Zuanich Makes Social Impact
Rain was the winner on a gloomy day last May as Coach Andy Marifino picked up the phone and called his players to inform them a game had been canceled.
As he worked his way down the roster, he dialed the number of Michael Zuanich, who was showing promise as a sophomore first baseman at Torrance Bishop Montgomery High.
Marifino remembers clearly what happened. He was that surprised.
“His dad said he wasn’t home,” Marifino said. “He was out feeding the homeless.”
Zuanich was part of a youth group that regularly handed out free meals at a church in Torrance. Every Thursday night, Zuanich and other group members would arrive, providing soup, bread, fruit punch and a friendly ear.
“They’d tell us about their high school days and where they went wrong,” Zuanich said. “How they got into drugs or spent their money on gambling, how they didn’t really have any family to go to, and to be thankful for mine.
“It made me feel different coming home to a supporting family and parents.”
Zuanich started visiting homeless shelters in eighth grade as part of an extracurricular program that emphasized the importance of grades while providing doses of reality.
Zuanich was enrolled in the program by his parents.
“It’s a different era for these kids. With everything available, you’ve got to give them a different perspective,” said Ronald Alpine, Zuanich’s stepfather. “You can always tell the kids what the right thing is as a parent, but until they experience it for themselves, it’s more of a story.”
Zuanich’s maturity has translated well on the field.
He is hitting a team-best .415 and has 12 runs batted in for the Knights, who are 6-6-1 and in first place in the Del Rey League with a 3-0-1 record. Zuanich has also pitched 10 innings in relief and has a 2.80 earned-run average.
Marifino knew he had a potential prospect in the 6-foot-3, 200-pound Zuanich. What he didn’t know, until that phone call last year, was the mental makeup of Zuanich.
“It was surprising because, here’s a kid, he’s got a Friday night and he’s going to do something productive instead of going to a movie with his friends or hanging out somewhere else,” Marifino said. “It was something out of the ordinary.”
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Barely a month into the season, there are already two surprising coaching resignations.
Marty Berson, only 12 victories away from 500 wins as a college and high school coach, resigned at Anaheim Western, and Richard Escalera stepped down abruptly at Covina Charter Oak, one of the top Division III programs in recent seasons.
Berson, 60, said he was accused of calling a player “an idiot” and was “coerced” into resigning.
“I’ve been coaching a million years.... I’d never do something like that,” Berson said. “That’s ridiculous.”
Western Athletic Director Don Luethke called the incident part of a “combination of things that unfortunately had to happen in the middle of the season.”
Western was 1-8 at the time. Berson, who also coached at Savanna and Fullerton highs and Santa Monica City College, was replaced by junior varsity coach Richard Franco.
Escalera, 40, was in his fourth season at Charter Oak before he resigned because of an undisclosed conflict with the school.
“We didn’t see eye to eye and I didn’t want to bring home agony to my family any more,” Escalera said. “It was something I hated to do but I had to do it.”
The Chargers had foundered this season, starting 2-3 despite having one of the region’s top pitchers in Chuckie Tiffany. Charter Oak’s 39-game league winning streak was ended by Hacienda Heights Wilson in a Miramonte League opener.
Escalera was replaced by assistant Tom Quinley.
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It has been a while since Lompoc Cabrillo won a league title -- 27 years, if you want specifics.
The U.S. bicentennial was a few months away when the Conquistadores last won a league championship, although this might be the year to put aside money in the athletic budget for a baseball banner.
Cabrillo has been sparked to a 7-2 start by 10 seniors, including Tommy Hawk, a senior pitcher who has signed with Cal State Fullerton. More important, the Conquistadores are 3-0 and in first place in the Los Padres League after a 13-12 victory over Lompoc on Friday.
“It’s been a long dry spell,” said Coach Jon Osborne, in his 10th season at Cabrillo. “We set a goal for ourselves that we hoped this would be the year we could do it because we have all these returning lettermen.”
Hawk (4-1) has been nearly unhittable with four complete-game victories and outfielder Thomas Woodard has a 21-game hitting streak that dates to last season.
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Billy Vopinek whistled a third strike past a batter then grabbed his shoulder and walked toward the Bellflower dugout.
Bellflower had played three games last year when Vopinek strained the labrum in his right shoulder, putting his pitching career on hold.
But Vopinek continued to play as the Buccaneers’ designated hitter and finished with a .420 average.
Vopinek, a senior who now plays first base, is hitting .625 and had the highest average in the Southland last week. He went through a six-month rehabilitation after surgery last June, but his return has been surprisingly strong.
“You could tell he was determined not to get back to where he was, but to get a level ahead,” Coach Keith Tripp said.
Vopinek has slowly returned to pitching. He threw two shutout innings toward the end of a 19-0 victory over Long Beach Jordan and plans to pitch again in longer increments.
“It’s kind of weird at first throwing,” Vopinek said. “You don’t want there to be pain and if you feel it, you wonder what it is. At one point it was like, ‘This can’t be right.’ But the doctor said I had to get rid of some scar tissue.”
Bellfower is 8-2-1, 2-0-1 in Suburban League play. An American Legion team of Bellflower players was 3-12 last summer without Vopinek.
“That tells us how important he is to this ballclub,” Tripp said.
