Catcher McElwee Takes Stick to Woodland Hills West, 4-1 : Legion baseball: Granada Hills West standout hits third-inning grand slam to mute vaunted running game of opposition.

Heath McElwee, having freshly learned the catching trade, seems to have coined a new baseball axiom.

It goes something like this: If you hit ‘em out, you don’t have to throw ‘em out.

McElwee, normally a third baseman and outfielder for the Granada Hills West American Legion team, has been catching for all of a week. Thursday, his team faced Woodland Hills West, which entered the game with 65 stolen bases in 69 attempts.

“I was excited about that,” said McElwee, who hadn’t caught since before entering high school. “If a team runs, it keeps me in the game. It keeps me sharp.”

He stuck a sharp stick in the opposition’s collective eye. McElwee belted a grand slam in the bottom of the third inning to lead Granada Hills West to a 4-1 victory in a key Western Division game at The Master’s College.

McElwee redirected a Jason Sipperley fastball over the fence in right-center, about 375 feet from the plate, to erase a 1-0 deficit. Just as important, by handing Granada Hills West (13-3) the early lead, McElwee helped eliminate the enemy running game.

Sipperley (3-3) was responsible for the brunt of the damage in the four-run inning, because Granada Hills West twice tried to hand the left-hander outs and he failed to take advantage. Sipperley walked leadoff batter Gaby Halcovich after jumping ahead, 0-and-2, then failed to field a pair of consecutive bunts that went for scratch singles.

With Halcovich on first and none out, Flavio Castro dumped a bunt down the first-base line. Neither Sipperley nor catcher Chris Seal said a word, and when both scrambled for the ball, they fell in a tangled heap. Neither could make a throw.

Manny Valencia followed with a bunt down the third-base line, and Sipperley slipped coming off the mound. Again, no throw was made.

“I kept falling,” said Sipperley, who allowed just three singles otherwise. “My spikes are too dull. I’m not that clumsy, geez. But it seemed like it.”

McElwee’s thunder was all that right-hander Robert Vazquez (3-0) needed. Vazquez, who redshirted last season at Pierce College, allowed five hits, walked two and struck out two.

Woodland Hills West (13-5) took a 1-0 lead in the third on a two-out double by Dan Cey, but Vazquez allowed just two hits thereafter. Woodland Hills West swiped one base in as many attempts but only advanced one runner to second over the final four innings.