Real Season Starting Tuesday for Chatsworth

It’s almost showdown time in the West Valley League.

Chatsworth (20-2, 9-1 in conference play) and defending City Section 4-A baseball champion El Camino Real (11-6, 9-1) will play Tuesday at El Camino Real and Thursday at Chatsworth.

“I wish I didn’t have to play so I could go watch them,” Kennedy Coach Manny Alvarado said. “It’s going to be a great series.”

El Camino Real, winner of six consecutive games, is expected to have left-hander Kurt Birkins (7-0) on mound against Chatsworth ace Mike Kunes (7-1) in the opener.

The teams are scheduled to play three regular-season games, but don’t be surprised if there’s a fourth meeting--June 11 at Dodger Stadium.

The schools have played three times at Dodger Stadium during the 1990s to determine the City 4-A champion.

Road warriors: Tom Dill, Notre Dame’s baseball coach, really put his team in a pickle.

A week ago, the Knights returned home from San Diego, the last leg of a three-city trip on which they played nine games in 10 days.

The first stop was Las Vegas, where Notre Dame played in the three-day Bishop Gorman tournament, winning three of four games, including a victory over Chatsworth.

The Knights returned home for one day--Easter--before heading north for the Atascadero tournament. They went 2-1 in that tournament, came home for two days, then left for San Diego and a doubleheader against Monte Vista High.

The trips, which covered an estimated 1,500 miles, were made in three minivans.

“It was quite an exhausting trip,” said Dill, who was suffering from flu symptoms earlier this week. “But I think we’re a better team because of all those games. We saw just about every possible scenario there is.”

Notre Dame was 5-4 on the trips and the reserves got plenty of chances to play.

“We had guys who don’t normally come off the bench in there in big-time situations,” Dill said.

The Knights had gone two weeks--from March 24 to April 8--without a game because of the way the Mission League schedule worked out this year.

Dill said that, and getting his players some road-game experience, were the main reasons he scheduled the journey.

“Most of these guys hadn’t traveled much,” Dill said. “They have now.”