Stromsborg Shows His Metal, 10-6

We can rebuild him. . . .

Ryan Stromsborg broke both bones in his left forearm two years ago. In two places, to boot.

Doctors took one look at the X-rays and winced. Nasty stuff. It took a lot of surgical hardware to put the shortstop’s arm back together. A couple of metal pins and 14 screws, to be specific.

Two months ago, the hardware was finally removed. Thursday, he helped remove Verdugo Hills from the American Legion District 20 playoffs at Burroughs High.

Stromsborg, who returned to the team last Wednesday, homered and hit a double and a single to lead Van Nuys East to a 10-6 victory in the elimination game. Van Nuys (20-3) will face Palmdale East in another elimination game today at 1 p.m. at Birmingham High.

Stromsborg, a shortstop who started Thursday in the outfield, has a pair of unsightly six-inch scars on the arm and more than a few memories of the fracture.

“They didn’t fix this,” he said, rotating his wrist to reveal an audible grating sound.

Whatever else the doctors did turned out just fine. Against Verdugo Hills, Stromsborg was practically bionic.

Verdugo Hills (18-5) jumped to a 2-0 lead, but it didn’t last. Stromsborg’s two-run homer to left-center keyed a four-run rally in the top of the third and Van Nuys didn’t trail thereafter.

Yet even after Stromsborg’s strong-arm tactics, not to mention a three-run homer in the fifth from teammate Francisco Dongo, Verdugo Hills threatened to scratch its way back into the game.

Staked to an 8-2 lead, left-hander Rich Igou was removed with two out in the fifth after walking three consecutive batters.

By then, Verdugo Hills had scored twice and loaded the bases. Left-hander Jason Litt relieved and grooved a first-pitch fastball to Kirk Hagge, who represented the tying run.

“Just trying to get ahead,” said Litt, who recorded a save in a regular-season victory over Verdugo Hills. “It was scary.”

Hagge came a few feet from tying the game, but the ball peeled foul, just past the right-field pole. Hagge singled home a run two pitches later to pare the Van Nuys lead to 8-5, but Litt allowed just one run over the final 4 1/3 innings to pick up the victory.