DAY IN SPORTS: NORTH HOLLYWOOD STAYS ON PACE.

Byline: Daily News

Saul De La Torre allowed one hit in six innings in North Hollywood's 1-0 victory over Poly of Sun Valley on Thursday in a Sunset Six League game at Poly.

With the victory, North Hollywood (5-3, 1-1) avoided falling two games behind Poly (4-6, 1-1), the two-time defending league champion, in the league race.

``It was exactly what we needed,'' said North Hollywood coach George Vranau, whose team is expected to battle Poly for the league title. ``If we fall 0-2 in league, we need some other team to help us out. Instead, we're even with one more game left to play against each other.''

De La Torre (1-0), making his first start of the season, wasn't especially dominating as he had just three strikeouts. However, the sophomore left-hander, who took a no-hitter into the sixth inning, got the Parrots to hit 12 ground balls and the defense backed him up.

Erick Melara, who took the loss for North Hollywood against Poly on Tuesday, pitched a perfect seventh inning for his first save of the season.

The Huskies failed to capitalize on several scoring opportunities but finally pushed across a run in the fifth inning. With runners on second and third with one out, Luis Casas hit a sacrifice fly to right, scoring De La Torre to put North Hollywood up 1-0.

Despite the loss, Poly might finally have found a quality No. 2 pitcher in Daniel Mercurio. The sophomore left-hander allowed one run on seven hits in 6 1/3 innings.

``My 10th grader was really focused out there,'' Poly coach Chuck Schwal said. ``He was simply outstanding. He's got the best movement of all my pitchers, including (ace pitcher) Eddie (Baeza).''

- Nevin Barich

In other prep baseball:

--Paraclete 3, Desert Christian 2: Cole Norton scored the game-winning run for host Paraclete (5-3) of Lancaster in the fifth inning on Jared Sammet's sacrifice fly in a first- round game at the Paraclete Tournament.

In prep softball:

--Verdugo Hills 6, Sylmar 0: Dina DePompa and Jessica McGivney each had three hits and two RBI and Danielle Burch pitched a complete-game two-hitter with six strikeouts for visiting Verdugo Hills (6-6) in a nonleague game.

--L.A. Baptist 8, Flintridge Prep 0: Katy Gustaverson pitched a no-hitter with 10 strikeouts for host L.A. Baptist of North Hills (6-2) in a nonleague game.

--Thousand Oaks 1, Newbury Park 0: With two outs in the bottom of the seventh, Chelsea Berthiaume's double scored Amy Pilkington with the game-winning run for host Thousand Oaks (4-4, 3-1). Chrissy Zappia had 12 strikeouts in the losing effort Newbury Park (2-8-1, 0-3).

Local notes:

--Herrington homecoming: Dean Herrington, previously an assistant football coach at Hart High of Newhall and Occidental College, has been hired as offensive coordinator at College of the Canyons.

``It was too good of a situation to pass up,'' said Herrington, a former quarterback at Hart. ``There's no disadvantages for me. It's close to my home and COC has one of the top programs around. I'm looking forward to the opportunity.''

--Attention prep baseball and softball coaches: Beginning Monday, March 25, the Daily News will be taking prep baseball and softball statistics every Monday from noon to 5 p.m. for the remainder of the baseball and softball seasons. Coaches and/or scorekeepers are encouraged to call in their stats during that time to [phone] or fax them to [phone].

PRIME-TIME PLAYERS

Prep baseball

--Wes Tom (Verdugo Hills) 2-4, HR, 2 RBI

--R.J. Johnson (L.A. Baptist) 12 strikeouts

Boys' golf

--Nick Geyer (Viewpoint) one-under par 33

--Taylor Neal (Westlake) even-par 71

Prep softball

--Chrissy Zappia (Newbury Park) 12 strikeouts

--Cassie Shires (Chatsworth) 8 strikeouts

--Shayne Lotito (Vasquez) 6 strikeouts, 2-2 HR, 2 RBI

--Anna Schnitger (Hoover) complete game one-hitter

CAPTION(S):

photo, box

Photo:

Infielder Miguel Gomez of Poly puts the tag on North Hollywood baserunner Hector Ramirez in the third inning of their game Thursday.

Joe Binoya/Special to the Daily News

Box:

PRIME TIME PLAYERS (see text)