AMERICAN LEGION BASEBALL NOTEBOOK / STEVE ELLING : Using Their Edge in Experience, Collegians Jump to Head of Class

It is as predictable as the umpire bellowing “Play Ball” before the first pitch. As expected as a fastball aimed at an ear hole after consecutive home runs.

Every summer, players from college return to play American Legion ball with their former high school classmates and show their mates how to play the game.

The returning players might be young--at least in comparison to others in their high school class--but after a year in college, they no longer are green. Three District 20 players who attended Pierce College in 1991-92 are prime examples of what a season in a college system can mean in developmental terms.

Carl Grissom of Quartz Hill, Robert Vazquez of Granada Hills West and Lou Tapia of Van Nuys-Notre Dame used last spring at Pierce as their redshirt years and will be freshmen in 1992-93.

After a year of soaking up the college scene, all three returned to play Legion ball this summer and have been selected to play in the District 20 All-Star Game, rescheduled for Sunday at Burroughs High.

All three are 18 years old--players can participate in Legion ball as long as they do not turn 19 before Aug. 1--but have gained an invaluable edge in maturity and experience.

Grissom, a 1991 graduate of Quartz Hill High, sat behind Pierce center fielder Erik Martinez, who earned a scholarship to Pepperdine.

Vazquez, a Granada Hills High graduate, sat behind right fielder Joey Arnold, who was selected most valuable player in the Western State Conference last spring and earned a scholarship to Cal State Northridge.

Tapia, a Notre Dame High product, sat behind third baseman Jason Cohen, a freshman who finished among conference leaders in runs batted in.

All three redshirts were required to practice daily with the team and suit up for each game.

“Me and Lou and Robert all worked hard,” Grissom said. “Coaches told us that just because we were redshirts, we couldn’t slack off.”

Pierce Coach Bob Lofrano says he often has seen a palpable difference in the performances of players who compete in Legion ball after a year in college--at the junior college and four-year level.

“They’re heads and shoulders above the others,” Lofrano said. “It’s maturity as much as anything.”

Grissom said that during games at Pierce, he tried to station himself near a coach. By keeping his eyes and ears open, he improved as a player, even though he never played.

“I always sat next to Coach Lofrano or another coach, and they’d point out things,” Grissom said. “Stuff that we weren’t supposed to do on a certain play, things like that.”

Has it paid off?

* Grissom, a fleet shortstop-outfielder, is batting .364 with a district-best six triples. He also has 23 runs batted in, four homers and 14 stolen bases.

* Vazquez, a right-hander, has been a double threat for Granada Hills West. He is 3-0 as a pitcher with an earned-run average of 0.84 and is batting .444 with three homers and a team-high 17 RBIs as an outfielder.

* Tapia, a third baseman-catcher, is batting .456 with four homers and 27 RBIs.

Jake Loveridge and Marlon McKinney of Sun Valley, 1991 Poly graduates who played at area junior colleges in the spring, also enjoyed solid seasons this summer. Loveridge, a pitcher, was selected to play in the all-star game.

Yet the best returning player from the Class of 1991 is probably third baseman Ryan Kritscher of Newbury Oaks, a District 16 team. Kritscher, who started the latter half of last season as a freshman at Southern Mississippi, is batting .633 with nine doubles, five homers and 33 RBIs. He has not struck out.

He isn’t alone.

Teammate Adam West, a freshman last season at Lewis-Clark College in Lewiston, Ida., is the staff ace. West, a left-hander, is 6-1 with 40 strikeouts in 36 2/3 innings. Trent Martin played last season at Moorpark College and has seven homers and 34 RBIs for Newbury Oaks.

Swung on and mist: Rain forced the postponement of the District 20 All-Star Game at Burroughs High on Sunday, but there is good news on another front.

The game has been rescheduled to be played under the lights--for the second time in its 27-year history.

The game is still set for Burroughs but will be played Sunday night at 7.

Sunday marks the last day of the District 20 regular season and the game will be played at night to minimize any conflicts with regular-season finales.

Playoff seedings and brackets will be banged out by coaches before the game.

Hey, bulldog: And the comeback player of the summer is . . . Lance Evans.

Evans, who suffered a broken arm July 4 when he was knocked for a loop trying to turn a double play at second, is scheduled to pitch for Verdugo Hills today against Lancaster South at Antelope Valley High.

Evans cracked the radius of his left arm--if not his skull--but had part of his cast cut away so that he can wear a fielder’s glove. He has no pitching record and an ERA of 4.00 in 10 innings but has recorded two saves.

“It’s gonna be a while before he can swing the bat, but he’s ready to go,” Verdugo Hills Coach Kelly Magee said.

Ranks on the 10 scale: The timing was perfect. The political climate is another story.

In a season in which several teams have rallied from the dead to make serious postseason bids, it might have been the ideal time to expand the District 20 playoff format.

Eight teams will advance to the double-elimination playoffs, which run next Tuesday through Sunday.

The four divisional winners advance, plus four wild-card teams with the best record. There are 30 teams in the district, more than any other district in the state.

District 20 Commissioner Mel Swerdling considered a proposal in which the playoff field would expand to 10, with six wild-card teams making the postseason.

That idea was torpedoed when the Los Angeles Unified School District slashed funding, resulting in the closure of its playing fields.

Playoffs will be held at Burroughs High and Pierce College. Birmingham High, a district site, no longer will be used.

“We needed an extra field to pull it off and we needed it for the entire week,” Swerdling said. “When L.A. Unified closed the gates, there went the plan.”

Through Sunday’s games, there were 13 teams with seven or fewer losses that still had a mathematical chance of qualifying for one of the eight playoff berths.

In the Western Division alone, there were four teams entering play this week that had a shot at first place.

It could create a confusing logjam to sort through at Sunday night’s playoff seeding meeting, which Swerdling said could be “cutthroat.”