When Tapia Hit, Highland Faced Rude Awakening

Antelope Valley High’s 6-5 comeback victory Friday against Highland that secured the league co-championship for the Antelopes was a storybook ending for the team and for center fielder Chris Tapia.

Tapia, a senior and the team’s leading hitter, overslept and missed his first class that morning, so he began the game sitting on the bench.

“We had a deal that if he missed a class, he would be benched for the next game,” Coach Ed t’Sas said.

Tapia sat through six innings, uncomplaining and cheering for his teammates. T’Sas decided to put him in as a defensive replacement in the top of the seventh with Antelope Valley leading, 3-2.

“I didn’t want to look at Chris Tapia sitting on the bench in his final Golden League game,” t’Sas said. “Besides, I thought we were just going to close it out. Hell, I didn’t know they were going to score three runs.”

But Highland--winless in its 14 previous league contests--suddenly led, 5-3. Antelope Valley’s hopes for the league title looked bleak.

But enter Tapia, the accidental hero. He came to bat in the bottom of the inning, tripled in a run to make the score 5-4, then scored the tying run to send the game into extra innings.

In the eighth, Tapia came to the plate with two runners aboard and smashed a shot to the right-center-field fence to drive in the winning run.

“I put him in for defense, and it kind of turns out that he goes from goat to hero,” t’Sas said. “It turned into a magic week.”

It was the second comeback victory of the week for Antelope Valley (12-9, 11-4 in league play). Last Tuesday, the Antelopes scored two runs in the bottom of the seventh to defeat Ridgecrest Burroughs, 10-9.

CHANNEL LEAGUE

A Close Shave

Desperate times call for desperate measures, and Buena senior swimmer Jon Lory needed an extra edge.

For the past three years, Lory qualified for the Southern Section Division I championships but hadn’t won an individual event. His last, and best, chance came in the 200-yard individual medley Friday night.

Friday afternoon, Lory made a significance sacrifice: He shaved his head for the first time.

“I had some of my teammates do it in the afternoon,” Lory said. “I didn’t want to do it but I wanted to win.”

Swimming without a cap, Lory finally got his title. His time of 1 minute 52.11 seconds beat John Barbie of Camarillo by .65 seconds.

Lory might want to keep his new hairdo. Next year, he will attend West Point. Army swimmers shave their heads before the Navy meet each year.

MID-VALLEY LEAGUE

He Ain’t Heavy . . .

Van Nuys High’s Yuri and Pedro Cuervo have more in common than brotherhood. The Cuervos happen to be the only players batting over .300 for the Wolves.

But the similarities end there.

Yuri (.316) is a junior shortstop and leadoff batter whose diminutive build and quick feet have contributed to his conference-high 20 stolen bases. Pedro (.317), a tall and angular senior, is the Wolves’ third baseman and cleanup hitter who leads the team with 12 runs batted in.

“You wouldn’t think they were brothers,” Van Nuys Coach Jim Friery said. “There’s no resemblance whatsoever in the body type.”

MISCELLANY

Shooting for 1995

Westlake came to the Southern Section team golf championship Monday expecting to challenge for the title. Hart felt the same way.

But both teams had a rather humbling experience at Canyon Country Club in Palm Springs.

Westlake finished eighth at 404, 24 shots behind Sunny Hills and two-time defending champion Palm Desert. Sunny Hills won the title on the first playoff hole.

“We had an off-game and they had a terrific game,” Westlake Coach Dan McDermott said. “We’ve seen a lot of these kids play before and they are terrific.”

McDermott hoped for more. Four Westlake players were at last year’s team competition when the Warriors finished fourth and advanced to the CIF-Southern California Golf Assn. championships.

This time, only sophomores Ross Fulgentis, who shot five-over-par 77, and Matt McCrite, who shot 79, broke 80.

Hart finished 10th at 407. Sophomore Jason Semelsberger and junior Steve Farris each shot 76. “We had a game plan, scores we wanted to hit to be competitive,” Hart Coach Dennis Ford said. “Two kids missed it by three and one missed it by 12, but this is a building year.”

Expect to hear from both teams in 1995. Westlake has three juniors and three sophomores on its six-man roster, while Hart has four juniors and two sophomores.

Kennedy Cosgrove and staff writers Martin Beck, Michael Lazarus and Paige A. Leech contributed to this notebook.

Baseball Top 10

Rankings of Valley-area high schools by sportswriters of The Times:

Rk LW Team League W-L 1 1 Sylmar East Valley 24-3 2 2 Chatsworth West Valley 22-4 3 5 Poly East Valley 19-4 4 4 Hart Foothill 19-5 5 3 Newbury Park Marmonte 18-7 6 6 Crescenta Valley Pacific 16-5 7 7 Notre Dame Mission 18-5 8 8 Moorpark Frontier 19-4 9 9 Rio Mesa Channel 18-6 10 10 El Camino Real West Valley 18-5