Coach Finally Gets Revenge 23 Years Later After the Fact

When Antelope Valley High played Rio Mesa Tuesday in a Santa Barbara tournament game, it brought back happy memories for Antelope baseball Coach Ed t’Sas.

In 1974, t’Sas was a sophomore on the Antelope Valley football team that upset the Spartans at Rio Mesa in the Southern Section 2-A playoffs.

Last year, the Antelopes played a nonleague game at Rio Mesa, the first time t’Sas had returned since the game.

“You can see the stadium from the baseball field, “ t’Sas said. “And I was telling [Rio Mesa Coach Richard Duran] the story, he interrupts me, and says “Hey, I played in that game, too. We’re still mad at you guys for beating us!”

Duran had the last laugh. Rio Mesa won the game, 3-1.

Warming up: The Chatsworth baseball team (10-5, 5-1 in Northwest Valley conference play) was ranked fourth in the Times’ preseason poll but the Chancellors have been mediocre at best until Thursday’s 21-5 thrashing of San Fernando.

Senior pitcher and second baseman Greg Wold attributed the team’s struggle to a lack of aggression at the plate.

“We would just crush people in winter ball but once the [spring] season started we were very timid,” Wold said. “We were taking a lot of strikes and were hesitant to pull the trigger.”

“We have good chemistry and good potential,” Wold said. “We can still be a really good team.”

Falling short: The Buena baseball team has stumbled to a 6-3-1 record, 2-2-1 in Channel League play. Meanwhile, Hueneme and Rio Mesa have emerged as title contenders.

“I think we’re all disappointed,” said Bulldog Coach Stan Hedegard, whose team was two-hit in each of its two games last week. “We’re not hitting the ball and we’re kicking the ball around. We hit the ball well at the beginning of the year and that disguised the errors but now they’re coming back to haunt us.”

Mistake prone: A year ago, Santa Paula was one of the surprise baseball teams in the region, nearly challenging Calabasas for the Frontier League title.

The Cardinals returned nearly half the varsity roster from last season, but this year has been a different story.

Santa Paula’s only victory has come against Malibu, the last-place team in the league. The Cardinals (1-10), have lost four games by one run.

“It all errors,” Santa Paula Coach Henry Jacinto said. “We’re still making mistakes now that other teams quit making early in the season. We drop fly balls, we drop ground balls. It’s not that the kids aren’t trying but it’s just not working.”

Bright spot: The Channel Islands baseball team (8-6, 1-3 in Marmonte League play) has underachieved in the eyes of Coach Alfred Tarazon, but Raiders’ pitcher Ruben Vasquez has shone.

Last month, the senior batted .500 in five Birmingham tournament games and was named to the all-tournament team.

On the mound, Vasquez has thrown three consecutive complete games, giving up 18 hits and four earned runs in 21 innings. With ace Charles Merricks limited to the outfield with a broken finger, Vasquez has become the team’s top starter in his third varsity season. “He hits his spots, has a good curveball and keeps the ball down,” Tarazon said.

Showdown: Phil Yanov claims his El Camino Real boys’ tennis team is in a rebuilding season. Ron Wood questions Granada Hills’ strength after a close 4-3 victory over Taft on Thursday.

The fact is, both teams are 6-0 in the Northwest Valley Conference and will clash 2:30 p.m. Tuesday at Granada Hills to settle who is No. 1 in the conference.

“We’re still rebuilding,” Yanov said. “I only have one senior. He’s the one player I didn’t count on.”

“We’re going to have our hands full,” Wood said. “I don’t think it looks real good, but my kids will battle.”

Young guns: The surprise softball team of the Antelope Valley is not Quartz Hill, which upset then No. 1 Camarillo, or Paraclete, which routed Quartz Hill en route to a strong start. It’s Lancaster.

The Eagles are 9-3, despite playing with only sophomores and freshmen in a year when they were expected to compete only on the junior-varsity level. Coach Orbin Love sought and was granted a waiver to play varsity. Lancaster’s biggest victory was an 8-4 decision over Canyon last week, in which the Eagles trailed, 4-2, in the sixth before scoring six times. Tricia Kipp keyed the upsurge with a bases-loaded triple.

“The local paper is picking us last in the Golden League,” Love said. “But a lot of the athletic directors have us second, third or fourth. I have four good pitchers.”