the weeds from the infield. It looked great.”

But Campbell gained more than a good groundskeeper when Costic enrolled at Monroe. The Vikings missed the playoffs last season and stumbled to a 5-10 league mark and an 8-16 record by the end of this spring’s regular season. But he couldn’t fault Costic.

At the time, he was batting better than .400 and was second among Valley hitters from City schools in runs batted in. He also ranked in the top 10 in home runs, triples and doubles.

And that was before he put together a remarkable string of five games that vaulted the Vikings to the City championship. In 20 plate appearances in the postseason, he reached base 14 times. He had 12 hits, 5 for extra bases, and drove in 11 runs. Three times he drove home the winning run in Monroe’s last at-bat. He also won two games and saved another as a pitcher.

“It was weird,” Monroe catcher Adam Clark said. “He didn’t seem nervous at all. He just kept coming through for us.”

A game-by-game breakdown shows a winning blend of excellence and timing: Costic picked the right two weeks to get hot.

May 20: Monroe 13, Birmingham 4: Costic was 3 for 4 and had three RBIs as the Vikings won a tiebreaker with their league rival to advance to the playoffs. Costic remembers the game for his “almost” home run.

“I hit a ball that looked like it went over the center-field fence and when I got to second base and no one said anything I went into my home run trot,” he said. “I went all the way around the bases and got into the dugout and took my helmet off before the umps said it bounced over the fence. I felt kind of funny going back to second base.”

May 25: Monroe 4, Poly 2 (8 innings): Costic was 2 for 4, knocked in a run and recorded the final three outs to save the win for sophomore Sean Henson. Costic won the game in the top of the eighth inning when Poly right fielder Harold Whiteside misplayed his single to right into a three-base error, allowing three runs to score.

The hit came against Poly’s All-City left-hander, Greg Nealon, who nearly retired Costic a pitch before his single, but Costic’s foul fly ball barely eluded left-fielder Eddie Chavez, giving Costic another shot.

“He was running and it would have been a good catch, but he couldn’t hold it. I got a fastball on the next pitch and getting a hit off an All-City left-hander was a good accomplishment,” said Costic, who bats and throws left-handed.

May 27: Monroe 5, Banning 4 (8 innings): Costic pitched a complete game and was 2 for 3 and drove in four runs. With the score tied, 2-2, in the eighth, Costic ripped a three-run home run at Banning that landed into a swimming pool beyond the right-field fence. Costic said the home run was among the hardest balls he has hit, but what he remembers most is his pitching. A nerve injury near his left elbow had kept him off the mound since the start of the season.

“I was around the plate the whole game, which surprised me because I hadn’t pitched much,” he said. “My stamina was good and my legs felt good. Everything was just going my way.”

May 31: Monroe 9, Canoga Park 7: Another complete-game win for Costic, who also was 2 for 3 and had two RBIs. The Vikings needed a lucky bounce in the bottom of the seventh to quiet a rally by the defending City champion.

Canoga Park struck for two runs in the seventh, but when Adrian Garcia tried to stretch a bloop single to short right field into a double with two out, second baseman Tom Konkel gunned him down on a one-hop throw to Eldridge.

“Brian moved in and blocked the bag and put the tag on him,” Costic said. “After the game he told me he caught the ball with his bare hand. Whatever we needed in the playoffs, we got it.”

June 2: Monroe 3, San Fernando 2: Costic was 3 for 4 and drove in the game-winning run in the seventh when he doubled home Joe Marquis. Costic victimized Vince Ortega with Frank Serna warming up in the bullpen.

Serna played with Costic on the Mission Hills all-star team when they were both 14. Costic was hitless in three at-bats against Serna during the regular season, but he didn’t fear a showdown.

“I hit him pretty good in Little League,” he said. “If he came in I would have been confident. I was confident all during the game.”

Costic worked Ortega to a 3-1 count and looked for a fastball. He got one on the inside part of the plate and the next thing he knew he was at second base.

“I was thinking this is the place where the Guerreros play,” he said. “Everything felt really good. I was standing out there looking around and I had goose bumps.”

SECOND TEAM

Player School Pos. Casey Burrill Hart C Joe Cascione St. Genevieve INF Javier Delahoya Grant INF Tom Dodson Saugus INF Albert Torres San Fernando INF Denny Vigo El Camino Real INF Brian Smith Agoura INF Jon Kukawski Grant INF Shawn Madden San Fernando OF Gary Morgan Canyon OF Brian Roth Kennedy U Colin Hines Kennedy P Roger Salkeld Saugus P

The Glendale and Ventura County all-star baseball teams appear today in their respective regional editions.