If Not Mom, Phone Salesman Was Dialed In to Nix’s Calling

When an Oakland Athletics official last week called Wayne Nix and informed the Monroe High pitcher that he had been selected in the fourth round of the major league draft, Nix was so excited he dropped the phone.

“The phone hit the floor and cracked, and we’ve had problems with it ever since,” said Sharon Nix, Wayne’s mother. “But I guess this is worth it.”

Sharon Nix perhaps had not fully realized the magnitude of her son’s success until last weekend when she went shopping for a replacement phone.

The sales clerk, recognizing the name on her credit card, asked if she was related to Wayne.

“What do you mean? How do you know him?” Sharon replied.

Said the clerk: “I read the sports page.”

Roundabout way Palmdale High catcher Chris Paxton didn’t experience the same rush as Nix when he was selected by the Detroit Tigers 41 rounds later.

Paxton didn’t even know he’d been drafted until Monday afternoon when he received a terse Mailgram from the Tigers, more than 48 hours after he had been selected.

“It didn’t even say what round it was,” Paxton said. “I had no idea I was even picked.”

Heads-up play: A few days after Calabasas High was eliminated in the quarterfinals of the Southern Section Division IV baseball playoffs, Coyote Coach Rick Nathanson nearly knocked himself out while playing outdoor basketball with his players.

Moving up the court at full speed, the 47-year old Nathanson ran head-on into a pole used to anchor a volleyball net, aggravating a neck injury he suffered 30 years ago while playing high school football.

“It must have looked like a cartoon,” said Nathanson, who later attended Calabasas’ spring sports banquet wearing a neck brace. “Of course, the players looked at it as typical Coach Nate. But once the guffaws stopped they were pretty good about helping me up.”

Honors

Catcher and designated hitter Scia Maumausolo and pitcher Kathy Blake-Small shared the team most-valuable-player award at Cal State Northridge’s softball awards banquet.

Maumausolo, a junior, led the Matadors in most offensive categories. Her .482 batting average, .581 on-base percentage, 11 doubles, 15 home runs, 47 runs batted in and 36 walks were team highs.

Blake-Small, a senior, had 13 shutouts while compiling a 24-10 record and an 0.96 earned-run average. In 241 1/3 innings she allowed 168 hits and 18 walks and registered 170 strikeouts.

Freshman Chelo Lopez was rookie of the year, senior Lee Ann Taylor was top scholar athlete, sophomore Kelly Toovey won Golden Glove, sophomore Jamie Herrington was most improved, and junior Tamara Silvera and freshmen Christina Baioa and Jeanne Pray shared the coaches’ award.

Quotebook

“Is Vince Coleman here?”

--Unidentified onlooker, after a spectator lit a firecracker on top of the Carson High dugout during last week’s City Section 4-A Division baseball championship game at Dodger Stadium.

“The leaders are running a tight race. There’s five guys leading the pack and you can throw a blanket over all of them.”

--Virgil Kilpatrick, Saugus Speedway track announcer.

“It makes losing 15-3 a little easier to swallow.”

--Mike Nielson, Quartz Hill High baseball coach, responding to the news that Santa Margarita, which routed his team in the second round of Southern Section Division III playoffs, advanced to the championship game.

Stats

With six performers with bests of 9 minutes 10.91 seconds or faster and eight at 9:20.68 or better, this is the fastest group of high school 3,200-meter runners in the region since 1990 when Agoura High’s Bryan Dameworth posted the leading time in the nation at 8:53.26.

Eleazar Hernandez of Camarillo leads this year’s pack at 9:05.15.

The others are Jeff Fischer of Thousand Oaks (9:08.16), Antonio Arce of Palmdale (9:08.29), Phil Gonzalez of Crescenta Valley (9:09.00), Javier Ramirez of Nordhoff (9:09.04) and Keith O’Doherty of Thousand Oaks (9:10.91).

The Palmdale High girls’ 1,600-meter relay team of senior Sinead Younge, freshman Kadrina Coffee and sophomores Monique Nolan and Edneisha Curry closed the season with a rush, setting school records in three of its last four races.

The Falcons lowered their school record from 3 minutes 53.36 seconds to 3:49.43 when they placed second in the Southern Section Division I championships May 20, and they posted a runner-up time of 3:48.61 in the Southern Section Masters Meet six days later.

They ran 3:49.48 to place third in their heat of the state championships at Cerritos College on Friday, then timed 3:47.78 to finish fifth in the final Saturday. The time ranks third on the all-time region list behind those of Kennedy, (state champion in 1981 (3:37.71) and 1980 (3:37.98).

Kennedy High’s City 4-A Division baseball championship team clubbed 23 homers to its opponents’ one.

Compiled by Mike Hiserman. Contributing: Darin Esper, Dana Haddad, Michael Lazarus, John Ortega, Bryan Rodgers and Tris Wykes.