Devries Revives Career Playing Catch-Up at Valley

There are many experiences that provoke teenage anguish: spurned love; acne; no prom date; no car; low SAT score; parental arguments.

Then there’s the teenage equivalent of a nuclear detonation: Quitting a high school athletic team.

During the City Championship baseball game at Dodger Stadium last year, among the spectators was Loren Devries, who began the year as Chatsworth High’s starting catcher before leaving the team after the sixth game when told he was going to catch and not hit.

Devries lasted until the fourth inning of Chatsworth’s 17-7 City title victory over Poly, then went home.

“I couldn’t take it anymore,” he said. “Just watching them out there having fun and knowing they were going to win the City title and have rings. . . . I knew I should have been out there and I knew I made the wrong decision.”

When teenagers quit teams, they don’t think about the future. They worry about their wounded pride and how best to express indignation at a coach or teammate.

Devries had played baseball all his life. Suddenly, he quit. He sat in his bed and wept as the shock sank in. He didn’t show up to a scheduled game, stopped going to practice and just disappeared.

“I was embarrassed,” he said.

He was hitting poorly, so Chatsworth’s coaches wanted him only as a defensive player. It was a reasonable, justifiable decision. His hitting replacement, Steve Kracow, made the All-City team.

But Devries rejected the move.

“I couldn’t accept it,” he said. “I didn’t want to be a full-time defensive player. I wanted to be a complete baseball player.”

Teammates pleaded for him to return. So did his parents and teammates’ parents.

“I was the goat around school for a week or two,” he said. “For a week, I had a lump in my throat. I could have come back, but I felt it wasn’t the right thing to do.”

Said Coach Tom Meusborn: “The door was always open. He was a very hard-working and loyal player. I could understand his frustration. I tried to talk him out of it.”

Instead of spending three hours a day at games and practice during his senior year, Devries got a part-time job delivering pizza and hung out at the beach.

He never went to another Chatsworth baseball game--until the City final. That’s when he realized his decision to quit had backfired.

During the summer, he decided to seek a second chance. He enrolled at Valley College. There were no illusions of grandeur. He was prepared to sit on the bench if that’s what it would take to play again.

“I didn’t want it to end on a sour note,” he said.

He played in a winter game and discovered he had not lost his passion for baseball.

“With that one start, I told myself I could beat these guys out and that’s when I started to push myself again,” he said.

An injury to Valley’s No. 1 catcher opened the way for Devries to gain playing time. He earned the starting job. Despite a back injury that forced him to miss 10 games, he has started 17 games this season and is hitting .293, higher than his batting average at Chatsworth.

“He’s worked real hard to where legitimately he could catch in college,” Coach Chris Johnson of Valley said.

Devries, 19, is a year older and far more wiser.

He can’t change the past, but he has learned from it.

“I appreciate the game a lot more,” he said.

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Discussions are under way among Marmonte League schools to consider adopting a rule that would restrict athletic transfers under open enrollment.

Administrators are closely examining the policy established by the Pacific View League, which requires athletes who transfer without changing residences to sit out one year. It is the toughest open enrollment rule in the state.

The Pacific View League has only one school district to worry about--Oxnard. There are four school districts among the seven Marmonte schools and several school boards that need to be consulted.

Marmonte principals have formed a committee to investigate the idea. It could be discussed at the next league meeting in May.

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Football Coach Jim Benkert of Westlake isn’t just talking about educating his players about alcohol--he’s doing something.

Twice in team and parent meetings over the past four months, he has made it clear that drinking of any kind by players will result in suspension. Add to that, the entire football team underwent drug testing on Friday, with parental approval.

“Do I have to do this?” Benkert said. “No. But I think it’s important.”

Two players were suspended for drinking at a party earlier this month. They will have to do 40 hours of school service, 20 hours of community service and face immediate dismissal if there’s a second violation.

It’s crucial that coaches become involved in helping athletes avoid the pitfalls of teenage drinking.

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Eric Sondheimer’s local column appears Wednesday and Sunday. He can be reached at (818) 772-3422 or eric.sondheimer@latimes.com