American Legion Baseball / Steve Elling : Panorama City Nearly Counted Out Too Soon

Most members of the Woodland Hills West American Legion team started a mental victory countdown after taking a five-run lead in the top of the 10th inning of Sunday’s District 20 championship game, figuring that a berth in Thursday’s Area 6 playoffs was in the bag.

Standing on the pitcher’s mound in the bottom of the inning, however, West right-hander Ryan McGuire was counting down in reverse. What seemed an elementary exercise in recording the last three outs soon became an exercise in elementary math for McGuire, a countdown to near-meltdown in 100-degree heat.

McGuire surrendered four runs and allowed the tying run to reach first before he recorded the last out in top-seeded West’s 12-11 victory over second-seeded Panorama City at Birmingham High.

“He was a mess in that inning,” West Coach Gary Gibson said, “but he finally nailed it down.”

Maybe the term nailed down is a bit strong. Just say McGuire thumb-tacked this one, because he almost blew a 12-7 lead. With the tying run on first and the lead cut to one, McGuire retired Sean Henson on a called strike to end the 4-hour, 15-minute marathon.

“I kept putting guys on base and I was thinking, ‘OK, that’s only two runs.’ And then, ‘OK, that’s only three runs,’ ” McGuire said. “And the next thing I know, Roland De La Maza is up as the tying run.”

Add District 20 final: There were dramatics aplenty, though defensively, it was a clankfest at times. West committed four errors and Panorama City made two, which allowed a total of six unearned runs to score. A handful of other runs were tainted, coming as a result of wild pitches or passed balls.

“I’m sure that from a fan standpoint, it was a great game to watch,” Gibson said. “But from a baseball standpoint, no way.”

Del Marine’s two-run single helped West (23-3) score five times in the top of the 10th to break a 7-7 tie. After Marine’s single gave West a 9-7 lead, Paul Geller lofted a bases-loaded fly ball to right that John Langley dropped. One run scored on the error, and one out later, Jason Mitchell lined a two-run single to left to give West a 12-7 lead.

But Panorama City (21-6) didn’t roll over. Shane Wight singled and Joe Cascione walked to open the 10th, and one out later, Herman Merchan lined a run-scoring single to left. McGuire followed with a walk to Joe Chaparro to load the bases, bringing the red-hot De La Maza to the plate as the tying run. De La Maza homered and doubled in Saturday’s 9-7 win over Woodland Hills East and earlier had singled in a run.

“That’s when I started thinking, ‘I better start doing something right now,’ ” McGuire said. “I thought I’d better start throwing the ball by somebody, and I ended up throwing it by my catcher.”

Facing De La Maza, McGuire fired one to the backstop, allowing Cascione to score from third and the runners to advance. One out later, facing Langley, McGuire skipped another pitch to the screen, and Merchan scored to make it 12-10. Langley followed with a bad-hop single to center that drove in Chaparro and cut the lead to one.

It came down to pitcher against pitcher. McGuire recovered and fanned Henson--who pitched the 10th inning in relief of De La Maza--on three pitches.

Keeping those fielders awake: Now-infamous junk bond king Michael Milken attended Birmingham High, site of the District 20 playoffs. In an elimination game on Saturday, pitchers Rich Shapiro of Woodland Hills East and Doug Maggiora of Newhall-Saugus shared a junk bond, indeed.

With both teams running short on pitching, Maggiora and Shapiro were used as starters in East’s 10-3 win. Overpowering, they weren’t.

Maggiora, a 6-foot-3, 160-pound right-hander who will be a junior at Saugus High, pitched 7 1/3 innings and struck out none. Shapiro, a 5-foot-7, 130-pound right-hander who graduated last month from Taft High, pitched eight innings and struck out one.

Atten-shun: The American Legion is the largest veterans association in the world, with approximately 2.7 million members. When District 16 champion Westlake-Agoura opens play Thursday in the Area 6 playoffs, look for a pair of its Legion baseball vets to play front-and-center roles.

Pitcher Bob Grandpre and infielder Mike Suarez have been on the team since its formation four years ago, and the two 1988 Westlake High graduates are providing leadership and firepower.

Grandpre, a right-hander who has also been employed in the outfield and at first base, third base and designated-hitter, is 9-0 with an earned-run average of 3.15 and is batting .384 with 29 runs batted in. Suarez, who plays second base, is batting .416 with an area-high 18 doubles, 23 RBIs and 31 steals.

Win a few, lose a few: Encino-Crespi was eliminated from the District 20 playoffs with a 5-1 loss to Woodland Hills East on Friday at Pierce College, but Encino-Crespi Coach Scott Muckey exacted a small measure of revenge later that afternoon.

Muckey, who also coaches the Crespi High team, led a group of Crespi players to the championship of an area tournament featuring undergraduate high school players.

.... And my wife, she treats me like dirt: Birmingham High Coach Wayne Sink has long played baseball organ music over the public-address system between innings, but during the District 20 playoffs--with Van Nuys-Notre Dame Coach Jody Breeden handling the P.A. chores--the music went a step further.

In fact, it went from the familiar strains of “Take Me Out to the Ballgame,” to, “Take My Wife, Please.”

For Saturday’s doubleheader, organ music was soon replaced with the Beatles, a segue to the Beach Boys, followed by Springsteen.

And then to. . . . “I tell ya, my wife is something else. I just bought a used car--and found one of her dresses in the back seat.... My luck’s nothing to brag about, either. I found a wallet the other day--it had a picture of my two kids in it....

That’s right, Rodney Dangerfield kept fans and players alike in laughs during three innings in what might be called a comic relief appearance. No word yet on what’s planned, auditory-wise, for the six-team, 6th Area playoffs, which begin Thursday at Birmingham.