The High Schools /John Ortega : Criticism Proves Constructive for Donatella, Resurgent Sylmar

As meetings go, it might not have rivaled the closed-door sessions of Laker Coach Pat Riley or Dodger Manager Tom Lasorda.

But when Sylmar baseball Coach Gary Donatella encouraged his players to air their grievances at a team meeting after an 11-0 East Valley League loss to Grant 3 1/2 weeks ago, a positive outcome resulted.

Saddled with a 1-2 record at the time, Sylmar (9-3) won its next eight games before losing to Chatsworth, 14-1, in the championship game of the Holt-Goodman tournament at Birmingham last Tuesday.

“Our intensity level has drastically improved since then,” Donatella said. “That’s been the biggest difference. Before, we would play real well for two or three innings, then break down. Now, we expect to play well for seven or how many innings it takes.”

Donatella, a 1972 Sylmar graduate, called the meeting because he was irritated with some players’ inability to handle criticism.

“They listened to what I had to say,” Donatella said. “But when a teammate would try to offer some constructive criticism, some of the guys would give them this ‘Why are you telling me this?’ look.”

“I told them that dealing with criticism is part of baseball. It’s part of playing the game, just like hitting, fielding and pitching. I told them that if you can’t take it, there’s the gate. You can take a hike.”

After his talk, various players began to express their differences. But Donatella was shocked when some of them criticized him.

“I was kind of set back by it at first,” he said. “But then I realized that if I couldn’t take criticism, I shouldn’t be preaching about accepting it.”

Add Donatella: After guiding Marshall to three Northern League titles in six years and the semifinals of the City Section 3-A Division playoffs last year, Donatella was content to remain at the school.

But when Sylmar Coach John Klitsner resigned to take over at Mission College last summer, Donatella jumped at the chance to return to his alma mater, where he played at the varsity level in 1971 and ’72 and coached the junior varsity in ’78 and ’79.

“It was tough to leave Marshall,” Donatella said. “I probably wouldn’t have left there for any other job except the Sylmar position. But the opportunity to coach at my old school was just too good to pass up.”

Musketeer might: After three consecutive losing seasons, one might expect fourth-year Moorpark baseball Coach Mario Porto to be surprised by the Musketeers’ 10-2 start this season.

He is not.

After starting a junior catcher and four sophomores in the infield last year, Porto expected this year’s edition to win--and often.

“I’m a little surprised that we’re 10-2,” Porto said, “but I’m not surprised that we’re winning. We’ve got a lot of good players who got on-the-job training last year.”

Sixth in the seven-team Tri-Valley League last year, Moorpark leads the league with a 6-1 record after a 21-0 blasting of Bishop Diego in a 5 1/2-inning game Friday.

“We’re still a pretty young team,” said Porto, who starts three seniors and six juniors. “But we’ve got a lot of experience. I’ve got several kids who have been with me for two or three years.”

Leadoff hitter Frank Fernandez, who is batting .556 overall and .650 in league play, is one of those players.

Junior Robert Hernandez (6-0, 2.27 earned-run average) is the team’s top pitcher.

Surprise, surprise: With opposing coaches expecting Saugus ace Roger Salkeld (6-0, 0.40 ERA) to start against Antelope Valley on Friday, Centurion Coach Doug Worley threw Golden League opponents a curve by opening instead with Scott Warr.

Warr (4-0) scattered four hits and gave up an unearned run in the first 4 2/3 innings of the Centurions’ 5-1 win before being relieved by Salkeld, who allowed no hits, struck out two and walked two in registering his second save.

“That was the plan all along,” Worley said. “But we didn’t let anyone else know that. We feel we have to beat Palmdale up there to win the league title. And in order to do that, we needed to make a stutter step in the rotation so that Roger could pitch against them on Tuesday.”

Salkeld will now be able to start for Saugus (13-2-2, 7-0) against second-place Canyon (8-8, 5-2) the following week.

Costly injury: Thousand Oaks second baseman Bill Hall (17 for 35, .486 batting average) is likely lost for the season after separating his left shoulder Wednesday against Newbury Park. The junior is also the Lancers’ backup catcher.