AMERICAN LEGION AREA 6 BASEBALL PLAYOFFS : Westlake-Royal Batters Pitch In, Collecting 14 Hits in 14-6 Victory

Westlake-Royal Coach Mike McClure has publicly billed his American Legion team as one with great pitching depth but little offensive punch.

So, who were the guys he was coaching Thursday night as Westlake-Royal beat Westchester, 14-6, on the first day of the double-elimination Area 6 playoffs at UCLA’s Jackie Robinson Stadium?

Westlake-Royal (26-5-1) pounded out 14 hits. Keith Loitz had three hits, including two doubles. Bryan Fernandez had a double and a triple. Kevin Mellinger and Scott Morris each had two singles.

Loitz said the team had been winning, but struggling to meet its potential in recent weeks.

“We had to get the monkey off our backs,” Loitz said. “So we brought a (toy) monkey to practice and we burned it.”

McClure chose to start Loitz, a reliever who pitched only 9 1/3 innings all season, to save his top starters for today’s game, at 6 p.m. against Arcadia.

“Coach wanted to see if he could sneak me by in the beginning and then bring in our big guns,” Loitz said.

Loitz (2-0) pitched well for five innings, giving up just one run and three hits, but tired in the sixth. Chuck Hirsh then came in and was not much relief. He allowed all three inherited runners to score and Westchester pulled to within 14-6.

McClure brought on Jay Kenney, one of his top four starters. Kenney pitched three innings and picked up a save. He gave up one hit and struck out five.

McClure will start Todd Singleton (6-0, 0.96) in today’s game.

Westlake-Royal scored seven runs in the first two innings against Rich Sturm (5-2), and seemed on its way to ending the game early because of the 10-run rule, but reliever Paul Lopez held the team at 14 runs from the fifth inning on. Westchester (16-8) will play Camarillo at 2 p.m. today.

Arcadia 17, Valley North 3--Arcadia (31-7) hit five home runs and had 17 hits in a game called after seven innings because of the 10-run rule.

Fred Farzaneh (3-2), Valley North’s No. 3 pitcher, lasted only one-third of an inning, allowing six runs, including two homers.

In winning last week’s grueling District 20 tournament, which ended Sunday, Valley North (19-9) went through all of its pitchers. The team’s top two, Jim DeBiase and Ray Daryabigi, were not ready to pitch Thursday, Coach Pete Redfern said.

DeBiase will pitch against St. Bernard in an elimination game at 10 a.m. today.

Arcadia’s attack was led by center fielder David Janssen, who hit two home runs. Justin Stewart added a grand slam. Pete Paciorek and Ryan Baderian also homered.

Bryan LaCour led Valley North with two doubles. Five of the team’s eight hits were doubles.

Camarillo 5, St. Bernard 2--Brian Garretson might not have been Camarillo’s consensus No. 1 starter before the game, but he is now.

Garretson was forced to start because Dan Martinez and Richard Soliz, the team’s winningest pitchers, told Coach Ron Regalado they want to save their arms for the Area Code Games tryouts Sunday.

Soliz and Martinez attended the game against St. Bernard (14-6) and say they won’t pitch the rest of the tournament.

Garretson, a right-hander from Moorpark, responded with a five-hitter. He struck out 13 and both St. Bernard runs were unearned.

“I’m not sure he’s not our best pitcher,” Regalado said, “but he was all we had today. He’s very composed out there. He matches up with anyone in our league.”

Garretson’s teammates gave him a 3-2 lead in the fifth when Rodell Desamparo doubled home a run and scored on an error. Camarillo (26-7) added two insurance runs on a pinch-hit homer by Jason Adamson in the sixth.

Adamson, who singled in the eighth, was the only Camarillo player with more than one hit.