Verdugo Hills Bids to End Drought : High school softball: Dons hope to win their first City title in any sport when they face South Gate.

The Verdugo Hills High cheerleaders, idle since the end of the basketball season and perhaps a bit rusty, have been brushing up on their routines and will be in uniform today ready to yell at a large outdoor pep rally.

And why not? Times like these call for extreme measures.

Since the school opened in 1937, Verdugo Hills has not won a City Section championship in any sport. Opportunities have been few and far between, but opportunity will knock at UCLA’s Sunset Field today at 2:30 p.m., when an upstart Dons softball team faces South Gate for the 3-A Division championship.

“I’ve not only had students mention it to me, I’ve had teachers talk to me about it,” said Don Scott, the Verdugo Hills athletic director, referring to the 57 years of futility on the Tujunga campus.

“They’re surprised not only that we’ve never won a section championship, they’re surprised these girls have made it this far.”

The Dons (12-5) finished second to Franklin in the Northeast League and were seeded sixth among 16 teams in the 3-A tournament.

They caught fire in the playoffs, taking out University, Roosevelt and Westchester to get to the final.

Coach Dan Balkey knew something was up when his team, which starts no seniors, upended two-time defending champion Roosevelt, 1-0, in the second round.

“It’s a very young team, and pitching and defense have been the key for us,” Balkey said. “Pressure hasn’t been getting to us at all. They’ve been handling it very, very good.”

So once again, Verdugo Hills has a chance to remove the shackles.

“I sure would like to get a City championship,” Scott said. “That would be great.”

Why have the Dons been thus far unsuccessful? Scott said Verdugo Hills, with an enrollment of 2,000, has never been a large school and has trouble competing against City schools that attract more athletes.

“About 50% of our enrollment is bused from schools that are overcrowded,” he said. “But the athletes at those schools just don’t get sent away. The schools try to protect their athletes.”

To say the softball team has been the focal point of the Verdugo Hills athletic program would be a stretch. The Dons work out each day on a practice football field and never play home games on campus, opting for a better facility at Sunland Park.

But Balkey believes anonymity is an advantage. In fact, Balkey said he thinks undefeated South Gate (15-0) is spying on the Dons in preparation to find out more about them.

“They don’t know who we are,” he said. “Nobody does. We’re a surprise team.”

Verdugo Hills will start ace pitcher Rachel Maldonado (5-2) but will have a reliable backup in Shannon Scoonover (4-1) if needed.

Offensively, the Dons are led by Kelly Garrett, whose batting average hovers around .400. Balkey was reluctant to divulge further information about his team--secrecy being a strategy.

The last shot Verdugo Hills had at a section title was two years ago, when the boys’ volleyball team lost to Venice in the 3-A final.

Now, Scott, the athletic director, wants to pull out all stops for this one: cheerleaders, a rally, maybe even a rooter bus.