Twist of Fate Starting to Turn Baron’s Way

With one awkward twist of an ankle, Brian Baron’s senior season turned sour.

The Hart High outfielder already had secured a baseball scholarship to Northwestern, but during a baserunning drill just before the start of the season, Baron turned his left ankle.

At first he thought he would miss the first week or two because of a bone bruise. But when the injury didn’t heal, an examination revealed a stress fracture, forcing Baron to miss more than half the season.

When he finally came back, he did so with a vengeance, hitting .571 with six doubles over the final third of the season.

“It was difficult to sit there and watch,” Baron said. “I do look at what I did once I got back and wonder if I could have kept it up. I want to forget about what happened and look ahead to the future.”

He has moved on by being one of the leaders of Newhall-Saugus, which Sunday won its second consecutive District 20 championship.

Baron had three hits in each of Newhall-Saugus’ victories Sunday, a 10-0 win over Panorama City and a 12-5 defeat of Valley North in the championship game. After losing the opening game of the double-elimination tournament to Valley North, Newhall-Saugus won five consecutive games to qualify for the Area 6 playoffs.

Newhall-Saugus (26-6) will play Charter Cove (18-5) in a first-round game at 6 p.m. Thursday at UCLA’s Jackie Robinson Stadium.

Newhall-Saugus is hoping for a better result than last year, when it lost both its Area 6 playoff games. But several starters--including pitchers Rick Engbrecht and Chris Baker, outfielder Jeremy Siepel and Baron--return to make Newhall-Saugus one of the most experienced teams in the field.

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Considering both teams already had qualified for the Area 6 playoffs, the District 20 championship game between Valley North and Newhall-Saugus came as more of a relief to the teams than anything else.

Newhall-Saugus defeated Valley North to end a tournament that featured numerous lengthy games, including two that took two days to complete. In one, that was suspended because of darkness, the teams combined for 43 runs.

The other, between Valley North and Las Virgenes East, seemed to typify the tournament. The game started Friday at Burroughs High about 8:30 p.m., 90 minutes later than scheduled. Play was suspended in the ninth inning, sometime near midnight, when the automatic sprinklers were activated.

The teams reconvened at Birmingham High at 10:30 a.m. Saturday to play the final inning, before two other regularly scheduled games.

“It’s as long a week as I’ve had playing baseball,” Valley North second baseman Greg Wold said. “We played four games in three days in Las Vegas, but there we had more time between the games.

“I went up to some of the Newhall guys after the game and I was glad to find out they were just as tired as we were.”

Valley North had an easier route to the final game, thanks to winning its first three games, virtually clinching a spot in the championship game.

“Getting those first couple of wins was real important,” Valley North shortstop Joe Tillmon said. “We probably got a little too relaxed after those first couple of wins.”

After the three wins, Valley North lost to Panorama City and Newhall-Saugus.

Valley North (23-8) will open the Area 6 playoffs against Pomona (10-10) at 10 a.m. Thursday.

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Westlake-Royal Oak, the District 16 champion, begins the Area 6 playoffs with the best record and the best offense.

Westlake Royal-Oak (23-3) has scored 307 runs, an astounding 11.8 per-game average.

Outfielder Matt Riordan, who leads the area with 10 home runs and 52 runs batted in, is Westlake-Royal Oak’s main threat, but he is far from the only one.

Shortstop Brent Egan is hitting .507, with 26 stolen bases and a region-leading 53 runs.

Five other starters--Scott Draigicevich, Ben Lemos, Mike McHargue, Kevin Mellinger and Matt Pitstick--are hitting better than .300.

Westlake-Royal Oak was undefeated against District 16 opponents until the final week of the season and is making its second trip to the Area 6 playoffs in three years. Westlake-Royal Oak lost to Arcadia in the 1994 final.

Westlake-Royal Oak opens the double-elimination tournament against Westside (17-6) at 2 p.m. Thursday.