THE HIGH SCHOOLS : San Fernando Gains Pick-Me-Up From Pickoff

The way San Fernando High baseball Coach Steve Marden tells it, picking a runner off third base should be just as simple for a right-handed pitcher as picking a guy off first is for a left-hander.

The numbers back him up.

Two seasons ago, San Fernando pitchers, most of them right-handers, picked 17 players off third.

The right-hander’s motion is a virtual mirror image of a left-hander’s move to first, Marden said. But stealing an out at third can let the air out of a rally in a hurry.

“It’s exactly the same motion,” Marden said, “but the impact is much greater. Ask (Poly Coach) Jerry Cord if it’s a big play.”

In last week’s 7-2 defeat of Poly, San Fernando sophomore right-hander Rick Savala picked a runner off third with the bases loaded and one out. Not surprisingly, Poly did not score in the inning.

“It can really kill you,” Marden said.

Learning the ropes: A strong junior class is expected to make Thousand Oaks High a contender for the Marmonte League baseball title. But the Lancers won’t have an opportunity to showcase their talent until Saturday when they open the season with a doubleheader against Lompoc.

Some league foes will have played as many as 10 games when league play begins March 16, but Thousand Oaks has only three preleague games scheduled. Coach Jim Hansen said that he withdrew the Lancers from their traditional appearance in the Redondo tournament, which lasts six consecutive weekends, because he didn’t want to force walk-on assistants Garth Marcus and Matt Goldfield to work on weekends.

Hansen tried to enter the Lancers in the Las Vegas Chaparral tournament but found out Tuesday that they won’t be invited.

“Now we’ll try to pick up a couple of games, which usually isn’t very difficult,” he said.

“Although it’s very important to face good pitching in the preseason, the kids need this time to learn the system. The coaches I have can bring them along a lot faster than playing games would.”

Hansen said that he plans to play a tough preseason schedule next year when the talented junior class will be a talented senior class.

From mountain to molehill: Baseball purists would be aghast. The pitching mound at Chatsworth is a mound, to be sure, but it bears little resemblance to the rounded half-domes that usually lie 60 feet 6 inches from home plate.

In fact, the Chatsworth mound looks more like a pitcher’s plateau , like the head of a player with a flattop haircut. The sides of the mound have been sculpted to make an abrupt angle, rather than a convex, rounded slope. The top of the mound is virtually flat. In front, where the pitcher’s foot lands as he strides, the ground slopes to home plate at a more gradual angle than does a rounded mound. The overall effect gives it a wedge shape, sloping toward home plate.

First-year Coach Tom Meusborn said that the mound is the brainchild of his pitching staff.

“The pitchers all had a little input,” Meusborn said. “My feeling is, if it’s within reason and within acceptable standards, then I don’t have a problem with it. As long as they throw strikes.”

Meusborn said there has been no evidence that the not-so-round mound affects the progress of balls hit up the middle.

“We haven’t had any weird carom shots off it--yet,” he said. “The minute we do . . .”

Add Chatsworth: Chancellor right-hander Reed McMackin threw the pitch right where he wanted it, up and in. The ball’s trajectory upon its return, though, was along the lines of up and out.

In the first inning of last week’s opener against Rio Mesa, McMackin attempted to whistle a fastball past Dmitri Young. McMackin had scouted Young and knew how he wanted to pitch to the state’s freshman and sophomore player of the year the past two seasons.

Young bashed McMackin’s first pitch into left-center field for a run-scoring double. He later singled and finished two for three--no surprise, considering he batted .500 last season as a sophomore.

“We made the pitch we wanted in the spot we wanted it,” Meusborn said. “We just didn’t get it by him. The kid can hit.”

Add Young: Rio Mesa Coach Rich Duran says that Young’s conversion to shortstop and his use in short relief will hasten the player’s development. As a freshman, Young started in the outfield. Last year, he started at third. This season, for the first time since he played youth-league baseball, he will pitch.

“Dmitri needs to be challenged,” Duran said. “Playing shortstop and pitching will offer that challenge.”

The list grows: Another game has been added to the August football tripleheader in Hawaii involving Canyon, Crespi and Montclair Prep. Hawaiian promoter Skip Akina has invited Capistrano Valley to play Damien of Hawaii in a game that would start the slate of contests at 12:30 p.m. Aug. 30 at Aloha Stadium.

Capistrano Valley is awaiting official approval from the Southern Section office, which already has approved Canyon’s trip and is expected to give permission to Crespi and Montclair Prep.

Montclair Prep is scheduled to play Farrington of Honolulu at 3 p.m., followed by Crespi and Kahuku, a school outside Honolulu that finished second in the state last year. The final game matches Canyon with St. Louis of Honolulu, the state champion and owner of the second longest current win streak in the nation at 54 games.

Built for the future: Former North Hollywood baseball Coach Brian York, now a part-time scout for the California Angels, says he has seen the future of City Section 4-A Division baseball and it is located in Reseda and Sun Valley.

“Call me York-stadamus,” he said. “But for whatever it’s worth, I predict that Cleveland and Poly will play for the City title at Dodger Stadium in 1992.”

Both teams currently have several sophomores on the roster who played in the highly successful Encino youth baseball program. One Encino team won a Pony League World Series title last summer.

New men on the job: Introductions suddenly seem in order in the local high school dugout. That’s because a preponderance of new baseball coaches are on the job throughout the Valley area.

Seventeen coaches are making their debuts, some for the first time at the varsity level.

They new coaches are: Marty Biegel (North Hollywood), Bill Gordon (Van Nuys), Gary Gray (Agoura), Dave Johnson (Burbank), Joe Koh (L. A. Baptist), Stan Lyons (Quartz Hill), Dan Maye (Royal), Tom Meusborn (Chatsworth), Scott Randles (Oak Park), Rich Raymond (Cleveland), David Rhoades (Moorpark), Terry Scott (Burroughs), Scott Smith (St. Genevieve), Mike Van Cheri (Antelope Valley), George Vranau (Chaminade), Mike Wagner (Campbell Hall) and Jack Willard (Camarillo).

Cast system: Tony DeSantis, the projected No. 1 player on the Burbank golf team, is out indefinitely after tearing cartilage in his right knee while roughhousing on campus with friends last month.

But DeSantis, a 5-foot-8, 215-pound sophomore, is still getting in his licks--even with a cast that runs from hip to ankle.

“He stands on one leg to hit a bucket of balls,” said Burbank Coach Dave Kemp, whose teams have won three consecutive Foothill League titles. “And he still bashes them all the way out of the driving range.”

Scratch golf: Westlake’s Charlie Wi, a four-year starter, put together two sizzling rounds last week, even though it was only the team’s second week of competition. In fact, Wi finished the week at even par.

On Wednesday, Wi fired a two-under-par 69 as Westlake routed San Marcos, 385-547. On Thursday, Wi shot a two-over 74 in a 381-433 win over Buena.

Staff writers Steve Elling, Vince Kowalick, John Lynch and Jeff Riley contributed to this notebook.