It Takes 2 Dates With Snyder for Scouts to Fall in Radar Love

One by one, they packed up their toy guns and departed. Some grumbled, some cursed their subordinates.

All because Westlake High standout John Snyder had a tight shoulder?

Snyder, a 6-foot-2, 170-pound senior right-hander, has drawn the attention of many area scouts with his 85-m.p.h. fastball. Scouts have attended Snyder’s starts in large numbers and have dutifully recorded his performance and passed it on to their superiors.

Last Monday, about a dozen scouting cross-checkers showed up to verify Snyder’s velocity in his start against Glendale. Scouts whipped out their radar guns, which flashed the eye-popping number of . . .

75 m.p.h.

Needless to say, the cross-checkers were looking for a subordinate to cross-check into the backstop. They reportedly left in droves after one inning and were none too pleased.

“I had one scout tell me that he got ripped . . . by his cross-checker,” Westlake Coach Rich Herrera said. “The guy said, ‘I came all the way here to see this guy and he’s only throwing 75?’ ”

As it turns out, Snyder was experiencing tightness in his shoulder. Herrera noticed when Snyder was warming up that his velocity was down and instructed reliever Tony Dellamano to throw in the bullpen before the first inning was over.

Snyder was removed after the first inning, despite retiring Glendale without scoring.

Two days later, Snyder vindicated the scouts who had sung his praises.

In a superlative start against Royal in the Babe Herman tournament, Snyder struck out every player in the lineup at least once and allowed only two hits in a 1-0 victory. Snyder struck out 13, and, more importantly, again was reaching the upper register on the speed gun.

“I know he was back around 85 when we faced him,” Royal Coach Dan Maye said. “There was nothing wrong with him then.”

According to Herrera, Snyder (3-2) was clocked as high as 87 m.p.h. and was throwing between 83-85 m.p.h. in the seventh inning.

Add Westlake: Snyder, the school’s starting quarterback last fall, is not the biggest guy around.

“If you turned him upside-down,” Herrera said, “you couldn’t tell where his calves end and his thighs begin.”

With Snyder on the hill, though, it was Marmonte League rival Royal that took the header. Herrera called Snyder’s 1-0 victory over the Highlanders “as good a high school game you’ll see,” and the evidence supports him.

Snyder and Royal right-hander Paul Taylor hooked up in a memorable battle that ended when Taylor walked David Hayes on a 3-and-2 pitch with the bases loaded and two out in the bottom of the seventh.

“I thought I was going to have a heart attack,” Herrera said. “It was one of those things where every pitch took a minute, a minute and a half. It was very, very tense.”

More so for Westlake. Had the inning ended with the score tied, the game would have been called because of a time limit and Royal would have been awarded the victory based on total baserunners.

It was hardly Westlake’s only nail-biter.

The Warriors (9-6) scored a total of five runs in the first three games of the tournament before breaking loose in a 12-3 victory over West Torrance in the final.

A swell job: St. Genevieve Coach Scott Smith was getting ready to blast center fielder Mike Mirolla. But just before he cut loose he caught an eyeful and bit his tongue.

Mirolla had had trouble with a pair of fly balls in the first inning in Saturday’s game against Bosco Tech, and it led to three runs. Neither batter hit the ball hard, though both of the fly balls were scored as doubles.

“They both should have been caught,” Smith said.

Smith was beside himself--until Mirolla trotted into the dugout at the end of the inning.

Mirolla was in tears.

It seems the pollen in the air from blustery winds pushed Mirolla’s allergies into overdrive. The reaction was so severe that one of Mirolla’s eyes had swollen shut.

“I was ready to yell at him,” Smith said, “and then I saw his eye. We took him out of the game and he just kind of sat in the corner the rest of the way.”

St. Genevieve rallied to win, 6-3.

Back in the mix: Thousand Oaks girls’ track Coach Art Green was elated with Heather Hanger’s performances in the 100- and 300-meter low hurdles in the Mt. San Antonio College Relays on Friday.

And for good reason.

Hanger lowered her personal bests to 14.54 seconds in the 100 lows and to 45.24 in the 300 lows. In the process, she put the Lancers back in contention for the Southern Section 3-A Division championship next month.

Although Thousand Oaks had been regarded as the 3-A favorite since four-time state sprint champion Marion Jones transferred from Rio Mesa last November, the Lancers had not been particularly impressive early in the season.

They had lost to Agoura in a Marmonte League triangular meet April 2 and, until Friday, did not appear to have any individuals besides Jones who were going to score significantly in the 3-A meet.

Apparently, they do now.

“I told (Heather) that the reason we came down here today was for her to run fast in the hurdles,” Green said. “I knew she was capable of running in the 46s in the 300s. All her workouts had indicated that.”

Hanger appears capable of running much faster in the 300 hurdles.

She cleared the first five hurdles of Friday’s race cleanly, but she chopped her stride on the sixth and seventh hurdles and hit the eighth and final barrier hard. Yet she still lowered her previous best by more than 1 1/2 seconds.

“She’ll get better over the last three hurdles as she gets in better 400 shape,” Green said. “That’s where she’s getting tired right now.”

Trading places: Simi Valley right-hander Bill Scheffels, according to many, would have been the best sophomore pitcher in the area had he not been ruled ineligible for the remainder of the 1992 baseball season for violations that occurred after his transfer from Alemany.

Maybe not. Had Scheffels stayed put, he might not have been the best sophomore right-hander at Alemany. So say the statistics, anyway.

While Scheffels is cooling his heels and waiting for his junior season to roll around, Alemany sophomore Greg Kmet has rolled up impressive numbers.

Kmet, an unsung right-hander, has not allowed an earned run in 31 innings, and he pitched a complete game in Alemany’s 10-0 victory over Cantwell on Saturday.