Discussion Lit a Fire in Treadway

After Simi Valley High’s Bill Treadway was whacked for five runs in less than two full innings in a tournament game in Florida last week, the Simi Valley coaching staff leveled its own broadside at the junior right-hander.

Treadway has been a different pitcher since the two-hour discussion after his removal from that game.

He allowed only one hit and struck out a career-high 11 in a 3-1 tournament win over Lakeland (N.Y.). Two days later, Treadway did not allow a hit in six innings during Simi Valley’s 10-inning, 1-0 win over Boone of Orlando (Fla.).

In a 5-2 win over Westlake on Wednesday, Treadway appeared weary from 21 innings of work in eight days. But he limited Westlake to six hits and improved to 3-1.

“I had a mental check in Florida with the coaches and it changed the way I am looking at the game,” said Treadway, who is in his third varsity season. “Before, my thinking was, ‘Oh, no, my record!’ and I worried about the offense getting me some runs. Now I just go out and do my job and let everybody else do theirs.”

Treadway is an intense, feisty competitor who, when he wasn’t pitching, used to lead the verbal assault that blared from Simi Valley’s dugout.

“Now, I’m in my own little corner of the dugout thinking about what I have to do,” he said.

REGAINING FORM

Simi Valley catcher Jason Houchen’s patience was tested by a nagging hamstring injury that forced him to miss the first half of the season.

That left Simi Valley with Lenny Valbuena, a strong defensive catcher except for a weak throwing arm. Houchen broke into the lineup last week in Florida and has remained there.

Simi Valley Coach Mike Scyphers says Houchen has a better arm and stronger offensive skills than Valbuena, but Valbuena has better defensive skills.

Houchen’s hitting ability was evident Wednesday against Westlake. He had a run-scoring single in the fourth inning and added a run-scoring double in the sixth.

“It’s still early in the season for me, as far as game experience,” Houchen said. “I just decided to think about nothing else but hitting the ball. I told myself that (the Westlake pitcher) was no different than a pitching machine.”

BACK IN THE SADDLE

Craig Harzmann of Glendale looked like his old self at the Mt. San Antonio College Relays last week after getting blown away in the 100 and 200 meters in the Arcadia Invitational on April 11.

Harzmann won the second heat of the invitational 200 in a wind-aided 21.45 seconds and placed third in the invitational 100 in a personal best of 10.83. He had finished ninth in each event at Arcadia with times of 11.12 in the 100 and 22.11 in the 200.

“He was just too uptight about what he was doing at Arcadia,” Glendale Coach John Barnes said. “He’s a pretty intense kid to begin with, and he was even more serious there because it was a big meet. I told him last week, ‘Look. You’re a 17-year-old kid with a little speed. Have some fun with it. This isn’t life and death.’ ”

NEW RECRUIT

Sean McDermott left Canyon football Coach Harry Welch with mixed feelings after he transferred from Burroughs to Canyon during spring break.

McDermott, who has rushed for 891 yards in 161 carries (5.5-yard average) the past two seasons, moved with his family to Canyon Country and immediately enrolled in Welch’s off-season football class. McDermott (5-feet-10, 170 pounds)should fit in well with the run-oriented Cowboys who rushed for nearly 2,400 yards and 29 touchdowns last season.

Well, Harry, how does he look?

“He’s put together well, he moves his feet well and he has good hand-eye coordination,” Welch said. “And he’s terribly out of shape.”

A few of Welch’s summer practices should take care of that.

THREE’S A CROWD

Greg Peters did not have a lot of time on his hands--no long hours during the winter to work on his fastball.

When you are the quarterback on the football team and the shooting guard on the basketball team, baseball is not foremost in your mind.

Still, Peters has rebounded from a mediocre junior season to post solid numbers for Harvard-Westlake’s baseball team.

He is 5-2 with a 1.97 earned-run average for Harvard (10-6). Last season he was 5-5 with a 5.19 ERA.

“A couple of things have happened to him,” Coach Jim Brink said. “He’s older, stronger and has better velocity and more control of his curve. But what I’ve really noticed would have to be more called intangibles. He’s confident. In his third year of varsity, that has really paid off.”

Brink said Peters’ excellent physical condition, a product of the rigors of basketball, also has paid off.

Peters began throwing midway through the basketball season, sometimes on the weekend but more often in the evening under the lights in his back yard. His father caught, or he simply threw at a target.

“Usually, I wait until basketball season is over to start pitching,” Peters said. “This year I knew we’d have a good team and I didn’t want to get off to a slow start. It helped.”

Peters most likely will attend Tufts University in Medford, Mass., near Boston. Tufts does not give athletic scholarships.

He will have a little more time to work on the fastball; Peters plans to play only football and baseball.

GOODY-TWO-SHOES

For those who believe Granada Hills High baseball Coach Darryl Stroh has a hard-bitten edge that few players can relate to, well, guess again.

“The kids love Darryl,” said Jerry Berger, whose son, Scott Berger, has played for three season under Stroh. “They understand him.”

Last month, as a surprise, Stroh’s baseball team pitched in to buy him a new pair of cleats for his 53rd birthday. The white shoes that Stroh had worn for years had worn thin with the team, it seems.

The players presented the firebrand Stroh with a pair of black spikes.

“They didn’t like the white ones,” Stroh said. “You’ve got to stay current with the image.”

WALK ON WILD SIDE

The San Fernando hallmark long has been consistent pitching, which has kept the team’s scrappy offense within striking range. It should come as no surprise, then, that a staff that has struggled with control problems lies at the root of San Fernando’s problems.

San Fernando--the defending City Section 4-A Division champion--is 6-8, 3-7 in North Valley League play, placing the Tigers in jeopardy of missing the playoffs. Improbably, the Tiger staff has walked more batters (74) than it has struck out (52). None of the Tigers’ four primary pitchers have recorded more strikeouts than walks.

The damage could be much worse--the staff ERA stands at 2.26.

BAD BREAK

St. Francis players might be wondering why their two-week break did not come earlier. The Golden Knights lost their first seven games. Now they have won five of seven and four in a row but do not play another game until Wednesday.

Perhaps the most pleasant surprise has been senior John Workman (3-1, 2.92 ERA). He was expected to be a top pitcher, but hit? Workman, who had five at-bats last season, is batting .387 (12 for 31) with three doubles and two triples, and he has emerged as the cleanup hitter. When not pitching, he is the designated hitter.

Workman’s offensive productivity was foreshadowed when he hit a home run in last year’s playoffs. It was his fourth at-bat of the season.

Another who has surprised is sophomore Corby Foster. From the second slot in the order, Foster is batting .429. Lending senior leadership is center fielder Brew McGoldrick, who has 13 stolen bases and a .365 average heading into spring break. For once, vacation has come at the wrong time.

PLAYING IN PAIN

If Crespi can successfully defend its Mission League boys’ volleyball title this season, much of the credit will belong to Marcus Sumner. One of the Celts’ top hitters, Sumner has played since April 3 with torn cartilage in his right knee.

“The doctors have said he can play in pain, or get it operated on,” Coach Ken Slattum said.

Surgery is not much of an option right now for Sumner. The 6-5 hitter is a senior and an operation likely would finish his high school career. And with the Celts tied with Notre Dame for first place in league play, Crespi needs all of the punch it can muster.

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