AMERICAN LEGION / JEFF FLETCHER : Gray Goes Off in New Direction

If you’re 5 feet 10, 150 pounds and right-handed and you hope to be a pitcher, you’d better find a gimmick.

Chris Gray found his. Totally by accident.

Gray, a sophomore infielder this spring, had begged Chaminade High Coach Denny Barrett to let him pitch. Barrett finally relented, grabbing a catcher’s mitt and taking Gray to the bullpen.

After a few unimpressive pitches, Barrett announced “Hey, give me something from down under.”

Gray began throwing side-arm and suddenly the pitches were dipping and running. Apparently, the idea wasn’t so crazy after all.

Barrett put Gray on the mound late in Chaminade’s season and he went 2-0. As one of West Hills’ regular starters this summer in American Legion, Gray is 4-0 with a 2.90 earned-run average, and he’s been one of the keys to the team’s 16-2 record.

“When he comes from down under his ball moves all over the place,” said Barrett, who also coaches West Hills.

Barrett and pitching coach Sid Lopez have had to tinker with Gray’s mechanics and persuade him to be more aggressive on the mound, but much of Gray’s instruction comes from his catcher, who also happens to be his brother, Brandon.

“When Chris isn’t doing the job, Brandon goes out there and basically chews on him a little bit,” Barrett said. “You can hear him yelling behind the plate. And not so much the way two players would talk, but the way two brothers would talk.”

Brandon will scream quick, concise instructions like: “C’mon! Do it like I told you!”

“I might be a little harder on him because he is my brother,” Brandon said. “I can’t express my feelings toward other players the way I can toward my own brother.”

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Verdugo Hills protested its 9-7 loss to West Hills on Saturday because coaches noticed an unofficial baseball during the game. District 20 rules permit the use of only certain brands of baseballs.

“Unless they use the sanctioned ball, it’s not a contest,” said Mel Swerdling, District 20 commissioner. “We all agreed to it. We all voted.”

Barrett, whose team was at home and thus responsible for the balls, confirmed an unofficial ball was used, but he didn’t know where it came from.

“We had all the right baseballs in there, but all of a sudden a different baseball shows up in the pile,” he said.

Swerdling said he was awaiting a report from the umpires, and said he might have to forfeit the game to Verdugo Hills. It could be a significant decision because both teams are in the race for first place in their divisions.

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The chase for the eight places in the District 20 playoffs will conclude Sunday, when the 21-game regular season ends.

Newhall (17-1), which has clinched the Northern Division title, is guaranteed a berth. West Hills (16-2) and Central Valley (14-3), one of which will win the Western Division, are likely to make the playoffs.

The critical showdown between Central Valley and West Hills has been moved to 3 p.m. Friday at Cleveland High. The game originally was scheduled for Saturday.

The leading contenders to fill out the playoff field are Verdugo Hills (12-6), Van Nuys East (11-6), Sepulveda (11-7), Panorama City (11-7) and Woodland Hills East (10-7-1).

Valley South (11-8), Glendale (9-7), Valley North (9-7), Encino (10-8), Sun Valley (9-8), Woodland Hills West (9-8) or Las Virgenes (9-8-1) could sneak into the playoffs with some help.

The double-elimination playoffs will begin next Tuesday with games at Birmingham and Burroughs highs. The champion will advance to the Area 6 playoffs July 27-30 at UCLA.

From District 16, the top two regular-season teams will go to the Area 6 playoffs. Making the race interesting, first-place Westlake-Royal-Oak (13-2 in district play) and second-place Camarillo (12-2) will meet in a three-game series July 22-23.

Third-place Ventura (10-3) might be able to pull ahead of the loser of that series. Ventura doesn’t play either of the top two teams, which accounted for all of Ventura’s losses.

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North Hollywood East fell behind Woodland Hills West, 19-2, after four innings Saturday. Had North Hollywood gone quietly in the fifth, the game would have ended early because of the 10-run rule, and everyone could have gone back to their air-conditioned homes.

But North Hollywood scored 10 runs in the fifth and seven in the sixth, dragging the game the whole nine innings before losing, 27-25.

“We were hoping we would go into extra innings,” said Swerdling, a North Hollywood assistant. “We still had a little water left.”

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Antelope Valley North turned an unusual triple play in Sunday’s 8-6 victory against Studio City.

Studio City loaded the bases with none out in the fourth inning. A.J. Palma hit a sacrifice fly to right fielder J.P. Escallier, driving in one run.

But Escallier, with a relay from second baseman Paul Vallette, threw out Miguel Flores trying to take third base on the play.

Third baseman Nick Smosna then caught Mario Rodriguez in a rundown between first and second, and Vallette tagged him for the third out.

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Sepulveda Coach Steve Cohen angrily resigned Saturday after a dispute with a parent who was upset that her son did not make the District 20 all-star game.

“I just got fed up with the parents,” Cohen said Monday. “I’m 43 years old. I have a profession that is not coaching baseball. I’m not being paid for this. I don’t need the aggravation.”

Greg Reece, athletic director at Montclair Prep, was to coach Sepulveda in its final four games. . . .

Ventura twins Danny and Donnie Harrison combined for 10 hits in a doubleheader against Simi Valley on Saturday. Danny had six hits. . . .

Woodland Hills East’s Greg Venger had nine stolen bases in two games last weekend, including a steal of home. He had such a good jump on the latter that he slid and quickly stood just before the pitch crossed home plate. . . .

Van Nuys East pitcher Matt Egan struck out 12 in a seven-inning, four-hit shutout of Encino on Friday.