Talent-Rich Granada Hills Shows Birmingham No Sign of Weak Link

Birmingham baseball Coach Wayne Sink struck a surprisingly calm stance after his team was demolished, 16-2, by Granada Hills on Wednesday in a Mid-Valley League game.

Sink politely offered a reporter a seat in the bleachers and then asked himself the first question: “Was I impressed with Granada Hills?”

“Darryl hasn’t had a better team in the 10 years I’ve been at Birmingham,” Sink said of Granada Hills Coach Darryl Stroh, whose teams have won five City Section 4-A Division championships in his 19 years at Granada Hills. The Highlanders are ranked No. 1 in the Valley by The Times.

Was there any one Granada Hills player who impressed Sink? Sean Brown maybe, Steve Kovacic or Jeremy Leach. “No. One player doesn’t shine above the rest,” he said. “There just isn’t a weak link on that team.

“Darryl is a very bright and very good coach, but Darryl’s not stupid. He always has had the talent--and he’ll be the first to tell you that. This year, anybody could win with the talent he has.”

The Birmingham coach dismissed questions about details from Wednesday’s game, but he did have one complaint.

“I might have slugged Stroh if he tried one more sacrifice bunt with an eight-run lead,” Sink said, proving that a good mood after a 14-run defeat doesn’t last long.

Said Stroh: “In a game like this, it’s easy to have a letdown and play sloppy. We just try to get the most out of every game. That can only help you later in the season in more important games.”

Delahoya delivers: Grant has won its past three East Valley League games and most of the credit goes to Javier Delahoya.

On Monday, Delahoya, a junior right-hander, struck out 14 in a 7-2 victory over Verdugo Hills. He then hit two three-run home runs in Grant’s 7-4 victory over Fairfax, including the game-winner in the bottom of the seventh.

“He’s playing with a lot of confidence,” Grant Coach Tom Lucero said. “I expected something from him, but I didn’t expect this much.”

Delahoya is not the only player doing well for Grant (3-2). John Kukawski, a second-team all-league catcher last year, is batting .600 with 3 doubles, 2 home runs and 9 runs batted in.

Kukawski also has reduced his strikeouts. Last season, he led the Lancers with 22, but this year he has only one in 15 at-bats.

Trading Davises: Saugus’ loss was Hart’s gain when shortstop Rob Davis transferred in the off-season. But in exchange for Davis, Saugus received a Davis of its own. Center fielder Darrell Davis, who transferred from Hart, has taken Rob Davis’ spot as the Centurions’ leadoff hitter. Through five games, Darrell Davis was batting .471 and had four stolen bases.

Bat boy returns: Third grade apparently is pretty rough stuff. Citing an increased academic workload, 8-year-old David Bolde “retired” as the Saugus bat boy last season. But assistant Bill Bolde brought his son with the team to the El Segundo tournament last week and the younger Bolde jumped at the chance to pick up after the slumping Centurions.

Saugus, which had managed only nine hits in its first two games, exploded for 47 hits and 36 runs for 3 consecutive wins, including a 17-3 trouncing of Alhambra in the ninth-place consolation final.

Now the Centurions want David Bolde back in the lineup full time.

“If we keep scoring runs like that,” Bill Bolde said. “We might reconsider.”

Sizzling Centurion: After going 2 for 9 to begin the season, Saugus’ Tom Dodson banged out nine consecutive hits, including two home runs, before being retired in his final two at-bats on Tuesday against Santa Clara. Dodson is batting .550 with a team-high nine RBIs.

The Centurions set school records with five home runs in a game and three in one inning against Miraleste in the El Segundo tournament last week.

Dodson, George Lopata and Chad Keene all hit home runs in a four-run second inning. Roger Salkeld and Mike Osment later added their first home runs of the season.

High hopes: Canyon had better hope that first-year Coach Rich Montanio brought with him the success he enjoyed at Chaminade.

Montanio coached at Chaminade for 12 years. His teams won four of the last six league championships and played in the Southern Section 1-A final in 1984.

This season, Canyon, which finished third in the Golden League last season, has new players at nearly every position.

“It’s new for me, it’s new for them,” Montanio said.

The Cowboys welcomed their new coach with a 12-2 win over La Salle to open the season. But Canyon lost to Hart, 14-4, on Tuesday.

McDonald’s Big Mac: Don MacLean, Simi Valley’s 6-10 All-American, has been selected to play in the Dapper Dan all-star game April 8 in Pittsburgh and the McDonald’s game April 17 in Albuquerque, N.M.

The games feature the nation’s best high school players. Fairfax’s Chris Mills and St. Anthony’s Darrick Martin also will compete. Mills has signed a letter of intent to attend Kentucky and Martin has signed with UCLA.

MacLean has said he will announce his college selection after the McDonald’s game. His choices are Georgia Tech, UCLA, UNLV, Pittsburgh and Kentucky.

State final: The state championship basketball games scheduled at College of the Canyons on Saturday feature a first in state play. Ripon Christian, a Division V school located near Modesto, is the first school to put both its boys’ and girls’ teams in the state final.

The girls play Avenal in the first game of the day at 2:45 p.m. and the boys play Calapatria at 4:30. In the Division IV games, Willows plays the Chowchilla girls at 6:15 m. and the Terra Linda boys play Washington Union of Fresno at 8.

Staff writers Tim Brown, Chris J. Parker and Vince Kowalick contributed to this notebook.