Coaches Upset Over Decision to Cancel Playoffs

Syl Saavedra was bitter and disillusioned.

Jerry Lovarov mostly felt sad.

The reactions of two of the South Bay’s leading L.A. City 4-A baseball coaches spilled out Tuesday after they learned that City Athletic Commissioner Hal Harkness had canceled the playoffs.

The playoffs were scheduled to begin Wednesday, but because of a boycott by all 16 of the playoff-bound 4-A coaches and an unwillingness of administrators at most of those schools to assume coaching duties, the postseason tournament was called off.

Saavedra, coach at Banning High, is proud that the 4-A baseball coaches have stuck together and refused to cross picket lines during the teachers strike. However, he is upset that none of the coaches of other spring sports have followed suit.

Playoff competition in track, softball, volleyball and swimming has gone on and the 3-A baseball playoffs opened Wednesday.

“I’m not a little bitter, I’m a lot bitter,” said Saavedra, as he walked the picket line outside Banning. “I think it’s very frustrating to know that we as 4-A coaches have taken it upon ourselves to make a statement. It really upsets me that the 3-A is playing.

“There’s a lot of bitterness and frustration among the 4-A coaches. I think if they took a vote right now to play, everybody would play because everybody else is playing. But we’re going to stick with (the boycott).”

For Lovarov, it marks the first time in 28 years as San Pedro High’s coach that he will not complete the season. The Pirates finished with a 16-8 record and the Southern-Pacific Conference championship, one game ahead of Banning.

“It leaves me a little empty,” he said. “You get in a routine of working with these kids for many, many months. We started in early January with the screening process, and we spent time playing on Saturdays and during Easter vacation. We teach the kids that once you make a commitment, you have an obligation as a member of the team to finish the season. It’s like we didn’t finish the job.”

Dale Johnson, San Pedro’s junior catcher, had just finished watching Mary Star’s CIF-Southern Section playoff game Tuesday when he was informed by a reporter of the cancellation.

“I feel sorry for the seniors,” Johnson said. “We had a good shot (at winning the City title). They took it away from the seniors. We’ve been working out every day hoping they would settle (the strike) so we could play.”

The 4-A coaches voted last week to suspend the season until the end of the strike despite a recommendation by the L.A. City Coaches Assn. that allowed coaches to honor picket lines and direct their teams after school.

Saavedra and Lovarov said the recommendation weakened the position of the teachers union by giving teachers the green light to coach.

“It would have been nice if the coaches association had taken a stronger stand,” Lovarov said. “You’ve got to make a commitment. Either you do it one way, or you don’t do it at all.”

Said Saavedra: “It would be great if I could go out and coach and then come back back and picket. That’s dynamite. That’s like having your cake and ice cream and everything else.”

Saavedra has experience in union holdouts. As a truck driver in 1969, he was on strike for several months.

“A lot of people are asking me about it, and I tell them, ‘Hey, you just have to weather the storm,’ ” he said. “I’m going to be out here until it ends. If it’s (Sept. 15), I’m still out here.”

However, Saavedra doesn’t know if he’ll return as baseball coach.

“I’m going to have to sit down and reevaluate my position next year,” he said. “I really don’t know if I’m going to be back.”

Saavedra seemed disillusioned by the division in ranks among City coaches.

“Right now, as far as baseball goes, we’ve lost,” he said. “We had a pretty good ballclub. I’m not saying we could have won it all, but we could have won some (playoff) games. But right now I’ve lost completely.

“At the same time there are other coaches who are still coaching their sport and have a chance to win a City championship. And they’re still on the picket line. I don’t understand it.”

Lovarov, who felt San Pedro’s experienced team could make a strong showing in the playoffs, wasn’t looking forward to telling his players they couldn’t compete for the 4-A championship.

“They’ll be disappointed,” he said. “We have seven or eight players who were with us last year when we went to the playoffs. They were looking forward to it. They were real concerned (about the strike).

“I feel bad, but the kids who have aspirations of going to Harbor or any other college still have good statistics. We were involved in 24 games. They didn’t get shortchanged experience-wise, but naturally everybody shoots for the big one.”

A case of deja vu ?

Millikan, which rallied for four runs in the last two innings Friday to erase a 3-0 deficit and hand Palos Verdes a 4-3 loss in the CIF-Southern Section 5-A playoffs, won its second-round game Tuesday in the same fashion.

Trailing 3-0, the Rams rallied for four runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to defeat Ocean League champion Culver City, 4-3.

Culver City had a chance to break open the game in the top of the seventh, but after loading the bases with no outs the Centaurs scored only once.

Mary Star’s baseball team put together a 16-game winning streak but ended the season Tuesday by losing to visiting Morro Bay, 9-8, in the second round of the Southern Section 2-A playoffs. The Stars had a bye in the first round.

“It’s a sad way to go for the seniors,” said Coach Frank Ponce De Leon, whose team left the bases loaded in each of the last two innings. “For them to pick this game to have an average or below-average game, that’s what hurts. I can see losing the game if the other team is that much better than us and totally outclasses us, but that wasn’t the case. I don’t think the better team won.

“But ifs go a long way.”

Mary Star outfielder George Pisano had two hits, including a double, to end the season with a 16-game hitting streak.

PREP NOTES--Carson is expected to contend for the boys team title at the L.A. City track finals starting at 4:30 p.m. today at Birmingham High in Van Nuys . . . Edwin Lee of Palos Verdes High shot a 73 to tie eight other golfers for third place Monday at the CIF-Southern Section individual championships in Palm Springs and advance to the Southern California regionals June 12 at Bakersfield Country Club . . . Frank Califano has been named basketball coach at Mary Star, replacing John Bobich, who has become coach at Bel-Air Prep. Califano coached the Mary Star junior varsity team last season.