Players Wait for Offer They Can’t Refuse

High school basketball players are allowed to sign collegiate letters of intent today, but several area standouts have no plans to sign this week and are continuing to contemplate their futures.

Ali Peek of Hart and Dan Prince of Quartz Hill, both Times All-Valley selections, have found the pickings slim and might wind up playing for a local junior college.

Prince, Quartz Hill Coach Steve Hurst said, has attracted the interest of several schools, including UC Irvine and Fresno State. However, Antelope Valley College is looking like a more realistic choice.

“I told Danny that that’s nothing to be ashamed of,” Hurst said. “But he’s still looking at some different possibilities.”

Among those looking at Peek, who averaged 24.2 points and 14 rebounds last season, are UC San Diego and Cal Poly Pomona.

“He’s the next-best guy on a lot of guys’ lists,” Hart Coach Greg Herrick said.

Others who remain unsigned are Canyon’s Joe Ferguson and Crescenta Valley’s Josh Willis.

“I’m still waiting for things to happen,” Willis said.

Alemany’s Richard Dice, a Times All-Valley football and basketball selection, is still waiting for the phone to ring and the offer of a football scholarship. Dice said he has been waiting to hear from Washington, USC or San Diego State.

IN TRIBUTE

On March 9, just hours after Saugus defeated Oxnard, 5-4, in a Westside tournament baseball game, Centurion third baseman Jayme Riggio was stunned by the news that his father had died of a massive heart attack.

Jack Riggio Jr., a longtime Saugus baseball supporter, was 45.

“We were very close,” Riggio said. “Basically, I’ve dedicated my season to him.”

Riggio said his father rarely missed a Saugus game. However, a business meeting prevented him from attending the game March 9. Riggio, who lives with his mother and stepfather, said he received a phone call that evening while he was completing his homework.

Riggio spent the next week away from the team, which played three games in his absence.

“I’ve popped back up,” Riggio said. “My teachers have been really flexible and I’m doing really well in school. And baseball has helped a lot.”

CHANGE OF BEHAVIOR

Simi Valley baseball Coach Mike Scyphers claims opposing coaches have seen a kinder and gentler version of him in the dugout this season. But after a 6-5 Marmonte League loss to Agoura on Wednesday, the boisterous and combative version was back for Thursday’s game against Newbury Park.

From the first inning on, Scyphers was stalking about and shouting at the umpires. His team got into the act by yelling at both the umpires and Newbury Park’s players. One Simi Valley player, Tevin Nelson, eventually was ejected after the home plate umpire made several trips to the Pioneer dugout to quiet the bench-jockeying.

And after Simi Valley turned a 6-2 deficit into an 8-6 win, Scyphers gave himself credit for the turnaround.

“A key to the ballgame was when I got fired up at the umpires,” Scyphers said. “I haven’t done that all year. But I thought we needed something to give us a spark.”

Watching Scyphers’ tirades from the stands was longtime Marmonte League rival and Channel Islands Coach Don Cardinal, who was scouting the game with several of his players.

“If I argued like that, I would get thrown out of the game for sure,” Cardinal said.

NO LAUGHING MATTER

Van Nuys Coach Bill Gordon remembers it like it was yesterday, even though it happened nearly a year ago. In two Valley Pac-8 Conference games last season, Poly outscored Van Nuys, 35-4, to sweep the Wolves.

The teams met again last week for the first time since the routs, but this time the results were not as lopsided.

In fact, after Van Nuys beat Poly, 3-2, on Tuesday, the Parrots were not happy to see Van Nuys for another matchup two days later.

“Usually, we get off the bus and they just laugh at us,” Gordon said. “But they weren’t laughing on Thursday.”

With the score tied, 4-4, after six innings of the second game, Poly capitalized on three errors in the seventh to come away with an 8-4 victory. But the Van Nuys players could hold their heads high.

“If nothing else, we got some respect,” Gordon said.

It is not likely that Poly will have a good laugh at Van Nuys’ expense next year, either. Seven of the Wolves’ starters are nonseniors.

REIN THEM IN

Winning is an entirely different experience for Verdugo Hills baseball players. So much so, they aren’t quite sure how to handle it.

Having never coached a baseball team before this season, Coach John Vera is trying to find a way to keep the Dons (6-4, 5-2 in league play) from being egomaniacs.

“I’m a disciplinarian and it’s so hard for me to contain these guys,” Vera said. “I have so many hot-shots. And three of them will be returning next year.”

Said Vera: “It’s like a horse where you want to hold back on the reins all the time. . . . I try to but it’s hurting my fingers.”

Verdugo Hills, last-place finisher in the Northeastern League for the past two seasons, has already won as many league games as it did in 1990 and ’91.

THURSDAY SPECIAL

Attention Chatsworth High softball team: Beware of El Camino Real right-hander Jennifer Gould when she steps into the pitching circle for next week’s West Valley League matchup.

The sophomore right-hander has taking a liking to Thursdays.

On April 2, Gould combined with Gretchen Vandenberg on a no-hitter to beat Kennedy, 13-0.

Last Thursday against Cleveland, Gould (7-3) pitched a no-hitter.

MAKING HAY

Notre Dame senior Morgan Hay was one of several players who conceded that the Knights had taken the Crespi boys’ volleyball team too lightly when Notre Dame lost its Mission League opener in four games.

Last Wednesday night, Hay and his teammates made sure it did not happen again. Hay, a 6-foot senior outside hitter, almost single-handedly destroyed the Celts with his devastating jump serve and effective spiking. He had 17 kills, nine aces and 25 service points.

“We definitely underestimated them,” Hay said. “We knew we had to win to even share in the league title. We came in with an all-out attitude.”

Notre Dame came into the season as the third-ranked team in the Southern Section 3-A Division; Crespi was ranked 10th.

Losing to the lower-rated Celts was the turning point in Notre Dame’s season, Coach Jim Hall said.

“That was definitely a wake-up call,” Hall said. It was a real good lesson for us. We realized we were not invincible.”

Another confidence builder for the Knights was a championship performance in their own tournament March 28 at Hart.

“We discovered how good we could be,” said Tom Stillwell, a 6-8 middle blocker. Stillwell, who already is drawing plenty of attention from college recruiters as a junior, had 16 kills and eight blocks.

Hall said he hopes the Knights can retain their focus on through to the playoffs. “The thing that worries me about our team is not (the physical aspect),” Hall said. “We can play with anyone. It’s the mental thing.”

BIDING TIME

How easy has Marmonte League play been for the Royal boys’ volleyball team? So easy that one opposing coach bragged recently when his team got close in one game.

“If we put our mind to it, we can be the best team in California,” senior setter Travis Ferguson said.

Royal (10-0, 8-0) has not lost a game. And the Highlanders probably will not be challenged until the Redondo Varsity Classic on May 2, one of the top prep tournaments in Southern California. But don’t expect Royal to become complacent.

“I don’t think that will happen to this team,” Coach Bob Ferguson said. “Our practices are so competitive that we can’t help but get better.”

NOT ADDING UP

Calabasas has put on a clinic of inefficiency, as baseball Coach Rick Nathanson can attest. “You look at our stats and our record and it’s mind-boggling,” Nathanson said.

The Coyotes have lost four one-run games and one two-run game. They have a team batting average of .367 and have six starters with averages above .300. Scoring runs has been a problem, however.

Josh Morton (.542, 13 for 24) leads the team with eight runs batted in and Colin Fields is second with six.

The defense, meanwhile, has dulled a strong effort from the pitching staff. Todd Cignarelli (3-3, 1.37 earned-run average) has given up only three earned runs--and four unearned runs--in 15 2/3 innings. Brian Bruskrud (1-2, 1.81) has given up seven earned runs--and six unearned runs--in 27 innings.

David Coulson, Vince Kowalick and staff writers Paige A. Leech and T.C. Porter contributed to this notebook.