For Bolen, It’s Worth the Weight

Some baseball coaches wince at the talk of weightlifting.

Baseball, they say, is a sport of precision and grace, not brawn.

Don’t tell Art Bolen, though.

Bolen, Hueneme High’s first baseman, attributes his transformation from light-hitting reserve to slugging starter to weighlifting, plenty of batting practice and more weighlifting.

Bolen guessed he hit about .180 last year, playing sparingly. But he has grown an inch and added 15 pounds of muscle this season, and was hitting .536 as the week began.

“He just made up his mind that he wanted to have a successful senior year and he’s been doing that,” Coach Reg Welker said. “He’s done a lot of work in the weight room, and it’s showing at the bat.”

CHANNEL LEAGUE

Clutch Performances

To say that Buena left fielder Rick Guzman is a clutch hitter would be an understatement. The Bulldogs are 5-3, and Guzman has had the key hit in three of the victories.

-- March 4 at Chaminade, he singled in the winning run in the eighth.

-- March 10 at Chatsworth, he drove in a pair of runs with two out in the sixth, pulling Buena even in a game it would eventually win, 5-3.

-- March 18 in the league opener against Rio Mesa, he started Buena’s comeback from a 6-1 deficit with a three-run home run in the fourth. The Bulldogs won, 13-9.

FOOTHILL LEAGUE

No-Hitter for No-Hitters

What better remedy for a team that isn’t hitting than a no-hit game by its ace pitcher?

Burroughs senior Mike Bassett held Canyon hitless last week with eight strikeouts and two walks in the league opener for Burroughs.

It was a 1-0 victory. The Indians scraped together a run.

“Even in the no-hitter, we managed only three hits,” Burroughs Coach Jose Valle said. “We’ve faced some really good pitching. But still, we’re not taking good swings.”

Bassett (6-foot-2, 185 pounds) brought an 8.15 earned-run average into the game after losses to Long Beach Wilson, Crespi and Montclair Prep.

FRONTIER LEAGUE

Blown Away

Santa Clara Coach Tom Humphreys said last week’s softball victory at home over Moorpark was a survival act. Both teams were nearly blown off the field by strong winds.

“After 20 years in the Navy, I’ve seen some gale-force winds,” Humphreys said.

“But I don’t recall anything like this: 20 to 30 m.p.h., with stinging sand in your face. It was hard (for the pitchers) to throw any rise balls or any breaking balls because they would really take off.

“We had a towering fly ball to the outfield, but the wind blew it back to the infield. I’ve never been in a game like this in my entire life.”

So what was the result? A typical low-scoring game? A no-hitter, maybe? No. Santa Clara won, 9-7, after Moorpark rallied for seven runs in the top of the seventh inning.

MID-VALLEY LEAGUE

Hard-Hit Average?

Poly’s Jerry Delgado is batting a paltry .238, but sometimes averages don’t tell the entire story, according to Poly Coach Chuck Schwal.

“He hits the ball hard,” Schwal said. “He leads the team in hard-hit average.”

Schwal actually keeps a “hard-hit average” for his players so he doesn’t mistakenly take an unlucky hitter out of the lineup because of a mediocre batting average.

Despite his batting average, Delgadao isn’t likely to get bumped from the lineup.

All five of his hits have been doubles and he leads the team in runs batted in with six.

NORTHEAST LEAGUE

Home Run Parade

Verdugo Hills Coach John Vera is delighted that his team has hit eight home runs in seven games. The second-year mentor said he doesn’t know how many homers the Dons hit last year, but he’s certain it was fewer than eight.

“We’re hitting real well right now,” he said. “We don’t have to rely on the home runs, but hopefully it can continue.”

The Dons hit three homers against Hollywood last week, including a game-winner by Kevin McCormick in the ninth inning of an 8-7 victory.

Still, the Dons can’t keep pace with the school’s softball team. The defending 3-A champions have hit 13 home runs in eight games.

MARMONTE LEAGUE

Jackpot

The Westlake baseball team did something unusual this week. The Warriors went to Las Vegas, fell behind, and left as winners.

Although they trailed in all five games they played, the Warriors won the Blazer Invitational. In the championship game Wednesday, Westlake trailed Las Vegas, 6-3, before scoring four runs in the sixth.

Westlake (9-3) allowed only 13 runs in the first four games, qualifying for the championship game ahead of Los Alamitos, which was also undefeated in pool play. The Warriors allowed fewer runs.

The pitching was handled primarily by Chris Flanagan (2-0 in the tournament), Todd Singleton (1-0 with a save in the championship game), and Rick Davidson (1-0) and Scott Morris (1-0).

The leading hitter was Joe Primack, who was eight for 13 with six runs batted in. Primack drove in the winning runs in three games.

“We feel pretty good,” Coach Rich Herrera said. “We racked up some wins and we did some good things. We came back when we had to. We had timely hitting, timely pitching. We played as a unit.”

*

Agoura has some of the nation’s top high school swimmers on its team, which creates an interesting problem for Coach Jason Rosenthal. His swimmers sometimes miss important league meets because they’re off competing on a national level.

Last week’s U.S. Junior National championships claimed several swimmers, who missed a league meet against Royal.

Without teammates Christine DiSpaltro and Vanessa Parker, Erin Schatz led the Agoura girls to a 106-66 victory over the Highlanders. Swimming without Nathan Reese, Chris Zendejas and Harvey Wilford, the boys lost, 133-51.

“We just have to deal with missing people sometimes,” Rosenthal said. “We knew it was going to happen but the girls came through real well. I think it showed how deep our girls’ team is.”

WESTSIDE LEAGUE

Wait Till Next Year

All Tim Stange needed was one more player. Stange was hired as athletic director last year by West Valley Christian, a private school with 40 students at the high school level, with the goal of fielding a baseball team.

Uniforms and equipment were purchased. The Seekers even got a transfer, junior Matt Berkins from Canoga Park.

But on the first day of practice only eight players showed up and Stange was forced to cancel the season.

“Now I’m just watching the softball team, working with Matt and getting ready for next year,” Stange said.

Next year looks more promising for West Valley Christian. More than 30 eighth-grade students join the high school next season, compared to the 10 who will graduate.

Around the Leagues . . .

* Jamaal Chase of Quartz Hill leaped 23 feet 10 1/2 inches in the long jump in Saturday’s Beverly Hills Invitational to move to ninth on the all-time regional list in that event. The record of 25-5 1/2 was set by Percy Knox of Antelope Valley in 1987.

* Sophomore left-hander Micah Weathers of Thousand Oaks pitched a one-hitter Monday against Wilson in the Thousand Oaks tournament. In his first two varsity starts, Weathers has given up one run. Teammate Tim Baron had his streak of 25 innings without allowing an earned run snapped by El Camino Real the same day. Baron (4-0, 0.24 earned-run average) still won the game, 9-1.

* Newbury Park right-hander Keith Smith (4-1) suffered his first loss when El Camino Real beat him, 2-1, on Monday in the Thousand Oaks tournament. Smith pitched a three-hitter, but the Conquistadores scored both runs on groundouts.

* Newbury Park pitchers have allowed 2.7 runs per game through 13 games. Discount a 14-6 loss to El Dorado in the Loara tournament, and the Panthers have allowed only 1.8 runs with three shutouts.

* Junior right-hander Hugo De La Torre of Poly is making the most of his first varsity season. De La Torre has not allowed a run in 22 innings. He has allowed 11 hits and seven walks with 21 strikeouts.

* A consecutive hitting streak by Camarillo’s Jake Spahr ended at six last week when he grounded out in his first at-bat against Newbury Park.

* Camarillo walked 12 batters in its first two Marmonte League games. Nine of the runners scored.

* Simi Valley recently got its revenge on Royal right-hander David Vicari, who was the only pitcher to beat the Pioneers in a Marmonte League game last season. The Pioneers won, 12-5.

* L.A. Lutheran catcher James Griffin stole eight bases in a game last Friday against Providence. Griffin, a converted center fielder, has 14 this season.

* St. Bonaventure has a team batting average of .317, led by Les Ybarra (.520). The Seraphs also carry a 2.41 team ERA. So why are they only 5-4? In nine games, they have committed 31 errors.

High Marks

Jeremy Fischer of Camarillo cleared a region record 7 feet 4 inches in the high jump in Saturday’s Santa Barbara Easter Relays at Santa Barbara City College.

Following is the region’s all-time top-10 performers in the event:

Mark Individual School Year 7-4 Jeremy Fischer Camarillo ’94 7-3 1/4 Lee Balkin Glendale ’79 7-3 Tim Poltl Alemany ’79 7-2 1/4 Jeff Nadeau Monroe ’93 7-2 Ken Burke* Westlake ’84 7-2 Reggie Betton Antelope Valley ’88 7-1 1/2 Dwight Stones Glendale ’71 7-1 Rob Olson El Camino Real ’77 7-0 1/2 Gary Lawrence Thousand Oaks ’77 7-0 Dave Swanson* Alemany ’86

*----Junior. All others seniors.

Staff writers Jeff Fletcher, Dana Haddad, Michael Lazarus, Paige A. Leech and John Ortega contributed to this notebook.