LEGION NOTEBOOK : Magee Takes Vows After Team Bows

It was not an exchange of vows beneath crossed bats at home plate. But had the game lasted any longer, Verdugo Hills Coach Kelly Magee would have needed a justice of the peace, not an umpire.

Magee was married on June 30, a few hours after his American Legion District 20 team lost to Sun Valley, 3-2, on a run in the ninth inning. Although Magee wasn’t happy that Verdugo Hills lost, he certainly was glad the game didn’t go into extra innings.

“I wanted to get it started by 10, but we didn’t get going until about 11:30,” he said. “I was a little upset (about the delay).”

Why the hurry? Because Magee, 30, was cutting things closer than a bang-bang play at the plate.

Since the game ran long, Magee didn’t get home until 2:30 p.m., and he had a wedding rehearsal scheduled at 3. The actual ceremony was held in La Canada at 5.

Magee said his bride-to-be raised no objections concerning the unusual doubleheader, even though the game ended scant hours before the big event.

“She said she didn’t mind,” he said.

Always nice to meet someone who has her priorities straight.

Road warriors: Panorama City Coach Scott Smith figured it was a stroke of genius. Play a couple of interdistrict games in Las Vegas on Friday and a scheduled District 20 game at Lancaster the following day.

Shoot, Lancaster is right on the way home, too.

“We thought it was a great idea at the time,” said Smith, who admits his players weren’t as high on remaining in the high desert.

“When we got to Lancaster, the kids were all saying, ‘Coach, do we have to play this today?’ There’s no way we’ll do that again.”

Maybe it wasn’t such a bad idea. Panorama City (14-5) reached a season high in runs with a 17-12, 16-hit win over Lancaster.

Great balls of ire: Pete Redfern had one of the best offensive performances of his American Legion career at Chatsworth High when he was a player for Sylmar in 1973.

He went five for five while starting in center field on the same diamond where he now coaches the Legion entry from Chatsworth.

Make no mistake, however, Redfern was always a pitcher first--the right-hander was an All-American at USC and toiled for the Minnesota Twins--which could be why his Legion team’s pitching woes sometimes drive him nuts. Chatsworth (9-10) is batting a solid .313, but the staff earned-run average is 6.22.

“I tell them and tell them, but I guess they don’t listen,” Redfern said. “Strikes are the name of the game.”

In 141 innings, Chatsworth pitchers have issued 120 walks and hit five batters. The 10-run mercy rule has been invoked three times and Chatsworth has surrendered 127 runs in 19 games.

Left-hander Danny Rodriguez, who was 6-2 in the spring for City Section 4-A Division champion Chatsworth High and had an ERA of 2.58, has walked 36 batters in 30 2/3 innings of Legion play. He walked 34 in 57 innings of high school competition.

No relief: First-year North Hollywood Coach Mel Williams knows too well that his team’s record is 1-20, the worst in District 20. Obscured by an unattractive win-loss percentage, he says, are several near-victories.

Against the district’s best .

Eight times North Hollywood has taken a lead into the final inning and lost. North Hollywood has thrown scares into some of the area’s best teams--including Van Nuys-Notre Dame, Panorama City, Reseda and Sun Valley--before faltering down the stretch.

“It doesn’t seem to make a difference who we bring in,” Williams said. “The starters usually do OK, and then we bring in another one of our starters and they don’t do well at all.

“But we’re scrappy, we’re young. I’m proud of them. We hung right in there with some of the best teams around.”