High-Tech Fields of Dreams Arrive
Baseball and softball practices begin Monday, and it’s stunning to see the upgrades in fields and technology implemented by the Southland’s top programs.
It was once considered a status symbol to have an electronic scoreboard and state-of-the-art public address system. That’s old stuff now.
Some schools have grass infields more pristine than Dodger Stadium’s. There are the fields watered by automatic sprinkler systems. There are fancy snack shacks, multiple batting cages and clubhouses with individual player lockers made of Formica. Others have team websites and full color yearbooks.
Placentia El Dorado just completed a $100,000 improvement for its baseball stadium, adding a Wrigley Field-like backstop with brick, a new infield of overseeded Bermuda and a new inning-by-inning electronic scoreboard. Santa Ana Mater Dei has an artificial turf infield and outfield.
Leading the technological revolution is Agoura’s baseball team, which has installed four digital cameras at strategic locations around its field that are linked to a 50-inch television monitor in the clubhouse, allowing coaches and players to watch video of practice and games.
They can break down hitting, pitching and fielding skills on four split screens. Soon, they’ll be able to show games on the Internet. And Coach Scott Deck can transfer the footage to his laptop computer in his classroom, put it on a projector, then use a wireless pad to make notes on the video.
Yes, “Big Brother” will be watching, as in Coach Deck, who can see if any players are wrestling in the dugout on one screen or throwing sunflower seeds in the bullpen on another. Agoura spent $15,000 for its video equipment, but it will enable Charger players to receive the same video attention as those in a college program.
Another trend coming to a field near you is stadium seating. The Dodgers replaced all their seats during the off-season and made available hundreds of old seats to local high schools. Agoura, Reseda Cleveland and Chatsworth are among the schools who plan to install Dodger seats.
Chatsworth is spending $30,000 to put in 108 new stadium seats attached to bleachers down the third base line. Next year, Dodger seats will probably go in down the first-base line. The competition to have the best field might one day inspire a parent to donate thousands of dollars for a DiamondVision-like scoreboard.
Anything is possible in an age when coaches have become fund-raising fanatics.
*
The search is on for a top pitcher to knock off Woodland Hills El Camino Real, the heavy favorite to defend its City Section baseball championship.
Among the candidates are Josh Ravin of Chatsworth and Fabian Williamson of Granada Hills Kennedy.
Palisades Coach Tom Seyler says he believes he has a pitcher who could become one of the best in the City.
Junior right-hander Cole Cook is 6 feet 6, weighs 195 pounds and is learning to throw strikes.
“He’s going to be throwing 94 mph by his senior year,” Seyler said.
El Camino Real faces Palisades in a tournament game on March 18 and takes on Kennedy on March 14.
*
Pitcher Jordan Taylor is back for her junior year of softball at Valencia, and good luck to those who will try to get a hit off her.
Considered the best pitching prospect in the Southern Section, Taylor is coming off a sophomore season in which she was 18-3 with an 0.57 earned-run average. She took an unofficial recruiting trip to Michigan last weekend.
*
One baseball coach who must check the weather report before deciding where to practice is Mammoth’s Eric Olson.
Until the snowpack melts, his team will practice hitting in a campus gym and playing defense at a softball field near Bishop, 45 miles away.
“We have a field up here starting to emerge two months earlier than last year,” Olson said. “Once it melts, it still needs a week to firm up.”
Mammoth’s closest league game is 85 miles away and others are 240 miles from campus.
“Our kids are very dedicated,” Olson said.
*
Aaron Kavanagh guided Huntington Beach Ocean View to the Southern Section Division III baseball championship last season. Kavanagh could win the same title but at a different school this season.
He has taken over as coach at Quartz Hill, which is loaded with returning players from a team that finished 17-11 last season. The Rebels are particularly strong at pitcher with Chase Tigert, who has signed with San Francisco, and Jon Birds and Matt Hutchison, who have signed with Nevada Las Vegas.
*
Eric Sondheimer can be reached at eric.sondheimer@latimes.com.
