AMERICAN LEGION BASEBALL / STEVE ELLING : Verdugo Hills’ Evans Tries to Sweep Aside Memory of Bad Break Against Glendale

Sticks and stones can break my bones . . . and so can those darn plastic batting helmets.

Verdugo Hills shortstop Lance Evans found that out the hard way and will wear a reminder for the next few weeks.

Evans was knocked over at second base while trying to turn a double play in the first game of an American Legion District 20 doubleheader against Glendale on Saturday and will be sidelined for the rest of the season.

The situation: With the bases loaded in the second inning, Glendale’s Frank Taormina sent a grounder to second and the ball was flipped to Evans at short for the force. Evans, in turn, was flipped in short order by baserunner John Lister, who went in hard trying to break up the relay throw to first.

Lister’s helmet caught Evans flush on the left forearm and the shortstop fell in a cloud of dust. The base umpire ruled Lister had not made an attempt to slide into second and called out both Lister and Taormina.

It got worse. After Evans somehow remained in the game, the first two balls of the third inning were hit to him--he booted the first one and made the play on the second. But after the second play, Evans fell in a heap behind second base. Coach Kelly Magee took the opportunity to verbally unload on the base umpire for failing to eject Lister the previous inning.

Evans was taken to a local emergency room, where it was determined that he had suffered a hairline fracture in the radius bone of his left arm. The loss could be costly for Verdugo Hills (14-2), which is locked in a race for the Eastern Division title with Van Nuys-Notre Dame (14-1).

Evans, who bats third and also pitches, was batting .408 with team highs in homers (four) and runs batted in (20). He was picked to play in Saturday’s District 20 All-Star Game at Burroughs High.

Yet Evans is hardly down and out in Verdugo Hills. About 2 1/2 hours after he left Stengel Field cradling his arm, he returned sporting a plaster cast and a sling. He crawled down from the stands over the dugout wall and watched the rest of the second game from the dugout. Saner guys might have gone home to convalesce.

“No way,” he said. “This is my team.”

This may be summer ball for some players, but Evans is taking it seriously. After Verdugo Hills won the second game to complete the doubleheader sweep, Evans was spotted waving a broom at the Glendale dugout.

Add Verdugo: Red Auerbach, meet Kelly (Red) Magee. Magee picked up the nickname because of his red hair, not because of his affinity for victory cigars, a staple of the former Boston Celtics’ coach.

But that could change.

After each Verdugo Hills win, Magee lights a victory stogie and allows his winning pitcher to burn a dime-sized mark in the handle of the team’s wooden fungo bat.

“We have all kinds of stuff like that going on with this team,” Magee said.

A loose bunch? Without question.

Before Sunday night’s game with Sun Valley, shortstop-catcher Kirk Hagge (who is 6-foot-6) showed up wearing a blond wig. Reserve John Jackson donned it during the game and paraded around proudly with what he dubbed the “rally wig.”

“These kids are weird,” Magee said. “But we want them to have fun. We’ve kicked the butts of some Legion teams and their coach will have them out running laps after the game.

“We’re out to kick butt, but we have fun doing it.”

Add idiosyncrasies: Quirks are beginning to pile up for Van Nuys-Notre Dame left-hander Chris Leveque.

Not only does the pitcher smell the baseball before nearly every pitch, he also gnaws on the adjustable plastic strap on the back of his cap while in the dugout. And he has refused to wash his crusty uniform pants in fear of jinxing his recent string of solid performances.

It seems that Leveque’s idiosyncrasies may have trickled down. Coach Jody Breeden, one of the more superstitious people around, listens to a cassette recording of Don Henley’s “Boys of Summer” on the drive to each game.

Breeden’s good-luck tune worked until Sunday, when previously perfect Van Nuys-Notre Dame lost to Glendale, 3-2, in the second game of a doubleheader. Perhaps it was because Breeden didn’t have to drive to the second game. Leveque (4-1) took the loss.

Nonetheless, the loss left Van Nuys-Notre Dame a half-game ahead of hard-charging Verdugo Hills. The Eastern Division teams meet today at Notre Dame High at 5:15 p.m.

No reprise surprise: Reseda-Cleveland made a political statement last week, but don’t expect more of the same.

Last Wednesday, the day that all Los Angeles Unified School District campuses were closed to youth teams while a pay-for-play proposal is ironed out, Coach Howard Randall, his players and the umpires nonetheless found a way onto the field.

District police came by twice, Randall said, but let the game continue after Randall pointed out several dozen kids were playing blacktop basketball a few yards away.

Television cameras were on hand to capture Reseda-Cleveland’s act of defiance, but Randall said his days as a political activist are over. The following day, he received a call from District 20 Commissioner Mel Swerdling, who told Randall that a repeat performance would reflect negatively upon the American Legion program.

Have gun, will travel: Stacy Kleiner of Woodland Hills East, a Times’ All-Valley selection from Taft High as a junior last spring, has played much of the summer in the outfield. Last week, he was back at his more familiar position--catcher--during the team’s 7-2 victory over archrival Woodland Hills West.

Kleiner threw out two baserunners on steal attempts, which doubled West’s failure total for the season. West had swiped 59 bases in 61 attempts before Kleiner nailed two runners. West is now 65 of 69.

Kleiner has also hit safely in 17 consecutive games for East.

Battle of wills: In terms of the area’s best senior prospects, bill it as “the irresistible force meets the immovable object.”

When Encino Crespi plays host to Sepulveda today at 5:15 p.m., it will mark the renewal of a battle between right-hander Jeff Suppan of the former and infielder-outfielder Brad Fullmer of the latter. Both players, members of The Times’ 1992 All-Valley team, will be seniors in the fall.

Suppan is 5-1 and has put together numbers that border on the amazing. In 49 innings, Suppan has given up 35 hits, walked seven and struck out 90. His earned-run average is an almost infinitesimal 0.82.

Fullmer is batting .634 with six doubles, three triples, six homers and 28 RBIs.

During one stretch last year, Suppan struck out Fullmer eight consecutive times.

All-star substitute: Westlake-Royal proved to be a more-than-capable pinch-hitter. Though Westlake-Royal was substituting for District 16 rival Newbury Oaks, the former won the Sierra Nevada Classic tournament championship last month at the University of Nevada in Reno.

Newbury Oaks, many of whose members played on the Conejo A team that won the Sierra Nevada championship last summer, withdrew from the tournament when one of its coaches became ill last spring. Westlake-Royal joined the field and finished with a 6-0 record.

Pitcher-first baseman Rico Lagattuta was named the tournament’s most valuable player, Jason Ignacio won three games and was named the most valuable pitcher and catcher Shane Slayton was selected the most valuable offensive player.

Add tourneys: Newbury Oaks continued to lay waste to area teams by winning the Gene Waid Memorial Tournament over the weekend at Camarillo High.

Sunday, Newbury Oaks defeated Camarillo B, 16-2, and Camarillo A, 11-0, to win the tournament title. Newbury Oaks (16-1) has won 16 consecutive games.

Third baseman Ryan Kritscher was named the most valuable player. Kritscher hit two grand slams and was eight for 13 with 11 RBIs in four tournament games.

American Legion District 20 Standings

Western Division

Team W L Pct GB Valley North 13 2 .867 - Granada Hills W. 12 3 .800 1 Woodland Hills W. 13 4 .765 1 Woodland Hills E. 11 6 .647 3 Las Virgenes 6 10 .375 7 1/2 West Hills 5 12 .294 9 Canoga Park 3 11 .214 9 1/2 Agoura-Oak Park 2 13 .133 11

Northern Division

Team W L Pct GB Palmdale E. 12 3 .800 - Newhall Saugus 11 4 .733 1 Quartz Hill 11 7 .611 2 1/2 Lancaster South 6 11 .353 7 Palmdale West 4 14 .222 9 1/2 Littlerock 2 14 .125 10 1/2 Lancaster North 2 16 .111 11 1/2

Eastern Division

Team W L Pct GB VN-Notre Dame 14 1 .933 - Verdugo Hills 14 2 .875 1/2 Sun Valley 10 4 .714 3 1/2 Glendale 9 7 .563 5 1/2 No. Hollywood 7 9 .437 7 1/2 Burbank 3 12 .333 11 Sunland-Tujunga 3 13 .188 11 1/2

Southern Division

Team W L Pct GB Sepulveda 15 3 .833 - Encino Crespi 12 6 .666 3 Granada Hills E. 10 6 .625 4 Studio City 9 7 .562 5 San Fernando 8 8 .500 6 Panorama City 7 10 .389 7 1/2 Reseda-Cleveland 7 10 .389 7 1/2 Valley South 0 13 .000 12 1/2

Note: San Fernando and Valley North each have one tie.