Corrales, Tagliaferri Duel for North Valley RBI Title

Both are seniors and both are shortstops. They play in the same league and both bat third and wear uniform No. 15, but Bobby Corrales of San Fernando and Gino Tagliaferri of Kennedy are decidedly different hitters. They are, however, neck and neck in the race for the North Valley League leadership in runs batted in with five regular-season games remaining.

Heading into this week’s games, the power-hitting Tagliaferri had five doubles, two triples, eight home runs and a .371 average in 70 at-bats.

Corrales, a contact hitter who had two doubles and no home runs, was batting .437 and had struck out just twice in 71 at-bats.

Although their methods have been different, the results have been the same: As of Monday, Corrales had 29 RBIs and Tagliaferri had 28.

All-around: Pat Bryant is surely Cleveland’s fastest player--in fact, he is second among Valley-area City Section players with 17 stolen bases--but he also shares or holds the team lead in six additional offensive categories. Bryant, a junior outfielder, leads the team in hits (24), batting average (.453), runs scored (17), extra-base hits (eight), doubles (three) and home runs (three). He also ranks second with two triples, and, despite batting in the leadoff position, is tied for second in RBIs with 11.

Whether he is at the plate or on the mound, Chris DeCristo of Chaminade is one reason why the Eagles (9-11, 4-2) are tied for first with Notre Dame and La Salle in the San Fernando Valley League standings. DeCristo is batting .316 with three home runs and 10 RBIs in league play, including game-winning RBIs against Harvard and St. Genevieve. The left-handed senior is 2-0 with a 1.04 earned-run average in league play. In 6 2/3 innings, DeCristo has given up two hits, struck out six and walked six.

Home runs: Chatsworth’s failure to hit a home run in two losses to San Fernando last week undoubtedly made the Tigers’ upset sweep easier. The Chancellors entered the series with 18, and four players had hit three or more. At the other end of the spectrum, catcher Rudy Sanchez led San Fernando in home runs with one.

Offense: Ponder the production of junior first baseman Ryan McGuire of El Camino Real. McGuire, last season’s Cal-Hi Sports sophomore Player of the Year, has only eight hits and is batting just .211. Yet his on-base percentage is .490. McGuire has reached base 25 times in 51 plate appearances and has scored eight runs. He has 13 walks and has struck out six times.

Hart is batting .346 and has four players hitting better than .400. The Indians have 66 extra-base hits--41 of which are doubles--a .465 on-base percentage and 58 stolen bases.

Saugus’ Matt Tull is batting a team-high .460--a .593 average in Golden League play--and has an overall on-base percentage of .748. He has walked 20 times, leads the team with nine doubles and has struck out only four times.

In his past seven games, Royal center fielder Jason Jones has 15 hits in 21 at-bats, including four home runs, nine RBIs and 11 runs scored. With three games left, Jones has 32 hits, eight shy of the school record set by Dan Russell in 1981.

Jason Cohen of El Camino Real was six for seven last week, raising his average from .387 to a team-high .473. Cohen had three doubles, one triple and five RBIs.

Pitching: Saugus’ team earned-run average is 2.28 but the combined ERA of starters Roger Salkeld (0.72) and Scott Warr (1.65) is only 0.95. . . . Hart pitchers have a combined ERA of 1.99, 103 strikeouts and 31 walks.

Records: This has been a record-breaking season at Newbury Park (17-2-3), No. 1 in The Times’ Valley poll. Danny Madsen has set the single-season RBI record at 30 but is being chased by Geoff Black (29), who also has tied the record for home runs (6) and runs scored (31). Black, a senior outfielder, has seven doubles, three short of the school mark, and his 36 hits are four shy of another record.

Stolen bases: Westlake’s Tim Falsken was caught stealing for the first time this year when he was thrown out by Mark Contreras of Channel Islands last week. His 19 steals are a school record and four shy of the school career record.

St. Genevieve has stolen 63 bases in 72 attempts (87.5%). Mike Cassidy is 14 of 16, Carlos Concha is 12 of 14 and Joe Cascione is perfect in 10 attempts.