Marine Offensive Destroys Chugiak in Legion Regional : Third Baseman Collects 5 Hits to Lead Woodland Hills West to 20-2 Win Over Alaska Entry

It was hardly a mundane 24 hours for thick-skinned Del Marine of Woodland Hills West, who practically needed leatherneck-like resolve to survive the first day of the American Legion Northwest regional tournament.

After arriving safely enough Tuesday night, Marine engaged in a wrestling match at the hotel with burly teammate Jason Mitchell--all 6-foot-3, 230 pounds of him. Marine managed to escape with a purple mouse under his left eye and a couple of strawberry-colored rug burns.

Then, in a first-round tournament game Wednesday afternoon, Marine booted his first fielding chance at third base, allowing Chugiak, Alaska, to score two unearned runs in the second inning. An hour or so later, when catcher Bobby Kim jammed his left thumb, Marine was drafted into service behind the plate. In the seventh inning, Marine was temporarily felled after slamming chest-first into a cement wall while trying to chase down a popup at the backstop screen.

What’s more, during his last at-bat in the bottom of the eighth, even the home plate umpire conspired against him, calling strike two on a pitch that seemed a bit high. The umpire mentioned something about wanting to “end the game and go home,” Marine said.

Marine’s reaction? He laughed, then drilled an 0-and-2 pitch into center field for his fifth hit of the day and his fourth run batted in as West routed Chugiak, 20-2, at Lewis Clark State College. West (31-5) will play the winner of Wednesday night’s game between host Lewis-Clark and Billings, Mont., tonight at 7:35.

Marine, who entered the playoffs with a team-high .440 batting average and 40 RBIs, went five for seven and scored three runs. By the time the 3-hour, 17-minute game finally ended, a grubby Marine looked like he had just slithered out of the nearby Snake River.

“Just a routine 24 hours,” West Coach Gary Gibson said as he gave Marine a few good whacks between the shoulder blades. “He’s been our best hitter all year, and now you see why.”

Yet Marine was hardly the only guy doing serious damage, although all it would have taken to beat Chugiak (23-33) was a few good men. West pounded out 20 hits and everyone but pitcher Pat Treend, today’s probable starting pitcher, made an appearance.

Chugiak used four pitchers and West scored at least two runs off each. Coach Dave Richardson started pitcher Kyle Linn (3-3) on a hunch, figuring that the left-hander’s off-speed arsenal would keep West guessing.

“You can time his fastball with a sundial,” Richardson said of Linn, who wears uniform No. 60 and throws about as fast. “But they probably haven’t seen too much of that kind of off-speed stuff where they come from.”

Kyle’s guile lasted all of 1 2/3 innings, by which time he already had surrendered a first-inning grand slam to outfielder Carl McFadden as West took a 9-2 lead after two innings. Linn’s offerings looked finger-lickin’ good to most of the West batters.

“I hadn’t been hitting the off-speed stuff too well lately,” said McFadden, who nearly hit another grand slam in the second when a similar blast to left peeled off foul. “But I got some licks in today.”

West right-hander Lance Gibson (11-2) pitched six innings and allowed two unearned runs on seven hits. With his split-fingered fastball diving through the lower half of the strike zone, Gibson struck out 10, walked one and yielded just one fly-ball out.

“I wasn’t real crazy about some of their hits,” said Gibson, who gave up four hits--one a blooper and one a bunt--in the second inning as Chugiak closed to within 5-2. “They were just dropping in all over. But my curve and split-finger were really working.”

Chugiak continued the trend on defense, dropping about every other ball that West put in play. Chugiak finished with precisely as many errors as hits (eight). It could have been worse: West scored in every inning but the third and fourth and stranded 15 baserunners.

Marine said that arriving in time for the tournament opener between highly regarded Vancouver, Wash., and Cody, Wyo., helped give the team a jump start. Despite entering the tournament with a record of 24-28, Cody beat Vancouver, 4-3. Vancouver fell to 42-19.

“We really tried not to come out here flat, to make sure we didn’t get blown out of there in the first round, too,” said Marine in reference to the Vancouver upset.