Muckey’s Switch Paying Off Nicely in Crespi Infield

On the eve of his team’s baseball opener, Coach Scott Muckey of Crespi High made a radical change: He switched infielders.

All winter, he groomed center fielder Brian Horwitz to play shortstop. Then, with the season ready to begin, he inserted sophomore Dale Legaspi at shortstop and moved Horwitz to second base, a position Horwitz had never played.

“We were looking at it, looking at it, and I finally made a decision, ‘We’ve got to try this,’ ” Muckey said. “Maybe it won’t work, but it has.”

Legaspi and Horwitz have each committed only two errors in 11 games for the Celts (9-2), who need their infielders to make plays behind an outstanding pitching staff.

“We’re happy about the switch,” Muckey said.

Horwitz still considers himself a center fielder, but he said, “I’ll play wherever [Muckey] tells me to play.”

Legaspi spent the winter as the second-string shortstop, then found out minutes before the first game that he was in the lineup.

“I was quite surprised,” Legaspi said. “There were rumors flying everywhere, ‘You’re starting at shortstop, you’re starting at second, you’re not starting.’ ”

Muckey has helped his infielders by putting them through intense practices.

“We take a lot of ground balls,” Legaspi said. “The repetition and repetition means the nerves aren’t a factor anymore.”

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Loren Devries, Chatsworth’s starting catcher the last two seasons, quit the team last week and has been replaced by Scott Drake, a senior transfer from Alemany. Devries, a senior, apparently wasn’t pleased that the Chancellors planned to take away his hitting duties.

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No team has improved more defensively than Granada Hills (7-1). A year ago, the Highlanders made 60 errors in 29 games. This season, they have seven errors in eight games.

Credit sophomore shortstop Erik Hagstrom for consistently making routine plays.

“Erik is one of the most competitive kids around,” said Peter Gunny, a senior third baseman. “He doesn’t like to lose.”

Pitchers Kameron Loe and Peter Tuber might be offering free dinners to the infielders, considering the defensive problems Granada Hills endured last season.

“Kameron and Tuber are happy,” Gunny said. “We just didn’t do the job in the field [last season].”

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Highland (8-2) is off to its best start in the seven years since the Palmdale school began varsity competition. The Bulldogs have a .402 team batting average and have outscored opponents, 104-44.

Junior John Santor, a 215-pound second baseman, is batting .576 with four home runs, eight doubles and 23 runs batted in. Junior outfielder Jason Kubel is batting .543 with five triples and 18 RBIs. Senior catcher Jason Allec is batting .543 with seven doubles.

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Two of the best umpires in the San Fernando Valley unit, Dwayne Finley and Gil Perez, have been assigned to work the May 11 Chatsworth-El Camino Real game. Putting Finley and Perez together shows that the umpire assigner, Tony Cuppari, is anticipating a big game. And he’s right. The West Valley League title will be at stake.

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Coach Gary Donatella of Sylmar couldn’t be more pleased with sophomore left-hander Greg Ramos, who is 2-0 with an 0.95 earned-run average. Ramos didn’t lose a game last season on the junior varsity team.

“He doesn’t throw super hard, but he’s not hurting himself,” Donatella said. “He’s throwing strikes.”

Ramos has allowed six hits in 14 2/3 innings.

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Chaminade gave Notre Dame a scare last week. Twice.

The Eagles lost a pair of one-run Mission League games to Notre Dame that were decided in the seventh inning.

“It might have given us a little confidence that we can play with those guys,” said Chaminade Coach Scott Drootin. “I don’t think Notre Dame was overrated, either. I think we were underrated.

“They’re tough losses, but it’s nice to say they’re tough losses rather than getting blown out.”

Staff writer Mike Bresnahan contributed to this story.