Sylmar Still Alive After Loss to Harbor; North Valley Eliminated

It was a case of big-game letdown.

After beating rival North Valley on Friday night in the first round of the Palomino Regional Coast baseball tournament at Cal State Northridge, Sylmar seemingly forgot it had to play the next day and lost to Harbor, 7-1, on Saturday.

“We were dead,” Sylmar Coach Larry Kapuscinski said. “We got up for North Valley, and after we beat them, we relaxed.”

“They didn’t come to play baseball today,” Kapuscinski added, reversing a well-worn baseball phrase.

Neither, apparently, did North Valley, which was eliminated earlier in the day by Covina, 3-1, after Covina had lost to Harbor, 4-3, in eight innings.

Sylmar meets Covina today at 1 p.m. with the winner facing unbeaten Harbor at 4. Should Harbor lose, an extra game would be played Monday at 5 p.m.

Sylmar never threatened Harbor, stranding 10 men on base, committing three errors and a couple more that don’t show up in the score book.

Meanwhile, Harbor--composed of current or future Harbor College players--made just one error, got a big inning out of the bottom of its batting order and manufactured a couple of insurance runs for the win.

“We have the advantage of playing together,” Harbor Coach Tony Bloomfield said. “So we’ve worked on getting guys on base and moving them over and we keep that positive mental attitude.”

Winning two games might have been the last thing on the minds of the Harbor players in the bottom of the seventh against Covina when, with two outs and two strikes, Harbor’s Sean O’Brien hit a game-tying single. Harbor scored an unearned run in the eighth to win.

Against Sylmar, No. 9 hitter Mike Berry knocked in two runs with a single over third baseman Rich Aude’s head, to break a 1-1 tie in the second.

David Mauss and Leonard Fletcher combined on an eight-hitter, pitching out of jams in the first three innings before settling down.

Casey O’Brien, the No. 7 hitter in the Harbor lineup, went 2 for 2 and scored twice. Catcher Darin Woolwine, who bats eighth, executed two sacrifice bunts.

Earlier in the day, Covina’s Bill Gallis hit his second home run of the day to help eliminate tournament-host North Valley.

Mike Jones and Paco Chavez combined on a four-hitter for Covina, retiring 12 of the last 13 North Valley batters, nine on fly balls.