BASEBALL NOTEBOOK: EVEN .400 HITTER CAN IMPROVE.Byline: Sean Ceglinsky Staff Writer Matt Valaika was one of the more consistent hitters for the Hart High baseball team during the high school season, batting Batting has several meanings:
His coach, Jim Ozella, thinks otherwise. ``This might sound funny, but we're not satisfied,'' he said. Improving is a word that figures to be used plenty this summer by Ozella and his coaching staff. In fact, wins and losses in the Valley Invitational in·vi·ta·tion·al adj. Restricted to invited participants: an invitational golf tournament. n. An event, especially a sports tournament, restricted to invited participants. Adj. 1. Baseball League aren't desired. Improvement is. Hart (2-1) plays at Canyon on Thursday and then will play host to Crespi of Encino and Granada Hills on Saturday and Sunday Sunday: see Sabbath; week. , respectively. ``Sure, it'd be nice to win,'' Ozella said. ``Would we like to win every game? Yeah. But we want to get better, above all else. That's our goal. Get better in any possible way, mentally, physically, whatever it takes in all phases of the game.'' And that goes for Valaika, too. ``He has to get stronger,'' Ozella said. ``He needs to get a better understanding of the strike zone. And he has to work on his bunting bunting, common name for small, plump birds of the family Fringillidae (finch family). Among the American buntings are the indigo bunting, in which the summer plumage of the male reflects sunlight as a rich, metallic blue; the painted bunting, or nonpareil ( . We don't want him to be satisfied. There's always room to improve.'' --New skipper skipper: see butterfly. skipper Any of some 3,000 lepidopteran species (family Hesperiidae) named for their fast (up to 20 mph, or 30 kph), darting flight. : The George Lopata era has begun at Saugus. Lopata has taken over the head-coaching duties this summer, replacing Casey Burrill, who was with the Centurions for the past four seasons but will coach at new West Ranch ranch, large farm devoted chiefly to raising and breeding cattle, horses, sheep, and goats. The cattle ranch was introduced from Latin America to Texas and the plains of the W United States and Canada. High in nearby Stevenson Ranch Stevenson Ranch, California (in the 91381 ZIP Code) is a Los Angeles County, USA, unincorporated community west of Santa Clarita a few miles south of Six Flags Magic Mountain amusement park. The Stevenson Ranch fountain was redone in 2007. . ``That program is in good hands,'' Burrill said. ``It's a great feeling to leave the team to Mr. Centurion.'' Lopata's first order of business is to make sure Thomas (language) Thomas - A language compatible with the language Dylan(TM). Thomas is NOT Dylan(TM). The first public release of a translator to Scheme by Matt Birkholz, Jim Miller, and Ron Weiss, written at Digital Equipment Corporation's Cambridge Research Laboratory runs Milone continues to improve. The left-hander will get plenty of work in the VIBL and is expected to be the ace of the pitching staff in the fall. ``Milone leads by example,'' Lopata said. ``He goes about his business and puts in the extra time. That is going to pay off.'' Saugus (2-1) resumes VIBL play tonight against visiting Oaks Christian of Westlake Village followed by a home game against Simi Valley Simi Valley (sē`mē, sĭm`ē), city (1990 pop. 100,217), Ventura co., SW Calif. in an oil, fruit, and farm region; laid out 1887, inc. 1969. on Thursday. --Burrill update: West Ranch High is a long way from being on the baseball map, but that hasn't stopped Burrill from going forward with planning for the future. Burrill and his assistants - Jason Priske, Brad Fogel and Dawin Smock - held their first practice Monday and were pleasantly surprised when 29 players turned out, most of whom were freshmen. West Ranch opens in the fall, and Burrill is eager to establish some traditions over the summer. ``We saw some things that were very encouraging and we're going to build on that,'' he said. ``We're starting from scratch so we're going to have to start a team with all freshmen. The good things is they'll have four years of varsity experience when they are seniors.'' Sean Ceglinsky, (818) 713-3607 sean.ceglinsky(at)dailynews.com CAPTION(S): photo Photo: Left-hander Thomas Milone is expected to be the ace of the Saugus High pitching staff this fall. Gene Blevins/Special to the Daily News |
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