Pitcher Claims His No-Hitter Was No-Brainer

If you ask Garrett Lee, he didn’t do anything special.

“I just threw the ball and let them hit it,” the Crescenta Valley High right-hander said of his no-hitter last week against Glendale. “I think my defense was what really got the no-hitter.”

Two plays in particular stood out. In the second inning, shortstop Kirk Hagge went into the hole and made an off-balance throw to get the batter at first. In the third, second baseman Adam Jacobsen made a similar play behind the base.

GOLDEN LEAGUE

BASEBALL

Over the past three games, third baseman Eric Cole of Antelope Valley is seven for 11 with three doubles, two triples and two home runs. He has hit safely in seven consecutive games, during which he is 15 for 27 with 19 runs batted in. He has hit in 13 of 15 games. . . .

Red-hot pitcher-first baseman Jim Reel of Highland has moved past Will Wallace of Quartz Hill and Cole as the league RBI leader. Reel drove in 10 runs last week in two league victories to give him 29. Wallace and Cole had 28 and 25, respectively, entering play this week.

Reel was five for eight last week with three doubles and two homers. . . .

CHANNEL LEAGUE

BASEBALL

The journey north is a long one for Channel League teams from Ventura County forced to play road games at Santa Barbara, San Marcos and Dos Pueblos.

For Buena, the journey home this season has been even longer.

Buena (13-4), ranked seventh in the Times’ area poll, is 6-3 in league play--6-0 in Ventura County, 0-3 in Santa Barbara County. The Bulldogs have lost at Santa Barbara, San Marcos and Dos Pueblos.

MARMONTE LEAGUE

BASEBALL

Fresh off losses last week to Simi Valley and Newbury Park in which his team mustered a total of eight singles, Royal Coach Dan Maye suddenly is scrambling to put together something resembling an infield.

Third baseman Mike Boggs, shortstop Joel Mellinger and first baseman Brian Del Monte are out because of injuries. And second baseman Donald Martinez was declared academically ineligible.

In addition, left fielder Bryan Fernandez suffered a bruised ankle in a mountain-bike accident over the weekend.

“What next?” Maye asked.

Royal set a school record last week with its 81st stolen base of the season, breaking the record of 78 set last season. Mellinger leads the Highlanders with 19 steals.

SOFTBALL

Thousand Oaks has struggled despite being the only team in the region with two players who have signed letters of intent with NCAA Division I schools.

The Lancers (9-8), who have lost four of their past five games and slipped to 3-6 in Marmonte League play, are virtually eliminated from playoff contention.

Slugger Nicole Ochoa, bound for Cal State Long Beach, and pitcher Carrie Russell, who has signed with Northwestern State (La.), haven’t been able to save the slumping Lancers.

VOLLEYBALL

Royal’s five-game victory over Loyola on Saturday marked only the second and third games that the Highlanders (11-0) have lost all season, but was more satisfying to Coach Bob Ferguson than a quick three-game sweep would have been.

Royal setter Josh White set a school record with 92 assists, breaking the record of 90 set by Travis Ferguson, the coach’s son currently playing at the University of San Diego. . . . Outside hitters Steve Hodge had 34 kills in 53 attempts (64%), Jason Hughes was 33 for 57 (58%) and middle blocker Josh Penrod was 17 for 28 (61%).

NORTHWEST VALLEY CONFERENCE

BASEBALL

Taft, one of two area schools to have two players land NCAA Division I scholarships during the early signing period, hasn’t received much help from either.

Left-hander Justin Siegel, who signed with North Carolina State, has not pitched all season after undergoing arthroscopic surgery on his throwing elbow.

Shortstop Gabe Kapler, who signed with Cal State Fullerton after a strong showing during American Legion play last summer, was batting .211 entering the week with 11 RBIs. . . .

Granada Hills may be experiencing a disappointing season, but it has discovered Jim Landress.

Landress, a sophomore who also was the school’s starting quarterback, is 18 for 49 (.367) and leads the team with three home runs and is second with 16 RBIs. Landress started the season at shortstop, moved to the outfield, and now is back at short.

How down in the dumps was Chatsworth Coach Tom Meusborn after his team lost at El Camino Real last Thursday? While in uniform, he walked from the Woodland Hills campus back to Chatsworth, a distance of about eight miles.

It was the team’s fourth consecutive loss, which came on the heels of a 10-game winning streak. . . .

Relief pitcher Fabian Naranjo of Reseda hasn’t given up an earned run in 10 appearances spanning as many innings. Trouble is, the door has usually been closed on Reseda (2-12) by the time Naranjo gets in the game.

“He’s our stopper,” Coach Mike Stone said, “but we haven’t been close enough to stop anybody.” . . .

Cleveland, which opened the season with seven starters without varsity experience, continues to find ways to post come-from-ahead losses. It has become a frustrating team hallmark.

Five times in the team’s first 10 conference games, Cleveland had leads heading into the opponent’s last at-bat and lost. Last week, Cleveland turned the trick twice in losses to San Fernando.

“Inexperience kills us,” assistant Marty Siegel said.

TRACK & FIELD

Most sprinters would much rather run the 100 or 200 meters than the 400 so San Fernando Coach Ken Kohon was delighted when junior Flip Aguilar approached him after the Mt. San Antonio College Relays this month and told him he would like to concentrate on the 400.

“I’ve always felt that the 400 is the race best suited to his abilities,” Kohon said. “But I didn’t want to force him into it. I felt that it would be better if he made that decision.”

Aguilar, who timed 11.15 seconds in the 100 and 22.23 in the 200 as a sophomore, made an impressive debut in his new event, timing 50.3 in the 440-yard dash against Granada Hills on Friday.

MISSION LEAGUE

BASEBALL

Notre Dame first baseman Glen Carson raised his average to .351 with a four-for-six week. Coach Tom Dill said Carson isn’t getting hot, he is just getting hits. “He’s been hitting the ball hard all year, but just right at people,” Dill said of his USC-bound senior.

Crespi has given up nine runs in its past seven games. The Celts, who have an earned-run average of 1.52, have won all seven. Right-hander Jeff Suppan hasn’t given up a run in his past 25 innings. Suppan, who has signed to play at UCLA, also was seven for 12 with two home runs and 10 RBIs. . . .

Right fielder Kyle Carden, who missed the first month of the season because he was academically ineligible, has gone nine for 15 after a one-for-13 start.

Things are turning around for Harvard-Westlake. In a hurry.

The Wolverines began the season 1-10, 0-5 in league play, but have won four of their past five, including a memorable victory over Bishop Montgomery on Saturday. The Wolverines trailed, 10-1, in the fourth, but rallied for an 11-10 victory.

BASKETBALL

Notre Dame’s Ryan Stromsborg and some teammates stumbled across a high school basketball all-star game on TV last week. And who was on the screen? Monte Marcaccini.

“It was so funny,” Stromsborg said. “The announcers were saying, ‘This guy is all work ethic.’ He didn’t practice all year.”

To be fair to the Notre Dame senior headed for Indiana, it wasn’t laziness that kept him from practice, but tendinitis in his knees.

VOLLEYBALL

Injuries have seemed contagious to some of the Mission League’s top players.

In the space of four days, both of Crespi’s all-league outside hitters, Mike Lees and Bill Rojas, suffered ankle injuries.

Harvard-Westlake outside hitter Matt Sebree sat out the Wolverines’ loss to Mira Costa on Friday because of a strained tendon in his shoulder, and setter Court Young recently missed several matches with back spasms.

Notre Dame’s Tom Stillwell, who signed with UCLA, missed three weeks because of an ankle injury earlier in the season. Teammate Tim Webber was out six weeks with a similar injury.

FREELANCE

BASEBALL

Who’d have guessed it? In a 7-5 loss last Friday at Pasadena Poly, Montclair Prep played on one of the smallest fields the Mounties have seen this season, and Brad Fullmer was hitless in four at-bats. Fullmer, a left-handed batter who leads area hitters with 11 home runs, could not get a hit on the Panthers’ unusual field, where a ball that hits the concrete 230 feet from home plate in right field is a double.

Fullmer is probably hoping he doesn’t have to face Crespi right-hander Suppan when the teams meet Friday at Valley College. Suppan struck out Fullmer eight consecutive times during American Legion play in 1990.

FOOTHILL LEAGUE

BASEBALL

With less than three weeks remaining in the regular season, Burroughs and Canyon are in the hunt for the league championship. Few expected either to be factors--let alone forces--in the race. Burroughs (11-8, 5-1 in league play) sits atop the standings, a half-game ahead of perennial area power Hart (14-5, 4-1). Last season, Burroughs was 9-15, 6-9.

“I’m surprised that we’re hitting as well as we are but I’m not surprised that we’re competing,” Burroughs Coach Terry Scott said. “I think the main thing is that we’ve settled on a regular lineup.”

Although Canyon (8-11, 4-3) has struggled outside the league with a 4-8 record, it is in third place.

FRONTIER LEAGUE

BASEBALL

Calabasas and Nordhoff ended their most recent meeting on an ugly note. Umpires called the game with two out in the bottom of the sixth inning at Calabasas after both benches emptied when Mehul Taylor of Calabasas was hit by a pitch by Brian Roney. Taylor was decked immediately after a three-run pinch-hit homer by Sam Cunningham that gave Calabasas an 11-0 lead. Players exchanged words and stares. Although no punches were thrown, the umpires ended the game.

The coaching staffs did not speak after the incident. Nathanson said he intends to write a letter to Nordhoff Coach Steve Blundell to clear the air.

The teams will play at Nordhoff on May 4.

TRI-VALLEY LEAGUE

BASEBALL

All St. Bonaventure Coach Dennis Johnson expected from junior infielder Travis Spurgeon was a contribution. He is receiving much more.

In addition to his slick fielding at shortstop and second base, Spurgeon is batting .500 (20 for 40) with 14 RBIs.

Kennedy Cosgrove and staff writers Steve Elling, Jeff Fletcher, Vince Kowalick, Paige A. Leech, John Ortega and Jason H. Reid contributed to this notebook.