AMERICAN LEGION BASEBALL / JEFF FLETCHER : Texas-Bound Hornback Calls Off Sacrifice

The solution seemed simple.

Woodland Hills West Coach Don Hornback, who planned to move with his wife to San Antonio this summer, would just send her to Texas to set up a household while Hornback stayed and took his team into the playoffs.

“I guess it would seem to be a good idea for baseball purists, but for most of the human race, it’s not a good idea,” Hornback said. “That’s a lot to put on a woman.”

Hornback finally thought better of his plan. After coaching his American Legion team one last time Thursday, Hornback will leave for a new city and a new career. He will turn the team over to assistant Bob Marks for the duration of the season.

Hornback, 55, said he decided to move because of the poor Southern California economy. He has quit his job in the aerospace industry and plans to work at an independent loan company with relatives in Texas.

“(California) is just not the paradise that it was 30 years ago, 20 years ago, or even 10 years ago,” Hornback said. “The weather is great and the baseball is great, though.”

He leaves a Woodland Hills West team that is one of the best in his five seasons as coach. Drawing most of its players from City Section champion El Camino Real High, Woodland Hills West is 16-2 and looking as though it might make some noise in the playoffs.

Of course, Hornback has had his time in the coaching spotlight already. In 1989, he assisted with the Woodland Hills West team that won the national championship.

“I don’t think (this team) is quite as strong as the (1989) team, but not many teams are,” Hornback said. “The last two weeks our pitching has come along good. They’ve hit well. The fielding has been spotty at times, but we’ve been solid for the most part.”

Marks said he will try to make the transition as smooth as possible, with few if any changes in the way the team is run.

“I pretty much know (Hornback’s) philosophies, but he’s a hard guy to replace,” he said.

After he evaluates the demands of his new job, Hornback expects to return to coaching.

“I’ve already had phone calls from a couple (of American Legion people in San Antonio),” Hornback said. “You know what they say, baseball finds you. There’s golf nuts, fishing nuts, car nuts. . . . I’m a baseball nut.”

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Playoff picture: Heading into the final week of District 20 regular-season play, Van Nuys East (16-1) and Verdugo Hills (14-2) likely will win the Eastern and Southern division titles, respectively. Either Valley North (17-1) or Woodland Hills West (16-2) will win the Western Division title, with the other earning a wild-card berth. Palmdale East (11-3) or Newhall-Saugus (11-4) will win the Northern Division championship, but the runner-up might not get a wild-card berth.

Other teams in the hunt are Van Nuys South (12-6), Sepulveda (10-7), Van Nuys West (10-7) and Lancaster South (10-7).

The four division winners and the next four teams with the best records qualify for the double-elimination district tournament starting Tuesday.

In District 16, the stakes are higher because there is no tournament. Only the first-place team advances to the Area 6 playoffs. Ventura (10-3) is in first place, Camarillo B (11-5), Santa Barbara (8-4), Westlake-Royal (9-5) and Newbury Park (9-5) are all within 1 1/2 games. Each team will play 18 games by July 25.

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All star, no pitch: Five players each had two hits in the District 20 East-West All-Star game Sunday at Birmingham High. The East won, 10-8, in a game in which the teams combined for 25 hits.

Woodland Hills East’s Stacy Kleiner, who had two doubles, Granada Hills West’s Dave Cipolla, Woodland Hills East’s Gabe Kapler, Palmdale East’s Jerome Payton and Lancaster South’s Eric Cole were the players with the two-hit games.

Van Nuys South players were the heroes. Aaron Amitin had a two-out, two-run single to give the East a 6-5 lead in the sixth. Dave Forst’s two-run single gave the East an 8-6 lead in a four-run seventh.

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Take two: Umpires don’t often reverse their calls, so it was particularly unusual to see it happen twice in one seven-inning game Saturday. In the fifth inning of Woodland Hills East’s game against Woodland Hills West, East’s John Soto hit a dribbler to third fielded by Mike Glendenning. His throw to first beat the runner, but bounced in the dirt and was bobbled by first baseman John Novak. The umpire behind Novak originally called Soto out but changed the call after consulting with the home plate umpire.

In the seventh, West shortstop Justin Balser appeared to drop a ball at second base on a force play, loading the bases with one out for East. But the base umpire then reversed his call, ruling Kleiner out because Balser was trying to take the ball out of his glove to make a throw.

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Quote of the week: Valley North’s Mark Lopez, after his team lost, 3-2, to West Hills last Wednesday, ending a 13-game winning streak to start the season: “We knew we weren’t going to go through the season 21-0. We’re not terminators.”

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Odds and ends: Van Nuys South pitcher Mike Weiss stretched his scoreless innings streak to 17 last week. . . . Sepulveda infielder Brad Fullmer has been walked nine times--three intentionally--in his last four games. In 10 games this season, Fullmer has been walked 21 times, six intentionally.

Las Virgenes first baseman David Jacobs is 11 for 19 in five games against the top three teams in the Western Division: Valley North, Woodland Hills East and Woodland Hills West. . . . West Hills first baseman Jason McLean, whose first four hits were home runs, has only two hits since. . . . Encino’s Brad Farlow is on a 10-for-12 streak with seven consecutive hits, including four doubles during the stretch.

Van Nuys East beat Burbank North, 30-6, in the second game of a doubleheader Saturday. Van Nuys East had 27 hits, five each by Francisco Dongo and Dave Supple, who also hit a home run. Because Van Nuys East has won nine in a row, Coach Jody Breeden is growing back the lucky goatee he had during the team’s season-opening seven-game streak. . . . Van Nuys East shortstop Ryan Stromsborg, who has missed most of the Legion season because of surgery on his right hand, will play this week.