The High Schools : Games Provide Salve to Strike Scars

Had the teachers’ strike against the Los Angeles Unified School District lasted even one more day, the 1989 City Section 4-A Division baseball season would have bequeathed a legacy of rancor, acrimony and frustration.

Fortunately, that sobering double-play combination was averted by an 11th-hour bailout prompted by Thursday’s settlement of the strike. City Section Commissioner Hal Harkness acted decisively on a plan devised by Steve Marden of San Fernando and other 4-A coaches to salvage the season.

In the end everybody got most of what they wanted. The coaches maintained their pledge to boycott the season until the strike ended, the City athletic office is staging the playoffs with no more than the usual conflict with academics, and parents get to watch their sons enjoy what they have wanted all along--the opportunity to win a City title in Dodger Stadium.

The most surprising aspect of the nearly three-week ordeal is how quickly the wounds are healing. A few ballgames can be amazingly therapeutic.

By the time Thursday’s championship game rolls around, few will be talking about the coaches’ boycott and the divisiveness that had threatened to tear programs apart. That will mark quite a reversal. The sound of cheering fans has a decidedly more appealing ring than the squawking that ensued when Harkness announced the cancellation of the playoffs Tuesday, the day before the tournament was scheduled to start. Because only a minority of schools were willing to field teams without the boycotting coaches, Harkness ruled that the season was over. Two days later, he reversed himself.

But Tuesday was a low point. Disappointed players said that they felt abandoned by their coaches and they objected to the refusal by the City athletic office to consider a postponement. Simmering resentment of the coaches by some parents boiled over with Chatsworth Coach Bob Lofrano, one of the boycott leaders, serving as a prime target.

Lofrano coached Chatsworth to its ninth consecutive league title this year and has boosted his 11-year career record to 185-57. He is widely regarded as one of the area’s top coaches and no one has ever questioned his commitment to baseball. He single-handedly runs the City’s winter-league season and coaches top players on an all-star scout team each fall. He also had been elected by his peers to serve on the City’s Interscholastic Athletics Committee.

But that didn’t prevent the parent of one Chatsworth player to declare Tuesday that, “Lofrano has totally destroyed the Chatsworth baseball program because of his role in the boycott. We have always thought he was a nice guy, a good teacher and coach. And he never belittles the players. But if coaches think they can just walk back in, they’ve got another think coming.”

Some parents may never forgive the coaches, but any resentment from players apparently was swept away during team meetings before Friday’s first-round games.

We had a team meeting and there was some shouting,” Kennedy shortstop Gino Tagliaferri said. “Some players were bitter because they felt the coaches were saying we didn’t mean anything to them. But we got it off our chests and we had the best practice we’ve had all season.”

For all the acrimony of the past two weeks, the first-round games went off without a hitch. Coaches felt no qualms about picking up where they left off, and, although no one was carried off the field on the shoulders of his players, scars from the strike were difficult to find.

The men who deserve the most credit for the reinstatement of the playoffs are Marden and Harkness. Marden devised the plan that got the ball rolling when he sensed Wednesday night that a settlement was imminent. He also realized that Thursday was the absolute deadline because of the district’s refusal to consider a postponement.

After Marden gained approval from his fellow coaches, he persuaded Harkness to agree to a Thursday morning meeting. Marden woke up Thursday to the news that the strike was over, but he feared that the district would harbor a grudge against the coaches and stand by the decision to cancel the playoffs.

“I thought they were going to tear our heads off,” he said.

But when Marden, Lofrano, Sylmar’s Gary Donatella and University’s Frank Cruz walked into Harkness’ office, the deal already was done. Harkness had arrived at work at 7 a.m., drew up his modification of Marden’s plan, and then won the approval of his bosses in the senior high school division and of the 16 school principals whose teams were in the playoffs.

“I know Steve Marden well enough that I listen to what he has to say,” Harkness said. “The only reason I considered the plan was because there would be no extension of the playoffs. It wasn’t just playing in Dodger Stadium. I don’t care if they played the game in Grant’s Tomb, the playoffs would not go beyond June 1.”

Said Marden: “It’s encouraging to receive that support from Hal Harkness. I’ve been in the district for 20 years and he’s the premier person we’ve had in that position.”

Looks like there’s no scars between the coaches and the district, either.

Southern Section pairings: Match-ups have been announced for Tuesday’s semifinal round of the Southern Section baseball playoffs. In games involved Valley-area teams, Hart will play South Hills at Covina’s Gladstone High in a 4-A game; Saugus will play Ontario at College of the Canyons in a 3-A game; and in a 1-A game, Village Christian will play Beaumont at Yucaipa High.

All games will start at 3 p.m.