AMERICAN LEGION BASEBALL / JEFF FLETCHER : Collins Shows Complete Recovery on the Mound

Justin Collins had a lot of time to think about pitching while he was sitting on the bench this spring at Taft High.

But, even in his best thoughts, he couldn’t have expected what would happen when his tendinitis healed and he finally returned to the mound.

Collins, a right-hander for Woodland Hills East, pitched a nine-inning complete game in a 4-2 victory against Studio City on Sunday.

“They wanted me to throw five,” Collins said. “[Coaches] kept wanting to take me out, because they didn’t want to overdo it, but I kept the pitches so low I went the whole nine.”

Collins, who graduated from Taft this month, was slated to be one of the Toreadors’ top two pitchers this spring, but he blew out his arm before the season, forcing him to spend the year as a designated hitter.

“I was upset because I’ve always been out on the field,” he said.

“I’ve never been sitting on the bench. I felt like all I was able to do for the team was use my bat. Every time I saw one of those guys [pitch] it was like, God, I want to be pitching so bad. I was busting my butt in therapy to get back.”

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Sepulveda has been forced to forfeit an early season game because Jared Sandler played for the team illegally, said Mel Swerdling, District 20 commissioner.

Sandler played for Sepulveda last summer when he was enrolled at Montclair Prep. But this season he transferred to Calabasas, so he should have been playing for Las Virgenes.

Sandler played three innings of one game with Sepulveda, but has played for Las Virgenes since the error was noticed.

With the forfeit, Sepulveda began this week with a 9-4 record, tied with Panorama City for first place in the Southern Division.

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West Hills, the final unbeaten team in the Valley or Ventura County, was upset by North Hollywood East, 10-9, on Sunday.

North Hollywood East (4-7) trailed, 8-7, but scored three runs in the bottom of the eighth to take the lead. David Tuizer of North Hollywood East had four hits, including three doubles, four runs and two runs batted in.

West Hills (9-1) began the week one game ahead of Central Valley (9-3) for first place in the Western Division.

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It happened Sunday: Glendale’s Jessie Daggett had five hits in a 10-6 victory over Valley North. . . .

Royal’s Phil Gordon hit two home runs in the second game of a doubleheader sweep of Newbury Park. . . .

Newhall’s Aaron Dean hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the 11th, giving his team a 9-8 victory over Quartz Hill. It was Dean’s district-leading seventh home run. . . .

Panorama City’s Phillip Allsup had eight RBIs in a 15-3 victory over Antelope Valley North.

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Short hops: Westlake-Royal-Oak finished fourth in the Sierra Nevada Classic in Reno last weekend. The team won the tournament in 1992 and ’94 and finished second in ’93.

The Valley Rangers, a local Connie Mack team that includes several of the area’s top high school players, won the tournament, going 6-0.

Westlake-Royal beat the Rangers in the championship game last summer. . . .

Six local teams, including four Legion teams, will compete this weekend in the eight-team Gene Waid Tournament at Camarillo High.

Legion teams from Camarillo, Simi Valley, Thousand Oaks and Ventura, along with Connie Mack teams from Camarillo and Glendale, will join Legion teams from Pomona and Arcadia. Arcadia is the defending Area 6 champion.

The teams will play a round-robin schedule Saturday through Monday, and a championship game Tuesday. . . .

North Hollywood West, which started the season 1-9, won three games against teams with winning records last week, getting excellent pitching in all three.

Merrill Dunn gave up two earned runs in 16 innings against Woodland Hills East and Antelope Valley South. Dennis Bent pitched seven innings and gave up one earned run against Sepulveda. . . .

Thousand Oaks’ identical twins Tyler and Ryan Holmes combined for eight hits--including two home runs and three doubles--along with 10 RBIs and seven runs in a 25-4 rout of Moorpark on Saturday. . . .

Valley South’s Fernando Centeno had a hit in nine consecutive at-bats and 12 hits in 13 at-bats. . . .

Panorama City pitcher Nick Reker (2-1, 2.00), whose hot start has helped the team to first place in the Southern Division, will miss another week with a sore shoulder. Reker was injured diving for a ball while playing third base last week.