Howl of Protest Followed Sandler Transfer : Controversy: Pitcher says he had opportunity and took it; others question his loyalty.

CALABASAS —  Watch Jared Sandler pitch and witness the essence of a crafty left-hander at work. Total command of a drop-curve and a palmball enables him to slip a wholly mediocre 75-m.p.h. fastball past batters. In his pickoff moves he uses uncanny, stork-like subterfuge to catch runners leaning off base..

Result: an 18-2 record and a 1.20 earned run-average through this season and last.

But Sandler is accused of being equally crafty off the field, of employing the art of deception to transfer from Montclair Prep to Calabasas in January. He left longtime teammates and a private school that generously paid his tuition for a chance to win greater glory with a talented band of Calabasas players, many of whom are his childhood friends.

Result: an unbeaten powerhouse at Calabasas, mixed feelings at Montclair Prep and a graphic illustration of the battle between loyalty and opportunity that increasingly faces high school players.

Open enrollment, a policy enacted last fall, allows students to attend any school within their district without losing athletic eligibility. Not surprisingly, many players are looking for greener fields. Transfers are at an all-time high, according to the Southern Section.

Sandler, 17, did not need open enrollment to transfer because he moved from Canoga Park to Agoura Hills in December. Yet his ordeal of the past several months should give pause to players thinking of bolting their school.

He has been called a traitor to his face by a Montclair Prep parent, has been vilified in anonymous letters sent to newspapers, and begrudgingly had to adapt his training regimen to the demands of new coaches. He sits in classes full of strangers at a school three times as large as Montclair Prep.

That’s not all.

Sandler has endured difficulties unassociated with baseball. His parents divorced about two years ago and his mother could not make mortgage payments, forcing a move from their longtime Canoga Park home. His younger brother chose to live with their father and remain at Montclair Prep.

And Sandler is only now overcoming a debilitating back injury that one might believe was caused from carrying around the weight of the world.

At first the transfer seemed like such a simple decision.

“We moved to Agoura, then, all of a sudden, I could go to Calabasas High,” Sandler said.

“I had the opportunity and I took it.

“I don’t feel I owe (Montclair Prep). They did give me financial assistance and I represented the school well. I played baseball, got good grades and never got into any trouble.”

But he began to have troubling thoughts last summer when his coach of three varsity seasons, Walt Steele, resigned at Montclair Prep in June. The current coach, Kelly Paris, was not hired until late September.

“(Steele’s) not being there got me listening to suggestions,” Sandler said.

The suggestions were not subtle. Sandler regularly worked out at a Woodland Hills gym with several Calabasas players whom he had known since they played together for Woodland Hills Sunrise Little League.

“I helped talk Jared into coming here,” said Darin Reisman, the Calabasas first baseman and a Little League teammate of Sandler’s for three years. “I saw him at one of the football games and told him we’d be good. He said he wanted to go to a good school and win a CIF championship.

“I told him he should transfer over and he did.”

The move gave Calabasas co-Coach Scott Drootin a long-awaited chance to pencil Sandler into his lineup.

When Sandler was a 14-year-old freshman on the Montclair Prep varsity, Drootin drafted him on a West Hills Pony League team. However, Steele insisted that Sandler play American Legion after the high school season and Drootin never enjoyed the services of the crafty lefty.

Neither, of course, did Paris, who ironically knows many Calabasas players from the Baseball Learning Center he runs out of the Sunrise Little League complex. In fact, slugger Brett Niles, who transferred to Calabasas from Crespi after last season, takes private batting instruction from the Montclair Prep coach.

Although Paris was irked that Sandler’s mother informed him of her son’s impending transfer (“He could have called me himself,” Paris said), the coach harbors no ill feelings.

“I told his mom, ‘I think he’s making a mistake but have a good time, have a good life,’ ” Paris said, adding,

“I feel that promises were made to him by the Calabasas coaching staff.”

Drootin and co-Coach Rick Nathanson, who are in their fourth season, have heard similar allegations. In addition to Sandler and Niles, talented sophomore catcher Josh Goldfield is a transfer.

“We’ve had to listen to innuendoes, other coaches saying things in an off-hand way, but I believe that when a program starts winning, kids want to be part of the program,” said Nathanson, whose record is 62-23. “Our administration would not allow anything illegal to go on here.”

Because he moved into the Las Virgenes Unified School District attendance area, it is perfectly legal for Sandler to attend Calabasas. Whether undue influence was used to persuade him to transfer is a matter of debate.

“If Coach Steele was still at Montclair, there is no doubt I would still be there,” said Sandler, adding he has nothing against Paris, he just doesn’t know him well.

Steele, who resigned after seven seasons to pursue a graduate degree, was especially close to Sandler. After Montclair Prep advanced to the Southern Section Division IV quarterfinals last season behind Sandler’s 12-2 record, Steele praised the pitcher at the postseason banquet.

“Jared was always willing to put in the extra effort,” Steele said. “His work ethic is better than anyone I’ve ever had.”

Sandler’s training regimen was so ingrained that at first he had difficulty adjusting to the program at Calabasas.

“At first it was a struggle but now we’ve bonded and our record shows that,” he said. “I sucked it up a little bit.”

A similar stance has been taken at Montclair Prep, where the team is 13-6 and many Mountie players remain friends with Sandler.

“There was no big stink about it, he had to move,” said Joe Cohen, Montclair Prep’s top hitter. “The team kind of viewed it as too bad, but we soon got back to everyday stuff. There is no animosity from anyone except for one or two people.”

Neal Reichline, father of first baseman Eli Reichline, stands at the front of the animosity line, however short it may be.

And he was standing nearby, privately seething, the day Sandler attended Montclair Prep’s nonleague game against Westlake with his mother and grandparents. Sandler’s family exchanged hugs with other parents, and everyone rooted for the Mounties.

“He and his family had incredible nerve to come to that game,” Reichline said. “I don’t forgive him for running out on the team and I didn’t want to see him at games.”

After the game, which Montclair Prep lost, Reichline confronted Sandler, and they began yelling at each other.

A Calabasas player who was accompanying Sandler stepped between them, but the incident had a chilling effect.

“That guy harassed me,” Sandler said. “When I was talking about transferring, he made the comment that if I transferred he would do everything in his power to make me miserable.”

Reichline says simply that leaving a school in the last semester of one’s senior year is an act of disloyalty. And he disapproves.

“I think he is being dishonest with himself and with everyone else,” Reichline said, adding he believes Sandler transferred to improve his chances of getting a college scholarship.

Sandler admits as much, saying college “is the bottom line.” Nevada Las Vegas, San Diego State and Cal State Northridge have expressed interest in him but he has no offers.

With the regular season nearly over, Sandler and his friends at both schools just want to concentrate on baseball. It’s supposed to be a game.

Even Reichline believes enough is enough.

“The parents at (Montclair Prep), myself included, have had enough,” he said. “We are mellow, our kids are doing OK.”

So is Sandler--finally. His back feels better and he is pitching and hitting well. Against Santa Clara on Tuesday, he struck out 14, scattered three hits and had three hits of his own.

Calabasas will enter the Southern Section playoffs with a strong chance to win a division championship. The opportunity he transferred for is about to be realized.

“I wish the best for Montclair,” Sandler said. “This turned out more difficult and more complicated than I thought it would, but I like Calabasas.

“You know, I made a choice.”