THE HIGH SCHOOLS : Crespi Baseball Players Give Track Team Hand

Gloves, bats and balls were not part of a special practice session last week for Crespi High baseball players Mike Peters, Joe Ruggiero and Mark Venturine.

Instead, the outfielders sported shorts and track spikes during a lunchtime session spent rehearsing starts and handoffs with sprinter Ken Kuras. The hastily assembled 440-yard relay team shocked track Coach Jim Benkert, who had arranged the practice, with a respectable 45.2-second clocking despite two technical errors.

What Benkert cooked up, though, in his “melting pot” relay, has become the fastest foursome in the area this year. In last week’s meet against Loyola, Crespi’s sprint team ran a 43.6 in its competitive debut. The Valley-leading mark converts to a 43.3 metric performance.

“They got out of the blocks slowly and had one poor exchange,” Benkert said of the relay team’s earlier practice. “The handoffs were good. They knew what they were doing.”

Against Loyola, the impromptu relay team was flawless. And Ruggiero also helped Crespi’s cause with second-place finishes in the 100 meters (11.6), 220 yards (23.4) and long jump (19 feet 6 3/4 inches).

Although Crespi lost, 73-54, in the meet that traditionally decides the Del Rey League championship, Peters, Ruggiero and Venturine may run in future meets if the baseball schedule permits.

Although Benkert has left the welcome mat out for the players, baseball Coach Scott Muckey worries that two sports might be too much for the athletes.

“If it’s not interfering with baseball, then its OK,” he said. “If it starts taking away from the (baseball) team, then I don’t feel particularly good about it.

“But I’ll leave it up to the kids.”

Pitching strength: Despite a .260 team batting average, Hart High is 7-1-2 and atop the Foothill League standings with a 4-0 record.

How so?

Pitching. Led by the trio of left-hander Andrew Lorraine, and right-handers Kevin Foderaro and Keith Halcovich, Hart is keeping opponents off the scoreboard. The Indians have a team earned-run average of 2.13 in 72 1/3 innings.

Lorraine, a senior, is 3-0 with 48 strikeouts and an 0.50 ERA in 28 innings. Foderaro, a senior, is 3-0 with 24 strikeouts and an 3.71 ERA in 28 1/3 innings and Halcovich, a junior, is 1-1 with nine strikeouts and an 2.19 ERA in 16 innings.

Foderaro has two complete games, including a no-hitter, and two saves. Lorraine has one shutout.

Downed Spirits: Paraclete right fielder Chuck Lang became the latest victim of the Spirits’ hard luck when he sustained a season-ending injury to his left biceps while attempting to stop a truck that was rolling from his garage.

Apparently Lang’s arm became pinned between the truck’s door and the garage when he attempted to jump inside and apply the brakes.

“It’s been one of those seasons, already ,” Coach Andy Gavel said.

Lang, a three-year starter, was batting .250. Paraclete (3-5) lost its cleanup hitter when David Yaroslaski re-injured a knee attempting to score from third base earlier this season. As Yaroslaski crawled back to third, a throw attempting to nab him went awry.

“Everybody was screaming at him to score, and he yelled for a pinch-runner,” Gavel said. “Like I said, it’s been one of those seasons.”

Reflection correction: After 15 seasons of juggling a slew of responsibilities as Hoover baseball coach, Bob Cooper has decided to slow down and delegate the jobs of fund-raising and statistics-balancing to assistants.

Some might think Cooper relied on mirrors over the years to handle his multitude of tasks. And the mirror theory isn’t all cracked--just check out the wall in the Tornadoes’ outfield.

On a sweltering day last spring, Cooper and his wife, Glenda, painted the wall with huge logos of local sponsors. Unwittingly, the two painted the Zs in Domino’s Pizza backward.

True to his sport, Cooper gave a traditional baseball excuse for the miscue: The sun was in his eyes.

“It was so damn hot out there, it seemed like the sun was bouncing off the wall and right in our face,” he said.

The error will not be saved for posterity, however. Domino’s did not sponsor the team this season.

“Their year is up,” Cooper said, laughing. “Probably, the next game it will be outta there.”

Mike Glaze and staff writers Sam Farmer, Vince Kowalick and Jeff Riley contributed to this notebook.