Stink Raised Over T-Shirt of Poly’s Flores

Poly first baseman Francisco (Chief) Flores will admit to being consumed by superstition this season.

Before every inning in the field, Flores would bounce the game ball on the ground, pick it up, bless himself and then hand the ball to the pitcher.

The gesture did not offend teammates, but an odor certainly did.

After Poly lost to Van Nuys, 3-2, in a Valley Pac-8 Conference game in April, Flores refused to wash the undershirt he was wearing that day.

For two months of practice and games, Flores wore the shirt religiously. Poly proceeded to win 15 consecutive games before losing to San Pedro, 6-3, last week in the City Section 4-A Division final.

“My mom and everyone on the team (got) on my case and told me to wash it,” Flores said. “It smells so bad.”

SHOWTIME

Organizers bubbled with enthusiasm at Tuesday’s press conference to announce the inaugural CIF-Reebok Bowl football game Dec. 18.

The game, on the drawing board for years, will pit the Southern Section Division I champion against the City Section 4-A Division champion at a site to be determined.

Southern Section Commissioner Stan Thomas was practically giddy, and he warmed up the crowd with a football joke.

It went something like this: The devil and the Lord decided to play a football game. The Lord was looking over his roster and realized he had fielded a great group of athletes, the best football players to play the game.

He mentioned this to the devil.

Said the devil: “We’ll kick your rear.”

Countered the Lord: “You have no chance. Every great player went to heaven. I’ve got all the greats who ever played the game.”

Answered the devil: “Yeah, but I’ve got all the officials.”

ALL NIGHT LONG

For the second time in as many summers, Alemany baseball Coach Jim Ozella will serve as an assistant for the Fairbanks Goldpanners of the Alaskan League.

Alaska takes some getting used to, he concedes. For instance, this time of year, the sun never sets. Consequently, all games are day games, even the ones that start at 7:30 p.m.

What a coach must sacrifice for the good of his team.

“When you’re done playing, it’s still light outside,” said Ozella, who leaves today and will remain with the team until Aug. 15. “A guy is tempted to go out and have a good old time, but you have to get up the next morning and go to work.”

Former Alemany catcher Mike Sims, a 1989 graduate who plays at Cal State Northridge, will play for the Goldpanners this summer.

SHORT CELEBRATION

La Reina High softball pitcher Michelle St. Pierre (16-4) celebrated the Regents’ back-to-back Southern Section 1-A Division title for about three hours Saturday. Then it was back to business.

St. Pierre, a junior right-hander who threw a three-hitter and struck out seven in the title game, hustled over to Westminster to pitch two games for the Shilos, her Amateur Softball Assn. 18-and-under team.

It was no big deal to St. Pierre who once pitched five games in one day.

BOMBED AWAY

How important was right-hander Jeff Gibbons to the Oak Park baseball team? Perhaps more than Coach Mike Bolyog had thought.

“A lot of people look at this ballclub and say Jeff Gibbons is the whole team,” Bolyog said after Oak Park defeated Twentynine Palms, 5-2, to advance to the Southern Section 1-A final. “That’s wrong.”

Ultimately, however, the Eagles could not win the title without Gibbons. Cerritos Valley Christian defeated Oak Park, 11-5, on Friday, pounding relievers Eric Pryor and Marc Correll for nine runs and eight hits in the sixth inning.

Gibbons, who had pitched five innings against Twentynine Palms, started the championship game but was forced to leave after five innings because he had reached the limit of 10 innings for the week. Gibbons left with Oak Park ahead, 5-2.

“That’s just baseball,” Gibbons said with a shrug. “Those guys were hitting the ball off me too. I’m just glad I got to pitch in the final.”

Pryor (4-4), whose earned-run average soared from 2.67 to 3.42 after being charged with six runs in one-third inning, took the loss harder.

“When I did throw strikes, they hit them,” said Pryor, who sat alone in the dugout for several minutes after the game. “I thought, ‘Just get one out.’ ”

That he did. But it took Correll to get the final two outs, and only after he yielded a pair of doubles, two more walks and two more runs. All told, the Crusaders sent 14 batters to the plate.

SPORTSMANSHIP

Nikki Shaw of Fillmore was understandably disappointed about finishing second to Shelley Taylor of Huntington Beach Edison in the girls’ 1,600 meters in the state championships Saturday. But she was also gracious in defeat.

Shaw and Taylor broke from the pack with 600 meters left in the race, but when Taylor accelerated with 300 meters to go, Shaw was unable to keep up. Taylor won in 4 minutes 48.52 seconds, the fastest girls’ high school time in the nation this year, with Shaw second in 4:53.40.

“I’m disappointed, but it’s nice to see Shelley win. She has been here before and had her share of problems,” said Shaw, a senior who was second in the 1,600 in last year’s state meet.

Taylor placed seventh in the 1,600 in last year’s state meet, was fifth in 1990 and was disqualified after finishing fourth in the 1,600 as a freshman.

MIND GAMES

Jeff Wilson of Newbury Park had complained of mental fatigue after winning the 1,600 meters in a personal best of 4:09.75 in the Masters meet and it appeared to cost him a higher placing in the state championships Saturday.

Goss Lindsey of Peninsula, Daniel Das Neves of La Mesa Helix and Wilson were running 1-2-3 with 300 meters left in the 1,600, but after Wilson made an unsuccessful attempt to take the lead with 250 meters to go, he faded badly in the last 200 meters and eventually was passed by Brian Wilkinson of Merced.

“He just didn’t have it today,” Newbury Park Coach Mike Stewart. “That’s the way it goes.”

Vince Kowalick and staff writers Steve Elling, Paige A. Leech and John Ortega contributed to this notebook.