LOCAL NOTES: TAFT TO INVESTIGATE RECRUITING CLAIM.

Byline: Daily News

City Section Commissioner Barbara Fiege said she has received Van Nuys High School's allegation that football player David Melo was recruited by Taft.

Fiege said she forwarded the report, sent by Van Nuys principal Russ Thompson and others she declined to name, to Taft administrators, requesting they conduct their own investigation.

A Taft secretary said the administrators aren't due back at school until Monday.

Fiege said she hopes to have Taft's findings by Aug. 25. She then will make a determination whether or not the district's rules committee needs to consider the matter.

The next rules committee meeting is Aug. 26, but Fiege said she wasn't sure if the matter would be resolved in time. The following meeting won't be until September.

?13Lee Barnathan

Gibford makes it official: Chatsworth football coach Myron Gibford has announced his retirement after the upcoming season. Gibford submitted the paperwork for resignation and will leave his coaching and teaching duties on Jan. 31.

``That's it,'' said Gibford, who has been the subject of criticism by Chatsworth parents over the past few years. ``If I did decide to come back, my wife would kill me.''

Meanwhile, Gibford received good news Wednesday when quarterback Ryan Martinez decided against transferring to Westlake. Martinez, the subject of a quarterback controversy and a dispute involving parents the past two years, is the son of Chatsworth dean Ron Martinez. The younger Martinez decided against his father's advice and decided to return to Chatsworth. He attended practice on Wednesday and is penciled in as the Chancellors' starter. Martinez threw for 537 yards and five touchdowns in part-time duty last season.

Former Little League baseball star Matt Cassel is also competing for the job.

?13Gary Washburn

Sylmar wins: Matt Berkson from Harvard-Westlake knocked in David Lusk with the winning run in the eighth inning and the Sylmar Palomino team defeated North Carolina 4-3 in a first round World Series game in Greensboro, N.C.

Jared Mills pitched seven-plus innings of relief for the win and Mike Schultz was 2 for 4. Sylmar plays the East Zone winner today and 11:30 a.m. PDT.

The San Fernando Valley White Sox defeated Virginia 9-6 in the 13-and-under national championship in Riverside. Danny Dominguez hit a two-run homer. Brendan Bartholomew, Danny Mata and Jamie Mah hit solo homers.

Schaeffer promoted: Jon Schaeffer, a graduate of Harvard-Westlake who played for Stanford in the College World Series earlier this year, has been promoted from the Minnesota Twins' rookie league team in Elisabethton, Tenn., to New Britain, Conn., of the Double-A Eastern League. In just six weeks at Elisabethton, Schaeffer was batting .333 with 6 HR, 13 doubles and 34 RBI.

Olympic field hockey: Final selections to the U.S. Men's National Field hockey team were announced Wednesday in Colorado Springs, Colo. Ryan Langford of Camarillo joins previously selected Larry Amar, also of Camarillo; Shawn Hindy, Westlake Village; Binh Hoang, Westlake, and Jeff Horrocks of Newbury Park.