Woodland Hills Wins 2 to Reach Legion Final

Don Hornback was not supposed to be standing there Saturday with a grin so big that it threatened to jump the fence at Birmingham High.

Hornback, the coach of Woodland Hills West, brought a team into the American Legion District 20 playoffs that had three 15-year-old players in its starting lineup. Hornback admitted earlier this week that Woodland Hills, seeded eighth, was fortunate to be making a postseason appearance.

Even after Woodland Hills won its first game Wednesday, it wasn’t given much hope. Star pitcher Sean Boldt threw a four-hitter and departed for a vacation in Arizona.

But Woodland Hills (20-8), proving as scrappy as any alley cat, came up with victories over Encino-Crespi, 3-2, and Glendale, 8-7, on Saturday to advance into today’s final at Birmingham. Woodland Hills also clinched its third consecutive berth in the Area 6 playoffs.

Woodland Hills will face Sepulveda (21-5) today at 11 a.m. If Woodland Hills beats Sepulveda, the only unbeaten team in the double-elimination tournament, a second game will be played at 3 p.m.

“You know, I look out there and see a bunch of fuzzy-faced kids,” Hornback said of his team. “But they never quit, and the gods were smiling on us.”

Cory Bromberg--who had not pitched this season--turned in perhaps the finest outing of any pitcher in the tournament in leading Woodland Hills past Encino-Crespi.

Then Woodland Hills erased a six-run deficit and turned a triple play against Glendale.

“It was wonderful when we won the World Series two years ago and winning the state championship last year was almost as good as that,” Hornback said. “Well, because nothing was expected of these kids, this ranks right up there with both of those.”

Woodland Hills, which has 15 players eligible to play next season, was thought to be at least one year away from contention.

And when Woodland Hills fell behind, 5-0, before it recorded an out against Glendale (20-7), it looked as if the pumpkin had finally arrived. Glendale extended its lead to 6-0 in the second on John Aguilar’s two-out single.

But Woodland Hills, in its own pesky way, came back with a run in the second on a wild pitch and two more in the third on Justin Stark’s single and an error that cut the deficit to 6-3.

Glendale increased its lead to 7-3 on Rob Walley’s run-scoring single, but Woodland Hills came back with three runs in the fourth, including two on Aaron Weiss’ second triple, and trimmed the deficit to 7-6.

In the sixth, Woodland Hills scored two runs to take an 8-7 lead. Justin Balser walked and scored on Weiss’ double. After Stark walked, Greg Lederman’s double scored Weiss.

A triple play ended Glendale’s threat in the eighth. Aguilar walked and Walley singled to lead off the inning. Bill Kirk hit a grounder to shortstop Dan Cey, who flipped to second baseman Kent Cote, who relayed to Weiss at first base and Weiss’ throw home nabbed Aguilar attempting to score from second.

Terry Morrow (8-2), who relieved Jeff Johnson with none out in the first, and Evan Howland combined to shut down Glendale.

Against Encino-Crespi, Brombeck, a 6-foot-3 right-hander, emerged. He had not pitched in more than two months but called Hornback on Friday when he heard Woodland Hills was short on pitching. Bromberg allowed only four hits and an unearned run through eight innings.