Eight Teams in Region Pony Up

There wasn’t a legion of teams seeking to go their own way. But certainly, there were enough to form a new summer league.

That’s what eight former American Legion teams have done.

With the help of Ken Underwood, the teams started a Colt Palomino League for high school players that is operating under the auspices of PONY Baseball rather than being part of local American Legion competition in District 20.

The league includes Alemany, Burbank, Burroughs, Cleveland, Crespi, Hart, Granada Hills and Valencia. North Hollywood considered joining, but reconsidered, and Burbank filled the void.

“We considered both options,” Coach George Vranau of North Hollywood said. “But American Legion is what we’ve always done and right now, with how quickly the Palomino League was put together, we decided to go with the stability of American Legion.”

North Hollywood plans to open summer play with an American Legion game against West Hills Chaminade on Friday.

The Palomino teams, meanwhile, have begun a 21-game regular season and hope to advance to a postseason tournament.

“We’re talking quality people, quality coaches and quality programs,” Manager Jim Ozella of Hart said. “The competition’s been great, the organization’s been great. It’s gone real well so far.”

The teams’ break from American Legion District 20, which includes 29 teams from Calabasas to Rosamond, came on the heels of a new rule requiring legion coaches to play at least one graduated senior on their summer teams if they wished to play in the higher of two American Legion divisions of competition.

Most of the teams involved with the new league generally did not use graduated seniors in the past, preferring to develop players with remaining high school eligibility.

“I understand the coaches’ point of view,” said Larry Van Kuran, American Legion District 20 chairman. “But American Legion is not a high school program, and if players are eligible, they’re eligible.”

Palomino coaches may use graduated seniors but are not required to do so.

American Legion has a 17-and-under division for teams without graduated seniors.

In addition, Palomino coaches said American Legion officials told them their organization planned to do away with the non-senior division by 2002.

“For me, that just meant we would not be welcome in the league,” Coach Scott Muckey of Crespi said. “That was when we said, ‘Well, I guess we better try to find another way.’ ”

Van Kuran said he simply wants to make sure all teams give eligible graduated seniors the opportunity to play, and that the matter probably will be revisited before any changes are made.

In the meantime, Underwood, the commissioner of Wm. S. Hart Colt Palomino Baseball in Santa Clarita, helped establish the new league’s affiliation with PONY Baseball, set up a regular-season schedule and planned playoffs under the direction of the high school coaches involved.

“They approached me and asked if I could put together a league for them,” Underwood said. “This is a very competitive league because of the teams and the coaches involved, and I think Colt Palomino Baseball is a good thing for them.”

Underwood, ironically, is co-manager of Saugus’ American Legion team.

“I didn’t really feel any conflict or awkwardness about it,” Underwood said. “The whole idea was just to work with them.”

The Palomino league appears to be working well for member schools. Coaches say they have competed well without graduated seniors and have been able to establish their own ways of working with a roster that is larger than American Legion rosters would be.

Palomino teams may carry as many as 24 players during the regular-season, with rosters to be pared to 18 for playoffs or tournaments.

Legion rosters are limited to 18 players throughout the summer.

“It really helps to be able to have a few more pitchers and it helps develop more kids, too,” said Manager Tom Crowther of Burroughs, whose team was 20-9 in American Legion play last season and is 3-1 in Palomino competition this summer.

“I felt very strongly about this. It’s about being able to develop your team the way you see fit. We won 20 games last summer, and it wasn’t like we weren’t competing. Our seniors understand that when they play their last high school game, they’re done.”

Ozella agreed, saying, “We’re not doing this to spite somebody. We’re just trying to improve our situation.”

And yes, improve younger players.

“That’s my job, I think,” Ozella said. “I’m not trying to make generalizations about all seniors, but I think it’s harder to get a commitment from them.

“There’s senior trips, they’re thinking about college, there’s the [amateur baseball] draft, where you could lose them right away, or a lot of them want to take a little break. I just think the younger guys want to make more of an impression and are willing to be a little more committed, and certainly we want to work with them.”

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Joey Faruzzi of Newbury Park’s American Legion District 16 team had three hits and five runs batted in an 18-2 victory over Camarillo on Monday.

The outfielder-first baseman, who will be a sophomore, has 13 RBIs and Newbury Park is 5-1.

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Several American Legion District 16 games involving Westlake, Camarillo and Thousand Oaks were postponed because the teams were involved in high school Southern Section playoffs.

The games are to be made up at dates to be determined by the teams later in the summer.