THE HIGH SCHOOLS : Small Schools Players Earn Respect by Putting Up Some Large Numbers

They compete in the Small Schools Division, the echelon of Southern Section athletics that invokes barbs from those who attend larger schools and receives little recognition from the local media.

“It kind of bugs you after a while,” said Darren Brown, junior shortstop for L. A. Lutheran, a four-year co-ed school in Mission Hills with an enrollment of 95. “You feel like you’re kind of secondhand.”

Robert Ramirez knows the feeling, too. Ramirez is a senior right-hander for Highland Hall, a four-year co-ed school in Northridge with an enrollment of 65.

“You don’t get a lot of respect sometimes,” Ramirez said. “Especially when you look in the newspaper and you see some big write-ups about other schools and you get, maybe, three sentences on what went on. But it was a tough game.”

Inferiority complex? Not here. Neither player would trade his lot for even one at-bat at a public school of 2,500 students.

For those not watching, Brown and Ramirez are in the midst of MVP seasons. On Friday, they were a combined eight for nine with eight runs batted in and five extra-base hits.

Brown, who had a streak of 10 consecutive hits snapped, hit for the cycle in the Lions’ 18-3 Heritage League win over Coast Christian. An all-league quarterback in the fall, Brown also drove in five runs to raise his season total to 15. He is batting .650 with 10 extra-base hits.

Ramirez, last season’s Westside League Most Valuable Player in both baseball and basketball, was four for four, including two triples, in the Hawks’ 9-6 nonleague win over Antelope Valley Christian.

Ramirez is batting .714 (20 for 28) with nine RBIs and three triples.

“He’s just hitting peas everywhere,” co-Coach Dave Desmond said.

Ramirez also is 4-1 with a save, 39 strikeouts and a 1.80 earned-run average in 31 innings. Last season, he was 14-4 with 148 strikeouts--second only to Saugus’ Roger Salkeld in the Valley area.

So who cares if no one notices?

“We take a lot of pride because we know there are a lot of good teams at this level,” Ramirez said. “We know it’s not Little League.”

Add Small Schools: Highland Hall (7-1), ranked second in the Small Schools Division behind defending champion Rosamond, will travel to Mesquite, Nev., on Thursday for the Cactus Classic at Virgin Valley High.

Last year, Highland Hall reached the semifinal round of the tournament, which included 36 teams.

The Hawks have won 24 consecutive league games, the sixth-longest streak in Southern Section history.

Winning ugly: What do Hart players Chad Miyata, Rob Davis, Marty Downen, Andrew Lorraine and Kevin Foderaro have in common?

Answer: Sloppy fielding of late. Each player made an error Friday in the Indians’ 4-3 Foothill League victory over Burbank.

Lorraine balked in a run in the ninth inning and walked another to put the tying run at first. Moreover, Hart stranded nine baserunners.

Hart (6-1-2, 3-0 in league play), ranked third in The Times’ Area Poll, survived the ninth when Lorraine picked Bryan Miclette off first base. Starter Kevin Foderaro (3-0) yielded two hits in four innings to earn the win.

“I wouldn’t have felt any different about it if we had lost,” Coach Bud Murray said. “I didn’t say much to (the players). We usually run after a game. This is the first time we didn’t run. I told the kids they didn’t deserve to run.”

Attention, pitchers: While Garret Anderson and Lazaro Campos have had their troubles, Palmer Drain has been carrying Kennedy offensively with a .400 average and 12 RBIs through nine games.

Drain’s theories on hitting, however, are hardly scientific. And if anybody cares to take notes. . . .

“I just look for the fastball, but I don’t know if we should print that,” said Drain, who paused for a moment before adding: “I look for fastball, fastball, fastball. And if there’s two strikes, I swing at anything close.”

Sea of hitters: Montclair Prep’s 4-1 start has included impressive wins over Ventura and Taft--large conquests for a tiny school in Southern Section Division 1-A. But what might be even more impressive is the balance of power the Mounties are showing.

In one inning against Ventura, five Mounties (Geoff Taylor, Russell Ortiz, Jared Baumblatt, Brent Polacheck, and J. T. Billingslea) hit home runs. Through five games Polacheck was batting .625, followed by Andy Shaw (.533), Leland Sparks (.444), Baumblatt (.368) and Billingslea (.312).

And to think all-state shortstop Keyaan Cook, the team’s hottest pro and Division I prospect, is fifth in RBIs with just three.

“Don’t worry about Keyaan,” Coach Walt Steele said. “He’ll be there.”

To be sure. At last check, Cook was hitting .562.

Here’s to the winners: North Hollywood’s baseball team, which finished 3-16 last season, has had little to cheer about recently. Which is why the Huskies can be excused for an on-field celebration last week after they upset East Valley League power Sylmar, 4-3, on Nelson Pichardo’s bases-loaded single in the bottom of the seventh inning.

“You’d have thought we won the World Series,” Coach Marty Biegel said.

The players poured out of the dugout to greet Sammy Ciaramilaro, who scored the winning run, then headed for first base to tackle Pichardo.

Biegel, though, who had already run out to greet Pichardo, was swallowed up in the players’ exuberance.

“Next thing I know, they’re all on top of me,” Biegel said. “I got spiked in the whole thing.”

Biegel, who may be young in spirit, is 68. One would think, then, that the boys would be running laps for hurting their elder.

“Aw, it’s OK,” he said. “It was a great moment for these young men.”

North Hollywood is 3-2 in Valley Pac-8 Conference play after sweeping Reseda last week, 6-4 and 19-6.