Notebook : Channel League Teams Bid Goodby to Schedule Byes

Athletic directors from the Channel League are finding out what it’s like to run a football league and not know how many teams will be participating.

They held a meeting Tuesday at Santa Barbara High to revise schedules to accommodate the return of Dos Pueblos High.

Dos Pueblos received a stay of execution May 10 when the Santa Barbara Board of Education voted to keep the school open another year while an environmental impact report on its closure is prepared.

If you’re not keeping track, Dos Pueblos has returned from the dead more times than Jason Voorhees, the masked villain from “Friday the 13th” sagas.

Dos Pueblos was expected to merge with San Marcos to form one school, which would have reduced the Channel League to seven members. The remaining league schools have been scrambling to find nonleague opponents to fill the bye such a move would have created in their 1989 football schedules.

Now that Dos Pueblos has been given new life, Channel League schools are obligated to play the Chargers regardless if they have to break contracts to do so, the Southern Section office ruled.

Buena Athletic Director Joe Vaughan is one of five that has an ax to grind over the affair. The Bulldogs were forced to cancel a trip to play at Camarillo during the eighth week of the season.

“I don’t understand the Dos Pueblos situation,” Vaughan said. “They’re here today, gone tomorrow and back again.

“We had to cancel a contract with Camarillo and that bothers me. It’s so hard to find a nonleague opponent, especially this late in the year. I’m going to try and help (Camarillo).”

Other nonleague games to be canceled were Hueneme-Arroyo; Santa Barbara-Channel Islands; San Marcos-Simi Valley; and Ventura-Loyola.

Only Oxnard and Rio Mesa had not scheduled nonleague games to replace their anticipated bye.

Saintly guests: Santa Clara might not be welcome in Orange County, but Frontier League teams enjoyed the Saints.

Santa Clara received the “Shake Hands for Sportsmanship Award” for displaying the best sportsmanship in league competition in all sports.

Five students from the school’s athletic program will receive tickets to attend the Cincinnati Reds-Dodgers game Monday, June 12, and will be honored during the pregame ceremonies at Dodger Stadium.

Winning schools from each of the 64 Southern Section leagues were judged for “participation, enthusiasm, behavior at home and on road games, treatment of opponents and treatment of referees.”

Santa Clara receives its award despite being placed on a one-year probation by the Southern Section office for failing to play two games in a basketball tournament in Orange County.

On the road again: The Santa Clara basketball team will play two games in San Diego and one against Quartz Hill to compensate for being barred from playing in any regular-season tournaments next year.

The Saints will play Valhalla High of El Cajon on Dec. 16 and University High of San Diego on Dec. 18. The next day, they travel north to play Quartz Hill.

The Vahalla game will match Tony Clark, the leading scorer in San Diego County as a junior, against Shon Tarver, the Southern Section 2-A Division Player of the Year.

Needs one: Scott Sharts of Simi Valley hit 32 home runs in his career to set the Southern Section record. But his year-old record may be in jeopardy.

Dan Melendez of St. Bernard hit his 31st home run, a three-run shot against St. Anthony on Friday, to move into second place on the all-time list.

Melendez, who received a baseball scholarship from Pepperdine, will have an opportunity to tie the mark when the fourth-seeded Vikings play Pomona in the 2-A Division playoffs this week.

The Viking home field measures 250 feet to left, 290 to right and 350 to center. Tim Williams, a former St. Bernard standout, had 23 home runs and was ranked third on the all-time list.

Shopping around: Southern Utah dropped its baseball program Saturday, leaving catcher Joe Sturges of Thousand Oaks without a team for his last two years of eligibility.

Sturges, a sophomore, batted .315 with four home runs and 33 runs batted in this season and earned a Scioscia-like reputation for blocking the plate.

The 6-foot, 210-pound catcher also started at inside linebacker for the Southern Utah football team--leading the team in interceptions with three and ranking second in tackles with 103--but he wants to transfer and concentrate on baseball.

Because Southern Utah dropped its baseball program, players who transfer do not lose a year of eligibility.

Home run watch: Buena has had nine players hit home runs this season. Hueneme, meanwhile, had just two home runs as a team. . . . Pinch-hitter Jason Phipps of Buena has four hits in 19 at-bats, but three are home runs and two are grand slams. . . . Wayne McPhail of St. Bonaventure became the first player to hit a home run over the second fence at St. Bonaventure. His two-run shot against Carpinteria on Friday traveled past the four-foot interior fence and over a 12-foot-high wall 50 feet away. Seraph Coach Dennis Johnson estimated the ball traveled 350 feet.

Going to state: Moorpark College will open its first trip to the state junior college softball championships with a first-round game against West Valley College on Friday at 2 p.m. at Golden West College in Huntington Beach.

The Lady Raiders (35-10), seeded third from the South, earned their first berth to the double-elimination state tournament by defeating El Camino College in a best-of-three regional tournament last week.

If Moorpark wins, it will play either Palomar or Fresno City College on Friday at 8 p.m. The Lady Raiders will play Saturday at 10 a.m. if they lose their first-round game.

The Lady Raiders are only the third Moorpark team to qualify for a state playoff berth and the first Moorpark women’s team. Moorpark advanced to the state baseball playoffs in 1978 and the Raiders won the state golf title in 1981.

Sophomore right-hander De Dow (27-7) is expected to start for Moorpark. Dow has compiled a 45-13 record in two seasons at Moorpark and is a two-time Western State Conference Pitcher of the Year selection.

Dow tied Karen Mead’s record for single-season victories (27) and career victories this season.

Dow will also be inducted into the Ventura County Sports Hall of Fame on May 27 along with two-time state heavyweight wrestling champion Vince Plymire.