AMERICAN LEGION ROUNDUP : Woodland Hills West Making Due With Subs

Woodland Hills West Coach Don Hornback’s tongue is very close to his cheek when he talks about the location of several key players and their impact on his team’s win streak.

Four starters are vacationing in Hawaii, something Hornback was more than a little concerned about earlier this week. But no more.

“We’ve won three in a row since they’ve been there,” Hornback said. “Maybe we should send them a wire and tell them to stay there.”

Sparked by a six-run outburst in the third inning Saturday, West rolled to its 11th consecutive win in District 20 play with a 7-4 victory over Valley Encino-Tarzana at El Camino Real High.

West improved to 14-4 overall and moved to within a half-game of Western Division leader Woodland Hills East (15-4) with a week remaining in the regular season.

The top two teams from each of District 20’s three divisions, plus a pair of wild-card teams, advance to the district playoffs, July 18-22 at Birmingham High and Pierce College.

Once again, reserves and players starting out of position led the way for West, the defending district champion.

“I looked at all nine of our players when they were in the field and every one of them was in a position he’s never played before,” Hornback said, with slight exaggeration.

Outfielder Sean Boldt, the winning pitcher for West in Friday’s 7-5 defeat of Chatsworth, slammed a pair of home runs--his first of the season--and drove in five runs. Boldt’s grand slam in the third erased a 2-0 lead by Valley ET and keyed the six-run inning.

West right-hander Paul Geller (3-0), who earned a save on Friday, threw a 10-hitter, struck out 10 and walked two. Geller, who normally starts at second base, allowed eight singles, a double and a home run in nine innings.

Corey Bromberg--normally a starting pitcher--had two hits for West, which has won 13 of its last 14 games and is 18-5 overall.

Dan Larson hit a solo home run for Valley ET. Noah Kirshbaum was the losing pitcher.

In other District 20 games:

Sun Valley 6, Encino-Crespi 2--Raul Torres threw an eight-hitter, struck out five and did not allow a run until the the top of the ninth to lead Sun Valley at Poly High.

Brodie VanWagenen had three hits and Vic Seper and Jim Horacek added two hits each for Encino-Crespi, which fell to 4-13.

Jeff Suppan (2-4) took the loss. Jonathan Campbell went three for four and Robert Flores and Steve Chavez had two singles apiece for Sun Valley (16-2).

Glendale 21, Granada Hills 1--Right-hander Danny Gray allowed one run in five innings--he balked the run home when he dropped the ball while standing on the pitching rubber--to lead Glendale at Granada Hills in a game called after seven innings because of the 10-run rule.

Gray, who also homered, allowed four Granada Hills hits.

Starter Aaronn Castro took the loss for Granada Hills.

Jose Robles hit two home runs for Glendale. Erik Anderson had two hits for Granada Hills, which surrendered 15 hits.

Panorama City 17, Lancaster 12--J. T. Billingslea notched a save and went three for five with three RBIs to pace Panorama City at Antelope Valley High.

Dave Unter (5-1) picked up the win, striking out four through six innings.

Davey Garcia had three hits and two RBIs for Panorama City and Aaron Searcy led Lancaster with three hits.

Agoura 12, Eagle Rock 4--Agoura collected 13 hits in its victory at Oak Park High.

Zac Sterling was three for five with two RBIs, Eric Pryor had two hits and two RBIs and Joey Medaglia had two hits and three RBIs for Agoura (9-10).

Agoura right-hander Jeff Gibbons (5-2) allowed no earned runs, struck out six and walked four. Teammates Chris Lehman and Art Kahn each added two RBIs.

Eagle Rock fell to 8-10.

Studio City 8, North Hollywood 7--Shad Knighton’s two-run single in the top of the ninth capped a three-run rally for Studio City at North Hollywood.

Tony Gonzalez was three for five with two RBIs and teammate Hector Alvarenga was three for four with a home run and three RBIs for Studio City.

Mike Engler (1-2) was the winner in relief for Studio City, which improved to 5-14. John Levine (0-2) took the loss for North Hollywood (1-19).

Reseda 7, West Hills 6--With two on and one out and Reseda trailing, 6-5, in the ninth, West Hills pitcher Ted Corcoran walked three consecutive batters to swing the District 20 game to Reseda at Reseda High.

Corcoran, a junior-to-be at Chaminade High, went three for four--including a double and a triple--and had two RBIs to lead the West Hills offense.