Stevenson Sizzles for Chatsworth

Chatsworth High enters the City Section 4-A Division playoffs leaving a trail of smoke in its rear-view mirror. The Chancellors have won nine of their past 10 games, a streak that not so coincidentally reflects the almost unbelievable statistics posted by first baseman David Stevenson.

Stevenson, a senior who bats and throws right-handed, played for the junior varsity in 1991 and was benched at this season’s midpoint.

“Early on, I don’t know what it was, but he just didn’t seem to come to play,” Chatsworth Coach Tom Meusborn said. “I don’t know if sitting him down helped or not, but he seems focused now.”

Cast a glance at Stevenson’s numbers since re-entering the lineup 10 games ago: 19 for 27 with three home runs, three doubles, a triple and 20 runs batted in. He has six multiple-hit games in that stretch.

Stevenson has hit safely in his past nine West Valley League games to lead the Chancellors--who trailed Taft by four games with 10 league games remaining--into a league co-championship with El Camino Real.

Overall, Stevenson is 21 for 46 (.457). He had neither driven in a run nor homered before the streak and was two for 19.

ARAGON AILING

Channel Islands pitcher Angel Aragon, a senior right-hander who is 9-2, sustained injuries to his shoulder and wrist that sidelined him last week. According to Coach Don Cardinal, Aragon’s availability for the first round of the Southern Section 5-A Division playoffs Friday is questionable.

“We’ll just have to see how he feels,” Cardinal said.

Aragon, who has signed with Cal State Long Beach, is 19-4 the past two seasons. Channel Islands will travel to Santa Monica for a first-round game.

TRY, TRY AGAIN

So much for David against Goliath.

The Moorpark baseball team, a Southern Section 1-A Division power this season and Tri-Valley League champion with an 11-1 record, was crushed by visiting Royal, 7-1 and 14-3, in a nonleague doubleheader Saturday at Moorpark.

Moorpark Coach David Rhoades, whose team entered the doubleheader with a 17-2 record, sought a game with Royal, a member of the 5-A Marmonte League, with hopes of establishing a rivalry with the Simi Valley school.

Royal (17-7) tagged Moorpark’s top two pitchers, Mike Vasquez and Ken Ditto, for 18 hits.

“I was looking to play some of the best teams I could,” Rhoades said. “I thought, ‘What the heck?’ I don’t think we made the showing I expected. They exposed some of our weaknesses. But I still think it was a good experience for us.”

Undaunted, Rhoades said he would like to schedule a nonleague matchup with Simi Valley, the Marmonte League champion and a perennial Ventura County power.

Moorpark’s chances of landing that game are slim, however.

“I’ve kind of got a philosophy that I won’t schedule anyone who isn’t 5-A, unless it’s a tournament,” Simi Valley Coach Mike Scyphers said. “It really doesn’t do anything for our kids to beat someone, 15-2. All it does is pad the stats.”

BAD HOP POP

Hart right fielder Alan Ray suffered a broken nose last week in practice when a batted ball took a bad hop and struck him in the face.

Who hit the ball?

“I did,” Hart Coach Bud Murray said. “It just bounced up and cracked him in the nose.”

Murray said that Ray, a junior with a .301 batting average and 12 stolen bases, wants to play in Friday’s Southern Section playoff opener against visiting Glendale.

Said Murray: “He’s gonna play.”

THE FRESHMAN

Palmdale’s Chris Paxton is a major reason for the Falcons’ late-season surge to a second-place finish in the Golden League.

Paxton, a left-handed hitting freshman first baseman, collected eight hits in 11 at-bats last week, including six hits in a doubleheader against Ridgecrest Burroughs. Palmdale (14-10 overall) won three games to finish with a 9-6 league mark.

Paxton raised his average from .305 to .371 last week. Paxton, who also has 10 doubles, said he has not been intimidated by pitchers three years his senior.

“At first it was tough,” Paxton said. “But I kind of got the hang of it as it went along.”

WHAT A RELIEF

It was white-knuckle time for Crespi on Friday, and not merely because the Celts were locked in a gut-wrenching season-finale with the league title at stake.

Sure, Crespi needed a victory over Bishop Montgomery to win the Mission League title outright. But because of a series of coin flips conducted earlier in the day, Crespi needed a victory just to assure itself of a playoff berth.

The possibility existed that four teams could have ended the season with 8-4 records in league play. Based on that scenario, coin tosses were made before Friday’s games. Consequently, Alemany was the lone team assured of a playoff berth while Crespi faced the possibility of playing either Notre Dame or St. Bernard in a third-place tie-breaker Saturday morning. Only the top three teams advance to the playoffs.

Celt Coach Scott Muckey found himself in a strange predicament in the late innings against Bishop Montgomery, but he had to consider Saturday as well. With right-hander Phil Aghajanian tiring, Muckey was forced to gamble. Bishop Montgomery scored two runs in the sixth and one in the seventh to take an 8-5 lead.

Muckey was fairly certain that his strategy was being questioned.

“I’m sure there were people wondering why I didn’t go get Aghajanian around the seventh or eighth,” Muckey said. “But we had to have somebody for (tomorrow). No way I could use everybody just to get through that game.”

Crespi, which trailed by five runs in the first, rallied to defeat Bishop Montgomery, 9-8, in eight innings. Aghajanian, who entered the game with none out in the first and Crespi trailing, 5-0, earned the victory.

WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN

Crespi’s Jeff Suppan is better known for the pitches he throws, rather than the ones he hits. Last week, however, Suppan came through with the bat to help lead the Celts to the Mission League title.

On Monday, Suppan homered, had three doubles and drove in four runs in a nonleague victory over Westlake. On Wednesday, Suppan doubled, drove in two runs and was the winning pitcher in a victory over Notre Dame. Friday, Suppan doubled in a title-clinching win over Bishop Montgomery.

Six extra-base hits and four RBIs is a solid week’s performance for most guys. But Suppan--who starts at first base when he isn’t pitching and bats ninth--could have really boosted his numbers with another hit or two Friday.

In Crespi’s 9-8 victory over Bishop Montgomery, Suppan doubled in his first at-bat. However, he went hitless in his next four at-bats, and in that span he made the third out three times and stranded nine baserunners.

Overall, Suppan is 25 for 68 (.368) and ranks second on the team in home runs (three) and doubles (six), first in triples (two) and is tied for the team lead in RBIs (22).

THE CROWNING BLOW

It was not the best of weeks for El Camino Real shortstop Dan Cey, on the field or in the parking lot.

For starters, Cey had a 10-game hitting streak snapped in a victory over Taft on Monday. Second, he was hitless in four at-bats Wednesday as the Conquistadores lost to Chatsworth for the third time in a row.

In the 4-3 loss, Cey stepped to the plate with runners on first and second and none out in the fifth. He greeted Chatsworth reliever Eric Holliday with a long line drive to left that was caught at the fence.

“I could have been king for a day,” Cey said.

Seeking some escapist fare, Cey went to the movies Friday night. When he returned to his car, a window had been smashed and his stereo was missing.

SECOND HELPINGS

Seems that seconds are a habit that the Simi Valley softball team just can’t break.

After finishing second in the competitive Marmonte League for the past five consecutive seasons, the Pioneers’ goal for 1992 was obvious: Finish first.

Simi Valley (22-2) attained that goal, but there’s still a catch. Simi Valley and Thousand Oaks (19-4) finished as league co-champions. The teams split in league play, so a coin flip Saturday determined which team would be the league’s No. 1 representative in the Southern Section 5-A Division playoffs.

Simi Valley, ranked No. 2 in the 5-A, called the toss and lost.

Once again--for the sixth consecutive year--the Pioneers are the No. 2 team from the Marmonte League, which means they had to play a wild-card game Tuesday against a third-place team while the league champions are brushing up for the first round, which begins Thursday.

“I feel like we’ve accomplished our first goal,” Coach Suzanne Manlet said. “This is just a placement. We wanted to win the league and we did that.”

MOVING ON

Alemany senior shortstop Krista Gomez will be gone next year--but not forgotten.

Gomez, who has signed a letter of intent to play softball for Arizona next season, leaves behind a string of school records.

Her 50 hits this season broke her own school record of 41 set last year. The mark is also the sixth best in Southern Section history.

Gomez batted .630 this season with five home runs and 40 RBIs, increasing her overall batting average to .520.

Several of her statistics are among the Southern Section’s all-time best: 161 hits, third; 135 runs, third; 20 home runs, fourth; and 127 RBIs, sixth.

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