Banning’s Chavez Says He Is Ready for Title Role

As Banning High’s No. 2 pitcher, Mark Chavez is accustomed to performing in the long shadow cast by teammate Mike Busby, the unbeaten Pilot ace.

Friday night, though, Chavez will step into the spotlight.

The senior right-hander is expected to be the starting pitcher when Banning faces San Fernando at 7:30 p.m. in the L.A. City Section 4-A Division title game at Dodger Stadium.

For Chavez, the chance to pitch in a championship game, in Chavez Ravine no less, represents a boyhood dream.

“I’m really excited,” he said. “It’s something I’ve been waiting for for years, since Little League.”

As usual, Chavez will have a tough act to follow.

Busby (11-0) pitched a two-hitter Tuesday to lead Banning past Poly, 5-1, in a semifinal at Harbor College. Last week, Chavez had to follow Busby after the 6-foot-4 right-hander opened the playoffs with a no-hitter against Van Nuys.

“It’s pretty hard to follow Mike,” Chavez said. “I’ve felt a little bit of pressure after Mike puts on a great performance.”

Fortunately for Banning, Chavez has thrived under that pressure. He came back Friday after Busby’s no-hitter to toss a one-hitter in a 5-0 victory over Monroe. He’ll bring a 7-3 record and 1.81 earned-run average into the title game.

Asked about Banning’s chances Friday night, Poly Coach Jerry Cord said, “They won’t have Busby, but if Chavez is as good as he was against Monroe, they’ve got a good chance against . . . San Fernando.”

Because of the CIF rule limiting pitchers to 10 innings a week, Busby can pitch only three innings in Friday’s game. But nobody at Banning is doubting that Chavez can do the job.

“I have confidence in Mark,” Coach Syl Saavedra said.

Added Busby: “Mark is just as good as I am. He can throw the ball.”

Chavez, who plays shortstop when not pitching, says the close-knit Pilots have been working two years to reach the City final. Their dreams ended last season when Palisades upset Banning in the first round, 4-3.

“This has been our goal since the beginning of last year,” Chavez said. “We tried to get there last year, but we made a mistake in the first round. This year, we told everybody at the beginning of the (season) that we’re not going to make the same mistake twice. We’re going all the way.”

Top-seeded Banning is trying to become the first non-San Fernando Valley school to win the major-division title since 1972. Kennedy of Granada Hills beat the Pilots in both of their title-game appearances in the 1980s--4-2 in 1981 and 10-9 in 1985.

Banning captured its only City baseball title exactly 30 years ago. The 1961 Pilots were coached by Jim Galceran.

That’s still better than San Fernando. The school, which was founded in 1896, has never won a City title in baseball and is making only its second appearance in the final, having lost to Monroe in 1988.

Asked who he would rather play in the final, Saavedra, the Banning coach, didn’t hesitate with an answer Tuesday.

“Honestly, I hope we play San Fernando,” he said. “I like the coach at San Fernando. He’s a real nice guy.”

That would be Steve Marden, whose team lost to Banning, 4-3, earlier this season in a nonleague meeting.

Friday’s City championship doubleheader at Dodger Stadium will begin at 4 p.m. when Narbonne faces Franklin in the 3-A Division final.

Narbonne rallied for an improbable 9-8 victory in 11 innings Tuesday in a semifinal against Hamilton at El Camino College. The Gauchos trailed most of the game and erased their biggest deficit, 8-3, with five runs in the bottom of the 10th inning.

They won it in the 11th when Ivan Burris singled home Armando Cervantes with one out.

Nick Van Lue has done a fine job in his third season as Narbonne’s coach, guiding the Gauchos to their first league title since 1978, and now to their first trip to the City final.

The Lions All-Star Football Game, a South Bay tradition for the better part of a quarter-century, will return this summer after a year’s absence.

Featuring the area’s top graduating seniors, the game will be played Aug. 1 at El Camino College. Mike Marinkovich of Mary Star will coach the East, and Chris Hyduke of Redondo will coach the West.

The West Torrance Lions Club, citing a manpower shortage, canceled the game last summer for the first time in 25 years.

“It was kind of a big blow to us that we couldn’t do the job last year,” said George Swade, the game’s chairman. “But it takes manpower, and everyone seemed to have something else going on.

“Now everyone is rejuvenated.”

Swade said a co-sponsor, Mobil Torrance refinery, is sharing the expense of putting on the charity event.

Carl Strong, who was named Harbor College basketball coach last week, said the Seahawks have received a commitment from Torrance forward Joe Zaletel.

“I would have shot myself if we hadn’t gotten Joe,” said Strong, who was Torrance’s coach from 1985-89. “There are about four kids we are really high on, Joe being one. Now we have to get after those other three.”

Included in that group is Narbonne’s D’Mitri Rideout, a 6-foot-3 swingman who averaged 22.4 points and 12.9 rebounds last season but does not have the grades to qualify for a Division I school.

The 6-6 Zaletel was not heavily recruited despite enjoying a fine varsity career at Torrance and playing well in two recent all-star games. He averaged 21.8 points and 11.3 rebounds last season in leading Torrance to the Pioneer League title.

Notes

Torrance catcher Jason Kendall collected a single in three at-bats Tuesday in a 6-4 Southern Section 4-A playoff loss to Dos Pueblos of Goleta to extend his hitting streak to 33 games, tying a state record set this season by Jakob Jensen of Highland Hall of Northridge. Kendall, a junior who drove in 49 runs this season, will have to wait until the 1992 opener to see if he can set the record.

The area’s Southern Section baseball teams were 1-4 in second-round games Tuesday. The only winner was Chadwick, which pounded Dunn of Los Olivos, 15-1, in a Small School Division game. The Dolphins, who have outscored two playoff opponents, 31-5, play at Woodcrest Christian of Riverside in the quarterfinals at 3:15 p.m. Friday.