More Agoura Oaks Eligibility Questions

Frank Des Enfants, coach of the Burbank North American Legion baseball team, Wednesday protested the eligibility of four Agoura Oaks players to Area 6 co-Commissioner Charlie Hatfield.

Hatfield said he received the protest papers Wednesday night and will review them today before passing them on to state legion officials if necessary.

Two other Agoura Oaks players were declared ineligible last Thursday but have continued to play with the team, resulting in two forfeitures by the team.

Des Enfants protested the eligibility of Tony Evans, Brent Hirsch, Manny Mosqueda and Jeff Smith.

Des Enfants said he protested the eligibility of Hirsch and Mosqueda on June 13 and that the protest was denied last Thursday at a state Legion convention in Long Beach.

But Des Enfants said he resubmitted the protest to Hatfield because District 20 Commissioner Mel Swerdling did not provide Des Enfants with paperwork substantiating why the protest was denied.

Des Enfants’ protest on Mosqueda, who has played for multiple Legion teams in his career, asked for a ruling on whether the player was cleared to move from team to team.

“[Mosqueda] has played for three different Legion teams and there’s no paper trail on him,” Des Enfants said. “Mel said he lost [Mosqueda’s] paperwork in the last earthquake but he’s played so long he must be OK.”

Des Enfants said he was protesting Hirsch’s eligibility over a residency issue. Swerdling did not return a phone call from The Times on Wednesday night.

Last Thursday at the state convention, Legion officials including Hatfield declared Agoura Oaks players Scott Christensen and Dan Wasserman ineligible. The Agoura residents, recent Oak Park High graduates, last year received a waiver to play for a Westlake-based Legion team.

However, this year the Westlake team is using only Westlake High players and waivers for Christensen and Wasserman to transfer back to play for the newly-formed Agoura team were filed by Agoura Oaks Coach Lorry Gershon.

Officials disqualified the players because Legion rules allow a player only one waiver in his Legion career.

Christensen and Wasserman were declared ineligible at last season’s Area 6 championships after their eligibility was protested over a residency issue. The players missed one game before being reinstated.

Gershon has continued to play Christensen and Wasserman despite their disqualification and said he will do so throughout the season. Agoura Oaks forfeited its victory Sunday over Newhall-Saugus and a game Tuesday against Verdugo Hills that was suspended in the sixth inning with Agoura leading, 10-6.

Des Enfants said he was protesting Evans and Smith’s eligibility because they, like Christensen and Wasserman, had been granted two waivers in a Legion career.

However Meredith Evans and Sandy Smith, the mothers of those players, each said their family resides in Oak Park and that their sons have attended Oak Park High and have never requested Legion waivers.

Players do not need a waiver if they play for a Legion team associated with the school they attend. Oak Park High was associated with the Westlake-based team last season before aligning itself with Agoura this year.

Gershon said Mosqueda has been cleared by Legion officials. He said he received and filed with Legion officials a waiver on Hirsch, who is a 1996 Thousand Oaks High graduate.

“I think [Des Enfants’] time would be better spent on his own team,” Gershon said. “I can conclusively tell you that each of the kids in question is eligible.”

Des Enfants said he is perplexed by the failure of Legion officials to strip Agoura Oaks of victories it earned with Christensen and Wasserman before their disqualifications.

“The direct quote from Mel Swerdling when I filed my [June 13] protest was, ‘If there are any ineligible players on that Agoura Oaks team I’ll nail them to the wall,’ ” Des Enfants said. “And now I have to go to the next level.”

A portion of the Department of California Legion Rules handbook dealing with protests states that: “If a player is found to be ineligible, he shall be disqualified immediately. All games in which the disqualified player participated in shall be forfeited.”

Hatfield said Legion officials have received complaints from area coaches whose teams lost to Agoura Oaks earlier in the season.

“That’s what we’re getting a lot of guff about,” Hatfield said. “I’ll have to get with [Area 6 co-Commissioner] Julio [Yniguez on Thursday] and we’ll decide what to do.”