AMERICAN LEGION BASEBALL / JEFF FLETCHER : Reluctant Reliever Is a Real Self-Starter

Jamie Darnell’s problem is he has become too good at relief pitching.

“I usually enjoy it, but sometimes I don’t because I know I don’t get as much recognition,” said Darnell, a reliever for the Van Nuys West American Legion team. “And I know colleges look for starters and not relievers.”

Darnell is also unlike most high school relief pitchers, who play other positions, then come in late to hold a lead. Darnell is only a pitcher. All he does is sit on the bench and wait for his chance, which usually comes.

“I usually get in, unless the starter is throwing a no-hitter or a shutout,” Darnell said.

Darnell, a right-hander who just graduated from Birmingham High, has pitched in six of Van Nuys West’s eight games so far. He has thrown 26 innings, all in relief, and posted a 2.08 earned-run average. On Sunday, he threw seven scoreless innings in relief, picking up the decision in Van Nuys West’s 7-6, 14-inning victory against Granada Hills West.

For Birmingham this spring, Darnell appeared in 22 games--21 in relief--and pitched 57 1/3 innings. He was 5-2 with a 2.20 ERA.

But he still says he’d rather start. Mike Challgren, his Legion coach, considered starting him today, but pitching seven innings Sunday might change those plans.

“I don’t know if I will start,” Darnell said. “He said just to keep my arm loose.”

Which is pretty much standard procedure.

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Add Van Nuys West: Darnell gained the victory Sunday with the help of a perfect suicide squeeze by Brian Fernandez in the bottom of the 14th.

“It seemed like every inning since the ninth we had runners on and we just couldn’t deliver the blow,” said Challgren, Van Nuys West’s coach. “So this time we got the runners on, and I just figured it was time (to call the squeeze). . . . They were getting tired. We were getting tired. It was time.”

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Two for the understudies: In the first key matchup of the top teams in District 16, Westlake-Royal swept a doubleheader against Newbury Oaks on Sunday with some clutch pitching from the emergency replacements.

In the third inning of the first game, Westlake-Royal starter Phil Derryman was shaken up in a collision with Newbury Oaks’ Andy Wilson.

But Jay Kenney, who was 10-0 for the Westlake High junior varsity team this spring, came on to finish the 5-3 victory, striking out four and giving up one earned run over 4 1/3 innings.

Then Westlake-Royal’s Maki Kramer, who became ill during the first game, had to be scratched from his start in the finale, setting the stage for Todd Singleton, a senior-to-be at Westlake who pitched a five-hitter with seven strikeouts in Westlake-Royal’s 13-2 victory.

Neither Kenney nor Singleton walked a batter.

“We are really very fortunate to have the kind of depth we have,” Westlake-Royal Coach Mike McClure said. “We have 10 or 11 legitimate high school pitchers.”

The sweep gave Westlake-Royal (10-1) sole possession of first place in District 16 ahead of Newbury Oaks (7-2).

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Tournament time: Westlake-Royal is one of three area teams playing this week at the Sierra Nevada Classic in Reno. Ventura and the Valley Rangers, a Connie Mack team based in Glendale, are also participants in the eight-team tournament, which began Tuesday and concludes Sunday.

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Legion lines: Phil Onsaga of Verdugo Hills, who combined on a no-hitter earlier this season, pitched a three-hitter on Sunday in a 2-1 victory against San Fernando. . . . Van Nuys South’s Marc Scorza was four for five Sunday, with two singles, a double and a triple.

Quartz Hill’s Darrell Hussman struck out 11 batters in seven innings on Sunday, but he left the game with the score tied, 4-4, after the seventh. Quartz Hill gave up five runs in the ninth inning and lost, 9-4, to Woodland Hills East. . . .

West Hills’ Adam Crecion was three for five with a home run and six runs batted in during a 16-10 victory against Sunland-Tujunga on Sunday. . . .

Encino’s Matt Long has walked eight times in his first nine trips to the plate this season. He lined out in the other. In Encino’s first seven games, the team has been issued 63 walks. . . .

Mike Bassett hit a three-run, pinch-hit home run in the bottom of the seventh last week, lifting Burbank South to a 4-3 victory over North Hollywood.