Belfield’s Handiwork Strikes Chord at Taft

As Benji Belfield of Taft High puts it, “Sometimes I like to poke around and see if I get lucky.” Sounds like a great philosophy for hitting, but Belfield is talking about tickling the ivories.

“Every once in a while, I just get on the synthesizer and mess around,” said Belfield, whose father is a professional musician and has a small recording studio at home. “At one point, I actually started taking it seriously.”

Belfield said that he went as far as to pen a few melodies, but many, he admits, had the auditory appeal of a ball hit off the end of an aluminum bat.

In short, Belfield is much better at swinging heavy metal than trying to play it. In two Northwest Valley Conference games last week against Granada Hills, Belfield posted the kind of numbers that only show up in the highest register. Belfield had eight hits in nine at-bats to raise his batting average to .462.

What about power? How about a home run, a triple and three doubles. Productivity? Four runs scored, three stolen bases, six runs batted in. Versatility? In pitching 7 2/3 innings of relief, he struck out 10 and earned a win.

In Tuesday’s 10-9 victory, Belfield knocked the ball out of shape. He was four for four when he stepped to the plate with the bases loaded and Taft trailing by two runs in the bottom of the seventh. Belfield delivered a triple to make himself the winning pitcher.

Belfield, who had never had a four-hit game in his three-year varsity career, said that the pressure was on in the rematch.

“I think everybody expected me to choke,” he said.

Instead, he choked up and banged out three more hits. He muscled up too. In Thursday’s game, Belfield--who again pitched in relief--delivered a solo home run in the ninth to give Taft a 5-4 lead.

But Belfield surrendered a one-out, score-tying triple to Gabe Miller in the bottom of the inning. Neither team scored in the 10th and the game was called because of darkness.

“I was real disappointed with that. I guess I was looking for glory, but I couldn’t pull it off,” Belfield said. “I was just trying to get out of there and I hung a couple.”

Said third-year Taft Coach Rich McKeon: “I don’t remember anybody ever having a day like this. I mean, a week like this.”