Six Hart Players Seem Born to Win

Attention members of the baseball team at Hart High School in Newhall: Lose means to be defeated, to fail to win, to leave the field without the proverbial W. Is it even in your vocabulary?

It’s hard to tell. The Indians are 21-0 this season and No. 2 in the Southern Section 4-A, but there’s more. For six of them--shortstop Robby Davis, second baseman Darin Tsukashima, left fielder Lance Migita, right fielder Chris Vasquez, pitcher-catcher Jason Edwards and outfielder Jay Sanford--this stuff about not losing is par for the course.

They’ve won at every level, and won big. Their near-decade of domination:

1980--Pinto champions of Southern California.

1982--Mustang champions of Southern California.

1984--Bronco World Series champions, won in St. Joseph, Mo.

1986--Pony World Series champions, won in Washington, Pa.

1987--Babe Ruth World Series champions, won in Jamestown, N.Y.

Five of the players have had a hand in all the titles and are starters at Hart, and Sanford was a member of the three world championships and is a key reserve for the Indians. Go out on a limb and say these guys play well together.

“We think we have an advantage because we know each other so well,� said Edwards, who has an 8-0 record and 3 saves, and is batting about .375. “I can’t really describe it. It’s just there. It’s a feeling.�

Five more wins and the Indians will tie Ontario Chaffey, El Segundo and Sherman Oaks Notre Dame for second place on the Southern Section list for consecutive victories. The Section record is 36 consecutive wins by Lompoc in 1970-71 and Oxnard Rio Mesa in 1980-81.

In the more immediate future, though, Hart can clinch the Foothill League title with a victory on the road over second-place Burbank Burroughs tonight at 7. Edwards will start.

From there, it’s on to the Southern Section playoffs. And the chase for another title.

“That’s been our goal since we were freshmen,� Edwards said. “It was great to win all the others, but taking CIF would be the best. The others wouldn’t measure up to that.�

Add Hart: As good as this team has been, could it only be a warmup, a preview of things to come?

Eight of the nine starters are underclassmen.

It’s gotten to the point where considering Scott Davison of Redondo among the best baseball players in the Southern Section this season is selling him short.

How about among the best in the history of the Southern Section?

Last Saturday night, in a 6-0 win over Cerritos in the semifinals of the Redondo-Palos Verdes tournament, Davison continued his assault on the record book. The update:

--The 13-strikeout complete game was career victory No. 41, against 5 defeats, good for second place on the Southern Section list. That’s probably where he’ll finish, too, since Scott McGregor’s 51 wins for El Segundo from 1969-72 is virtually unreachable.

--When he drove home his brother, sophomore Brian, with a 4th-inning double, it gave Davison the Southern Section record for career runs batted in with 135, bettering the standard Jeff Cirillo of Burbank Providence established in 1987. Davison set the single-season record of 58 last season as a junior.

--He has 136 hits in his career. Five more and he’ll pass Jeff Camp of Linfield Christian for No. 1 in that category.

--Davison has an 11-0 record this season and 10 complete games. The best undefeated season ever is 15-0, by Mike O’Hara of Covina in 1979. Several others have gone 14-0, 13-0 and 12-0.

Redondo, No. 1 in the Southern Section 4-A with a 23-1 record, will play host to Compton Centennial Wednesday night at 7.

The news might have come from the classroom and the meeting room, but last week was still the most telling period so far this season in City track.

Quincy Watts of Woodland Hills Taft, his hamstring injury three weeks old, was granted a waiver by West Valley League coaches to skip the league preliminaries last Friday and advance directly to the finals in the 200- and 400-meter races this Friday. It was a fair--but not unprecedented--move by the coaches, as Watts, a 3-time state sprint champion, has nothing to prove at that level.

“The league coaches were professional and considerate of an exceptional athlete,� Taft Coach Tom Stevenson said. “They appreciate his talent.�

So Watts, who has qualified for the Olympic trials in the 100 and 200, gets an extra week for rehabilitation.

The word on Ian Alsen, the distance star from Granada Hills, was much more final, however. Like Watts, he was a lock to win a couple of City titles, but Alsen failed to meet the City’s minimum 2.0 grade-point average, thus ending his season about five weeks earlier than had been expected.

“I’m trying to handle it,� said Alsen, who has the No. 1 times in the nation outdoors at 1,600 and 3,200 meters. “It is my fault, and hopefully I can learn not to let it happen again. I’ll just grow from it.

“It’s not the end of the world. There are a lot of races I’ll be in, a lot of opens (meets). I’ve proved, I think, that I’m the best in the state.�

Alsen will also have a chance to prove he’s even more than that on June 5, when he runs in the open mile in the Pepsi Invitational at Drake Stadium. The field will include American record-holder Steve Scott, Joaquim Cruz of Brazil, the Olympic 800-meter gold medalist in 1984, and Jim Spivey of the United States, a bronze medalist in the 1,500 at the World Championships last summer.

To find a silver lining, at least Alsen doesn’t have to worry about being tired from the state meet the day before.

Prep Notes

Scott Sharts of Simi Valley, the Southern Section career leader in home runs, is 8-0 this season as a pitcher. Friday, he threw a 4-hitter as the Pioneers moved closer to a third straight Marmonte League championship with a 5-0 victory over Channel Islands.

Loyola of Los Angeles, the No. 2 volleyball team in the Southern Section 4-A, won the Redondo-Mira Costa tournament last Saturday, although No. 1 Santa Monica wasn’t there. Loyola’s Duncan Blackman was named most valuable player.

The California Interscholastic Federation, which planned to increase the height of the 100-meter low hurdles from 30 inches to 33 starting next season, has decided to wait until 1993. Most states are already using the 33-inch hurdles, and waiting five years will put California among the last to fall in line.