Chatsworth Gives Coach Workout in 10-4 Victory

Chatsworth High Coach Tom Meusborn looked for all the world like a demented Caltrans flagman Thursday as he stood in the third-base box and directed traffic. A windmilling wave of the arm here. A stop sign there. This is Los Angeles, though, so there weren’t a lot of the latter.

All the while, Meusborn modeled one of the team’s new uniforms, the iridescent orange color of which closely resembles that of a highway cone. Or the coach’s fire-colored hair, take your pick.

In a West Valley League opener, defending City Section 4-A Division champion Chatsworth started rolling early, hit high gear in the middle innings and dusted host El Camino Real, 10-4.

Meusborn’s attention never flagged.

“Sometimes, when we get to hitting the ball and scoring runs like that, I kind of get caught up in it,” he said. “I guess I get excited. I get going too.”

Chatsworth was hitting from the get-go like all get-out. The Chancellors, who defeated El Camino Real in the 4-A final last year, scored eight runs in the first three innings alone. The Chancellors also swiped five bases, including a steal of home by Doug Dean to spark a five-run third.

“We’ve got good team speed,” Meusborn said. “And we have guys who can really swing the bats. We felt we’d score some runs.”

And right away. El Camino Real’s long-awaited electronic scoreboard, which spent all of last season in storage while permits for installation were being acquired, flashed a big three for the Chancellors in the first inning.

Thurman Williams and Dean each contributed run-scoring singles as Chatsworth (1-1, 1-0 in league play) batted around against right-hander Corey Bromberg (0-1). Chatsworth again sent nine batters to the plate in the third to make it, literally, a runaway.

With one out, Adam Pearlman doubled and took third on Dean’s single to left. Pearlman scored and Dean moved all the way to third on Mike Muir’s ground out to second. With Brian Comer at the plate, Dean broke from third and beat Bromberg’s pitch for a 5-1 lead.

Comer walked, took second on a wild pitch and scored on Scott Carpenter’s single to center. Carpenter stole second and scored on Brian Gilder’s infield chopper to third. Gilder stole second and scored on a single by Nestor Martinez.

Chancellor pitcher Mitch Root, a returning All-City player, promised that Chatsworth would not be caught sitting around on its you-know-what this season.

“We’re going to go out and bust our butts every game,” said Root, a right-hander who allowed four hits and two runs over six innings. “We’ve got all this talent, so now we need to go out and prove it.”

El Camino Real, conversely, experienced some growing pains. In the first inning, right fielder Sean Boldt and freshman center fielder Randy Wolf failed to communicate on a routine fly, and Boldt dropped the ball as Wolf brushed him. It led to an unearned run.

Daniel Cey, a sophomore second baseman and the son of former Dodger Ron Cey, drove in two runs but also made a baserunning mistake in the second. Boldt, a senior who had a game-high three hits, led off with a single and took second when Root threw away a pickoff throw to first. Cey, in his first varsity at-bat, drove in Boldt with a single to right to bring El Camino Real (0-1) within 3-1.

Justin Balser then sent a ground ball back to the mound. Root’s throw to second pulled Dean off the bag, and Dean’s relay to first also was late. Cey, thinking he had been forced, trotted to the dugout and was called out.