Prep Review / Elliott Teaford : Playoff Spots Up for Grabs as Baseball Season Winds Down

A plea for order in the final week of the baseball season.

The final week of regular-season play begins Tuesday for most Orange County teams and several are in the midst of heated playoff races.

The Garden Grove and Sea View leagues feature first-place ties going into the season’s final two games. Only one league title has been decided. Anaheim High School has clinched the Orange League championship.

The rest are up in the air.

The top three teams in each league qualify for the Southern Section playoffs, which begin next week. Fourth-place teams must await a possible at-large invitation. Playoff pairings will be announced next Monday.

Here’s a closer look, league by league, at the playoff picture:

Angelus (5-A)

Mater Dei (8-1 in league play) has clinched a share of the league title. Servite needs to win both games against Mater Dei this week to have a shot at the No. 3 spot.

Century (4-A)

League-leading Foothill (10-3) has the inside track at the title. The Knights play second-place El Modena (9-4) twice this week and that will determine the champion. Santa Ana also is 9-4 and has clinched a playoff spot.

Empire (5-A)

Loara (10-3) has a two-game lead on second-place El Dorado (8-5). The real battle is for third between Katella (7-6) and Los Alamitos (7-6). They do not play each other this week, however.

Freeway (4-A)

Sunny Hills (11-2) leads Troy (10-3), but this week’s two-game set between the teams will determine the champion. Fullerton (8-5) leads La Habra (7-6) for the third spot. The teams play each other twice this week.

Garden Grove (3-A)

Kennedy and Pacifica are tied for the league lead with 10-2 records. Kennedy plays fourth-place Rancho Alamitos (6-6) Tuesday and seventh-place Bolsa Grande (3-9) Thursday. Pacifica plays third-place La Quinta (9-3) Tuesday and fifth-place Santiago (5-7) Thursday. La Quinta has clinched the No. 3 spot.

Orange (4-A)

Anaheim (12-1) has clinched the league title, its first since 1981. Western (7-5) is alone in second place. Valencia and Brea-Olinda, with 5-8 marks, will fight for third. They do not play each other this week.

Pacific Coast (3-A)

Laguna Hills (12-1) leads the pack, but faces second-place Trabuco Hills (11-2) twice this week. Orange (8-5) has clinched third place.

Sea View (3-A)

Estancia and Tustin are tied for first with 10-3 records. Estancia plays fourth-place University (7-6) twice this week and Tustin plays fifth-place Corona del Mar (4-9). University and Saddleback are tied for third with 7-6 records. Saddleback plays last-place Newport Harbor (1-12).

South Coast (4-A)

Mission Viejo (9-4) leads Capistrano Valley (8-5) and Irvine (7-6) for the league lead. Mission Viejo plays last-place Dana Hills (4-9) twice. Capistrano Valley plays fifth-place San Clemente (5-8). Irvine plays fourth-place El Toro (6-7).

Sunset (5-A)

Fountain Valley (9-4) is alone in first place and in good shape for the league championship. Westminster (8-5) is second. Ocean View is 7-6 and in third. Fountain Valley plays last-place Marina (4-9) Tuesday and fifth-place Huntington Beach (5-8) Friday. Westminster plays Huntington Beach Tuesday and fourth-place Edison (6-7) Friday.

Add playoffs: Softball pairings also will be announced next Monday. Badminton and volleyball pairings will be announced today. Tennis pairings will be announced Tuesday.

No respect: First, the graphics people at ESPN didn’t have Mark Junkermann, a former Los Alamitos and UCLA distance runner, listed in the entries before the start of the mile at the S&W; Modesto Invitational Saturday.

Once the race started, Larry Rawson, ESPN’s announcer, didn’t mention Junkermann, who was running strongly in the lead pack.

When Junkermann charged home in third place--behind Olympians Doug Padilla of Utah, who won in 4 minutes 0.35 seconds, and Julius Kariuki of Kenya, who was second in 4:00.59--Rawson finally mentioned him. But he mispronounced his name.

The J in Junkermann is soft like a Y.

But that wasn’t the worst of it. When the Associated Press sent the results of the meet over the wires Saturday evening, Junkermann’s name was nowhere to be found.

Officially, third went to Wes Ashford, a runner for the Maccabi Track Club. That’s the way it appeared in newspaper results the next morning.

Television replays clearly showed Junkermann finishing third and Ashford appeared to be no better than fifth.

Junkermann said his troubles began early Saturday when he tried to get on a special charter flight from L.A. to Modesto. His name wasn’t on the reservations list but after some haggling, he was allowed to board.

At the meet, Junkermann’s name also wasn’t on the list of official entries, though he was listed in the meet program. And officials were not going to allow him to run.

“I ended up sneaking on the track,” Junkermann said.

He enlisted the help of Padilla, a track and field veteran who helped get Junkermann added to the field. Junkermann said the pre-race confusion was the reason he wasn’t listed in the results.

“They announced (in the stadium) Charles Marsala as third,” Junkermann said. “But he dropped out. I went up to the press box and got them to change it. I don’t know how it got that way in the papers.”

Better days are ahead for Junkermann, though. He is graduating from UCLA in June and is getting married in August.

All-Star coaching assignments: South Coach Bob Canary of Dana Hills High School and North Coach Dave Torres of Anaheim have named their assistants for the 22nd Orange County All-Star baseball game June 13 at Anaheim’s Glover Stadium.

Canary will be assisted by Dave Demarest of La Quinta and Vince Brown of Tustin.

Torres named Chris Pascal of Kennedy and Doug Elliot of Sunny Hills as his assistants. The coaches will announce their rosters next week.

Basketball tournament update: Roy Englebrecht, director of the Tournament of Champions, has announced that 16 teams have signed contracts to compete in December at Ocean View.

Defending champion Mater Dei, runner-up Ocean View and third-place finisher Capistrano Valley are among the top teams scheduled to play. Other county schools include Los Alamitos, Servite and Brea-Olinda.

The tournament features three honorable-mention all-state players from last season--Keith Walker of Brea, Ryan Jamison of Loyola and Scott McCorkle of Capistrano Valley.

In other tournaments:

-- Fountain Valley Coach Dave Brown has announced that he has canceled the Fountain Valley tournament because of a lack of entries. -- The Irvine World News tournament, which traditionally has been a 32-team draw, has been reduced to 16 teams.

-- The Orange tournament at Chapman College is still trying to fill out its 16-team field.

Prep Notes

San Clemente High will play host to the South Orange County Weightlifting Invitational May 20. There is separate competition for boys and girls. About 30 schools are expected to attend. . . . Chad Barker, a Villa Park water polo player and Rick Pallow, a Mater Dei football player, are among the 20 finalists for the state’s scholar-athlete of the year award. The winner will be honored at the state track and field meet June 3 at Cerritos College. . . . Mike Henigan, Fountain Valley athletic director, is accepting applications for a varsity soccer coach in a walk-on capacity to replace Gerald Ashby. Interested parties can contact Henigan at 962-3301. . . . Mater Dei’s nonleague basketball game against Artesia and its Parade All-American forward, Ed O’Bannon, is scheduled to be televised on the SportsChannel Jan. 12 from Cal State Long Beach. . . . Ocean View’s basketball team has accepted an invitation to compete in the 16-team Great Florida Shootout scheduled for Dec. 19-22 in Kissammee, Fla. . . . Edison has an opening for a girls’ basketball coach to replace Randy Williams, who resigned his position. Applicants can contact Bruce Belcher, girls’ athletic director, at 962-3838.