SOUTHERN SECTION BASEBALL PLAYOFFS : Hastings, Mater Dei Are Finding a Groove

Lionel Hastings, Mater Dei High School shortstop, stepped into the batting cage Wednesday only a day after hitting two home runs in a 5-4 victory over Lakewood and was greeted with another challenge.

“You won’t hit me like you did that left-hander (Lakewood pitcher David Reeser),” Mater Dei Coach Bob Ickes said. “There’s no way.”

It was only practice, but Hastings answered the challenge. Ickes dropped a baseball into a pitching machine, and Hastings belted a long fly ball over the left-field fence to almost the same spot where he hit two homers off Reeser the day before.

“Lionel hits anybody, or anything, when he gets into a groove,” says one teammate standing near the batting cage.

Hastings employs the usual hitting cliches when recounting his run-scoring single in a 5-4 victory over Fontana or the two homers he hit against Lakewood in the 5-A division playoffs. He talks about confidence and about seeing the ball well.

Mater Dei has had trouble playing with consistency this season, but like Hastings, the Monarchs are in a groove now.

“Sometimes we’re up, and sometimes, we’re not even into the game,” Hastings said. “But our intensity in the playoffs has been unbelievable. We’re starting to peak at just the right time.”

Hastings missed that roller-coaster ride through the 1990 season. The senior was Mater Dei’s most consistent player, batting .457, driving in 26 runs and scoring 28 going into the playoffs.

He signed a national letter of intent last month to attend USC and hopes to make the starting lineup as a freshman if Trojan shortstop Bret Boone signs a major league contract, as anticipated.

“I couldn’t have asked for a better year,” Hastings said. “My goal was to hit .500, and although I came up a little short, I was happy with my hitting. I wanted to hit six homers, and I’ve got five now after Tuesday’s game. That was by far my best game of the year.”

Hastings also provided Mater Dei with some relief, pitching in the sixth and seventh innings. He has won two games and earned three saves as Mater Dei’s late-inning stopper.

Hastings was a pitcher long before he became an infielder at Mater Dei. He grew up playing in the Villa Park Little League after moving to California from Japan when he was 6 years old.

As a freshman, he played with Foothill star Kent Donnelly on a Pony League team that advanced to the state regional final in San Diego. As a sophomore, he became Mater Dei’s starting second baseman.

He earned a scholarship to USC while playing for the Seattle Mariners’ winter scout team, making a verbal commitment to attend the college in January and signing on April 24. Hastings declined recruiting trips to other colleges.

Mater Dei will try to advance past the quarterfinal round for the first time since 1980, when it won the 4-A division title at Anaheim Stadium. Once the season ends, Hastings plans to continue playing for a Connie Mack team that Ickes and Tustin’s Vince Brown will coach in the summer.

Hastings has also been selected to play for the West team in the Olympic Festival at Minneapolis in July. He’s looking forward to his collegiate career and plans to take a three-unit course at USC this summer before enrolling in the fall.

“The coaches have told me I have an opportunity to start as a freshman at USC if I work hard,” Hastings said. “I’m real excited. I’ve talked to a lot of Mater Dei players who are now playing college ball. I realize the next level is much more intense and it’s going to take a lot of work to keep my grades up.”

Ickes, who has coached some of the county’s best players over the 16 years, ranks Hastings among the top players who have played at Mater Dei.

“It’s hard to say where Lionel fits when you’ve coached a (former New York Yankee) Bobby Meacham or a Tony Pena,” Ickes said. “But he’s in the same class as those guys.”