The High Schools : Stanley Steamer Derails Catchers

In this corner, Jason Stanley. In that corner, a catcher.

Rounds one and two took place this season. And both times, Stanley, a senior outfielder at Canyon, was the one left standing.

Canyon enters the Southern Section 3-A Division playoffs Friday at El Monte. And Stanley, who is completing his third season after three years on the school’s football team, quite likely will be carrying a few bruises into postseason play.

On April 25, Stanley collided with Saugus catcher J. B. Johnson, who was ejected after countering with a burst of profanity.

“The ump said it wasn’t my fault,” explained Stanley, who was not ejected. Stanley claimed that the collision was unavoidable because Johnson stepped into his path at the final second.

“I was going in standing up,” Stanley said. “He didn’t even have the ball. But the (Saugus) coaches were saying how I was using football tactics on the baseball field. It’s happened before.”

Stanley’s steamroller reputation was born his sophomore season when he collided with a Saugus third baseman. Earlier this season, Stanley flattened a Quartz Hill catcher.

Said Stanley, who stands 6 feet and weighs 185 pounds: “He was gonna run me over if I didn’t run him over.”

Stanley said he had been unaware that high school rules prohibit a baserunner from deliberately colliding with the catcher. Stanley, a defensive back, insists that the collisions were unintentional. But he concedes that he has developed a reputation for running the bases like a fullback.

“I’ve had people say that about me for as long as I’ve played baseball,” Stanley said. “For as long as I’ve been at Canyon, anyway.”

Does a football background aid in the art of baserunning?

Said Stanley: “It doesn’t hurt.”

Wasted opportunity: Notre Dame figured to have an outside shot at the Southern Section 1-A Division boys’ track title heading into last week’s prelims at Arcadia High.

But any chance of winning the title evaporated when the Knights dropped the baton in the 400-meter relay and failed to qualify for this week’s finals.

Notre Dame, which has the fastest time (42.32 seconds) in the 1-A this season, held a big lead after the first leg, but Scott Chiu and Angelo Palazzo failed to connect on the second exchange.

To top things off, Garrett Miller--second in the 400 in the San Fernando Valley League finals--was disqualified after a false start in his heat.

Add prelims: Rio Mesa lost two potential scorers in the Southern Section 3-A track prelims at Gahr High on Saturday, but co-Coach Brian FitzGerald still expects the Spartans to contend for boys’ title.

Sophomore Patrick Van Scoy, the Ventura County champion in the discus, failed to qualify in that event, and senior high jumper Jeff Garner did not compete because he was on a basketball recruiting trip to Wyoming.

“Losing Patrick in the discus hurts,” FitzGerald said. “But we still have a good chance at winning the 3-A title. He qualified in the shotput and I expect him to throw very well in the finals Saturday.”

Resurrection: It was late February and Jim Ozella had all the verve of a guy waiting for the switch to be pulled.

“Be nice writing my obituary,” the Alemany baseball coach said one night.

What Ozella had not figured on was the revival of his batting order. Every starter hit better than .300.

Alemany, left for dead, won nine of 12 league games to win the title. “With all the problems this year we’ve had with injuries, these kids have hung tough,” Ozella said. “It’s a testament to them.”

Staff writers Tim Brown, Vince Kowalick and John Ortega contributed to this notebook.