San Fernando’s Playoff Wins Render Marden Speechless

Pssst. Mum’s the word at San Fernando High where Steve Marden has made coaching baseball a mute point.

Marden, whose mouth during game time is usually a perpetual-motion machine, swears that he no longer counsels or cajoles players from in front of the dugout.

Can it be? Long-playing Marden favorites include, “pitch and location,” and “give me a quality at-bat,” which typically are directed at Tiger batters at the ear-numbing rate of once per pitch.

“I don’t say a word now,” Marden said. “They believe they can beat anybody. They know what to do.”

It marks quite a change--audibly and indelibly--for the Tigers, the third-place team from the North Valley League that hovered near the .500 mark all season before recording City Section 4-A Division playoff victories last week over third-seeded University and Mid-Valley League co-champion Birmingham.

Despite struggling much of the season, San Fernando (15-10) faces Sylmar in the semifinals Tuesday, marking the Tigers’ third 4-A semifinal appearance in four seasons.

Marden, whose vocal cords continue to work just fine off the field, seems equally pleased and surprised. A few weeks ago, San Fernando’s win-a-few, lose-a-few ways nearly drove the coach over the edge. He tried every motivational tactic in the book, then made up a few more.

“I told the whole team that I wouldn’t be afraid to allow any one of them to date my daughter,” Marden said. “That was the problem. I want a team of guys I wouldn’t want within 100 yards of my daughter.”

With a date in the City final at Dodger Stadium in the balance, the team finally has responded.

Add City playoffs: As the saying goes, something has to give.

Top-seeded Banning faces Poly in the other City semifinal, a matchup that pits the 4-A Division’s best pitcher against the division’s most explosive offensive team.

Poly has scored a total of 25 runs in playoff victories over Palisades and Chatsworth. The Parrots had 19 hits Friday in a 17-1 win over Chatsworth, the defending 4-A champion.

Banning (19-6) is expected to start senior right-hander Mike Busby, who is 10-0 and threw a no-hitter in Wednesday’s first-round victory over Van Nuys. The Pilots are seeking to break a 20-year stranglehold on the 4-A title by teams from the Valley, and pitching is unquestionably the key.

Busby’s rotation mate, Mark Chavez, tossed a one-hitter in Friday’s 5-0 defeat of Monroe and allowed just three balls to be hit out of the infield. Chavez (7-3) walked none and struck out four. “My pitching staff does a great job,” Banning Coach Syl Saavedra said after the Monroe game. “If we can score one or two runs, we’ll win.”

In 12 innings of postseason play, the Parrots have scored two runs or better five times.

Second add playoffs: Poly’s defeat of fourth-seeded Chatsworth blocked a matchup of the Valley’s hottest pitcher and Banning’s Busby.

Chatsworth’s Brandon Nickens tossed a one-hit shutout in an 11-0 win over Carson in the first round Wednesday. It marked the third consecutive shutout for Nickens, a junior who finished the season with 19 consecutive scoreless innings.

Last add playoffs: When San Fernando faces Sylmar in the semifinals, it will be a pairing of neighborhood rivals. Many players on both teams are products of the Sylmar Independent Baseball League and are friends. Last season, after Sylmar’s Ryan Vela was killed in a traffic accident, several San Fernando players inscribed Vela’s name on their uniforms.

North to Alaska: Alemany baseball Coach Jim Ozella has been hired as an assistant coach of the Alaska Goldpanners, one of the nation’s top amateur teams.

Ozella, 32, who just completed his eighth season at Alemany, will serve under Jim Dietz, the head coach at San Diego State.

The Goldpanners team, a member of the Alaskan League, is the defending U. S. Open champion. The season runs from mid-June to mid-August.

Hey, Mo!: Simi Valley players Brian Vasey and Steve Bernstein made a friendly preseason agreement wherein, should the Pioneers win the Marmonte League title, each would shave his head.

After Simi Valley clinched the league title last week, they honored the agreement. And it seems that Bernstein came away with the worst end of the deal.

Bernstein, who is 5-foot-10 and 175 pounds, is the spitting image of Curly of Three Stooges fame. “Hey, at least I’m getting more dates with it,” he said.