Lopez Discovers Chores, Coach Both Get Old

Is this any way to treat an All-City Section outfielder?

Cruise by Chatsworth High’s diamond before games or practices and you’ll likely see senior Mark Lopez doing much of the grunt work, such as dragging out the pitching screen, throwing batting practice and the like.

The kicker is, Lopez has been doing it for three years. The team rule used to be that the younger players did the physical labor as a way of paying their dues.

“We’ve reversed that,” Coach Tom Meusborn said, grinning. “Now we make the older guys do the dirty work. He’s in charge of the first-aid kit, the dugout, anything I can think of.

“He keeps saying, ‘But coach, my sophomore year, sophomores did that stuff, and now it’s us?’ ”

Maybe this is retribution, because Lopez and Meusborn enjoy giving each other the verbal needle. Meusborn, for instance, calls his outfielder “Lopes.”

Lopez fires back as best he can. Meusborn often warms up for practice by taking batting practice and attempting to hit the ball over the left-field fence.

“He hasn’t hit one out all year,” said Lopez, chuckling, as Meusborn popped up another pitch. “He’ll never do it. He’s too old.

“Classic case of young heart, old body.”

Meusborn is 32.

MARMONTE LEAGUE

TRACK & FIELD

Marion Jones of Thousand Oaks has been saying that the sky is the limit for her when it comes to the long jump, and Mike Powell, the world record-holder in the men’s long jump, agrees.

Powell, who set the world record of 29 feet 4 1/2 inches to win the 1991 World Championships in Tokyo, had this to say after watching Jones set a meet record of 20-9 1/4 in the Arcadia Invitational on Saturday night.

“I think she could jump 22 or 23 feet in the near future without getting a whole lot of help from anyone,” he said. “And she could potentially be the first 25-foot woman long jumper if she decides to really concentrate on the event.

“It will just come down to how much time she wants to devote to it.”

Galina Chistyakova of the then-Soviet Union set the women’s world record of 24-8 1/4 in 1988.

GOLDEN LEAGUE

BASEBALL

So the offense isn’t scoring many runs and the pitching staff can’t seem to get anybody out? Time to refocus the objectives.

At Antelope Valley, that means emphasizing defense.

The Antelopes, 3-8 at the start of the week, have turned 13 double plays and have their sights set on the Southern Section record book. To tie for 10th on the single-season list, Antelope Valley must turn 24 double plays.

“These guys are really hot after that record,” Coach Ed t’Sas said. “We’re not gonna set anything on fire with our bats or our pitching, so why not? You’ve got to motivate them somehow.” . . .

The “babies,” as Palmdale Coach Kent Bothwell calls his trio of sophomore starters, continue to lead the charge toward a possible league title. Six Palmdale regulars are batting at least .300, and three are the super sophs: outfielder Justice Jones (.333), infielder Shad Martin (.417) and catcher Chris Paxton (.375).

Highland not only walked away with the team trophy from the Bishop Gorman tournament last week, but shortstop Tom King won a contest to determine which player could round the bases in the shortest length of time. King also was eight for 12 in the tournament with two homers and six runs batted in.

VALLEY PAC-8 CONFERENCE

BASEBALL

Birmingham averaged 8.0 runs a game in its first three conference games, but mustered only two in its next four.

The Braves were scoreless in 22 consecutive innings before scoring one run against North Hollywood on Tuesday in a 6-1 loss.

But Coach Dave Contreras isn’t too worried. In fact, he said it’s only a matter of time.

“They’re hitting the ball hard and they’re working their tails off. It will probably start happening soon,” Contreras said. “I feel sorry for the team that’s going to have to watch us break out of our slump.”

TRI-VALLEY LEAGUE

BASEBALL

Teams are reluctant to run against Oak Park senior catcher Damin Sterling--and with good reason.

Sterling (5-foot-9, 175 pounds) has thrown out nine of 20 baserunners (45%) attempting to steal.

He was even better last season, gunning down 32 of 49 (65.3%).

Coach Mike Bolyog said Sterling is just getting warm.

“He hasn’t even hit the top of his form,” Bolyog said. “His accomplishments have to be stunning to some people because he’s not a physical specimen.”

Bolyog attributes Sterling’s success to his work ethic.

“He is absolutely awesome in practice--he never messes around,” Bolyog said. “His mechanics are sound and he gets the ball out in a hurry.” . . .

Oak Park led the league in steals heading into the week with 36 in 41 attempts (87.8%).

MISSION LEAGUE

BASEBALL

Although Chaminade is much improved from last season’s 4-22 record, some things don’t change.

Coach Dave Desmond, whose team is 7-9, 2-4 in league play, has a computer baseball game in which he can enter names for the players. Just for kicks, Desmond entered the names of his Chaminade players and played a game against the computer.

The Eagles were no-hit.

“It reminded me of watching Chris Garza again,” Desmond said, referring to last year’s game in which Garza, a Notre Dame left-hander, held the Eagles hitless. . . .

In real life, the Chaminade pitchers did well in the St. Paul tournament. The Eagles allowed 11 hits in four games, a 20-0 victory over St. Genevieve, a 3-0 loss to Bosco Tech, a 15-0 victory against Murphy and an 11-3 victory over La Salle. . . .

The league’s athletic directors recently implemented a rule limiting a pitcher to no more than 10 innings against a particular opponent. Problem is the league apparently didn’t get the message out.

Crespi Coach Scott Muckey, who said he was informed of the rule a couple of weeks ago, had to tell Notre Dame Coach Tom Dill about it before the teams met last week.

“It’s a good rule,” Muckey said, “but I don’t think the coaches knew about it.”

PACIFIC LEAGUE

BASEBALL

Crescenta Valley right-hander Jim Parque definitely falls in the “Who’s Hot” column. Parque has won his past three starts, striking out 27 in 17 innings.

Left fielder Casey Canale, who was inserted in place of injured John Gabrielson, also is on a roll. Canale has 10 hits in his past 15 at-bats with seven runs, raising his average to .609 (14 for 23).

Now that Gabrielson is ready to return from his shoulder injury, Coach Tony Zarrillo isn’t sure what to do with Canale. “We’ll find someplace for him, though,” he said. . . .

Hoover left fielder Amador Solis has pushed himself onto the list of top hitters on the Tornadoes. Solis has eight hits in his past 14 at-bats, with seven RBIs.

MISCELLANEOUS

SOCCER

Of the 12 high school senior girls on the local Valley United Wings club soccer team, 11 likely will be playing soccer at a Division I college.

Cindy Daws of Louisville has accepted a scholarship to Notre Dame and Harvard-Westlake’s Alyze Lowen is headed for Stanford.

Birmingham’s Erin Saltzman is headed to Washington, as is teammate Stephanie DeCastro of Arcadia. Chatsworth’s Mary Oades has signed with Washington State, Alemany’s Michelle Bush will go to San Diego and Meghan Mitchell of Chaminade is going to San Diego State.

Tabetha Garibay of Newbury Park is going to Pepperdine and Westlake’s Audrey Maxfield and Julie Ley of Louisville are also considering Pepperdine. Mari Meinhart of Westlake is reportedly leaning toward UCLA.

Kennedy Cosgrove and staff writers Steve Elling, Jeff Fletcher, Vince Kowalick, Paige A. Leech, John Ortega and Jason H. Reid contributed to this notebook.