Player of the Year

Everyone has heard about the guy on the beach who is tired of getting sand kicked in his face. He bulks up and bashes the bully.

Substitute infield brick dust for sand and there was Adam Leavitt a year ago. Although a starter at Thousand Oaks High since his sophomore year, he wore a good-field, no-hit tag.

So he began waking at 4 a.m. and getting to the weight room at 5, giving himself plenty of time for a strenuous workout before school. He did this the entire fall and winter.

Sure enough, Leavitt bulked up and bashed the ball.

He’s still the slickest second baseman around, but now his game is complete. Leavitt led the county with 47 hits, batted .547 and led Thousand Oaks with 36 runs, 11 doubles, three triples, seven home runs, 31 runs batted in and 15 stolen bases, numbers that made him The Times’ Ventura County player of the year.

“It was a matter of identifying what I needed to do to improve, then having the motivation to go out and do it every day,” Leavitt said.

Another part of the equation was swinging a wood bat every Sunday for the Atlanta Braves’ scout league team last fall. Leavitt, always a good contact hitter, developed the whole package, using the entire field and developing power to left field.

Once a high school hitter can handle a wood bat, hitting with aluminum is like riding a bicycle with training wheels.

Failure is not an option.

“I expected to have a good season because of all the preparation,” he said. “I just had to go out and make it happen.”

Thousand Oaks (22-6) had its best season in Coach Bill Sizemore’s five-year tenure behind a group of seniors who played year-round for four years. The group included all-county pitcher Chris Cordeiro and Leavitt’s double-play partner, shortstop Billy Lockin.

“Those guys are the best friends I’ll probably ever have,” Leavitt said. “We were always together. We won club tournaments, played Legion and fall league together.

“It was four years of constant baseball and constantly getting better.”

Leavitt has signed a letter of intent with Troy (Ala.) State, a Division I school that also recruited Brian Lipman and Casey O’Quinn of Royal.

“I really liked the campus and the facilities when I took my visit,” Leavitt said. “They play a great schedule too.”

As long as the weight room is open extremely early in the morning, Leavitt will feel right at home.