Off-Campus Baseball Fields Are Not Exactly a Walk in the Park

Van Nuys High baseball Coach Jim Friery said he no longer wants his team playing at Van Nuys-Sherman Oaks Park, or any other municipal facility, because of ongoing problems. He said he planned to take the matter to school administrators this week.

Friery claims that park maintenance workers often do not drag and line the field before games, and city parks can present a danger for players and spectators. During a game last week against Canoga Park at Lanark Park, Friery said his father confronted a group of youths who appeared to be loosening a hood ornament on the elder Friery’s car. The absence of school administrators at most games makes the situation worse.

“Sooner or later there’s going to be a drive-by shooting,” Friery said. “Then it’ll be a big media story and [administrators will] have to answer to it.”

Junior achievement: The seven-game winning streak that gave Thousand Oaks its first Marmonte League baseball championship since 1983 was fueled by a large group of talented juniors.

Returning all-league seniors Tim Baron (pitcher) and Eric Soliz (first base) provided leadership, but junior second baseman Jack Wilson led the area in batting with a .577 average and junior right-hander Santos Mummey was 7-2 with an 0.59 earned-run average.

Junior identical twins Ryan and Tyler Holmes each hit over .400 and combined for 48 runs batted in. Right-handers Ryan Lane (0.86 ERA) and Brent Hirsh (2.68), shortstop Mike Lauer (.328 batting average) and catcher Steve Yeager (.350)--all juniors--showed marked improvement and were instrumental during the winning streak.

Serious swan song: Senior right-hander Keven Kempton had a tumultuous final two years at Cal State Northridge. He had tendon-replacement surgery on his pitching elbow last season, then was struck in the same elbow by a line drive days before the ’95 season opener.

Yet even persistent pain in his shoulder and a series of dismal performances didn’t keep him out of the rotation.

Saturday, Kempton pitched his final game for Northridge and may have saved the best for last. Despite throbbing pain in his arm, he gave up seven hits as the Matadors beat San Diego State, 9-2.

“It was like it was meant to be,” Northridge Coach Bill Kernen said. “It was really something to see.”

Catch-up time: First day at the office lasted until 11 p.m. Second day started at 7 a.m. So it goes for new Northridge football Coach Dave Baldwin, who has some catching up to do.

Baldwin must fill seven assistant coaching positions and begin recruiting players for the fall. No players have been signed in 1995.

Step one was meeting with his team Monday. “I told them we’re going to have to recruit as a group,” said Baldwin, a Granada Hills and Northridge graduate. “I said it can’t matter if the recruit’s a [defensive] lineman and you’re a [defensive] lineman. We need players.”

Happy to be there: The turnaround for the Hueneme softball team, which finished the regular season 11-10 after going 0-19 in 1994, got a boost Monday, when the Vikings were selected for an at-large berth in the Southern Section Division I playoffs.

Although they don’t figure to beat top-seeded Marina of Huntington Beach on the road in the first round Friday, Viking Coach Patty Frash doesn’t care.

“I know [Marina] is seeded No. 1, but I’m just excited that we made the playoffs,” Frash said.

Quotebook

Harvard-Westlake baseball Coach Jim Brink after the Wolverines finished 4-20, 0-12 in the Mission League, and lost their season finale to St. Francis, 10-5: “It hasn’t all been wine and roses.”

He’s all wet: Cal Lutheran sports information director John Czimbal, who sat through several rain delays with the Regal softball team at the Division III West regionals last weekend at Storm Lake, Iowa: “Storm Lake lived up to its name. First there was a storm and then there was a lake.”

Stats

Pitcher Jennifer Baltruzak of the La Reina softball team finished the regular season with a string of 56 scoreless innings.

The junior struck out 76 and walked five during the streak. She closed out the regular season by hurling a no-hitter with 12 strikeouts in a 12-0 victory over Bishop Diego.

Persistence pays: Cal State Northridge right-hander Juan Velazquez, a reliever from Grant High, set a school single-season record for appearances (28) by playing in Sunday’s season finale against San Diego State.

Who would have thought it possible? In his Matador debut, the side-arming junior allowed three homers in one inning.

Hitting Matts: Outfielder Matt Riordan broke Matt Franco’s Westlake High record for hits in a season when he collected his 47th hit Friday. Franco, now playing in the Chicago Cub organization, had 46 hits in 1987.

Things to Do

Charles Lee of Cleveland, Steve Williams of San Fernando and Matt Jones of North Hollywood top the list of local athletes entered in Thursday’s City Section track and field prelims at Birmingham High. The meet starts with field events at 1:30 p.m.

The Birmingham boys’ swim team will try to reclaim the title it lost last year to Venice at the City finals at 3 p.m. today at Belmont Plaza in Long Beach.

Compiled by Rob Fernas. Contributing: Steve Elling, Jeff Fletcher, Dana Haddad, Steve Henson, Vince Kowalick, Michael Lazarus, John Ortega.