PREP BASEBALL: CHATSWORTH PAYING TRIBUTE TO INJURED NO. 7.

Byline: Chris Branam Daily News Staff Writer

The Chatsworth High baseball players are wearing No. 7 on their hats in tribute to an injured teammate.

Senior second baseman Kevin O'Hara, who was looking forward to playing in the City Section 4-A championship at Dodger Stadium, instead will be on the bench. O'Hara broke the tip of a finger during the Chancellors' practice one week ago.

Using a different lineup and defense, Chatsworth won both playoff games last week and advanced to the 4-A title game Thursday against El Camino Real at Dodger Stadium.

O'Hara is sidelined for three more weeks.

``Kevin was a huge part of our team; he still is,'' said Danny Eisenberg, who moved from third base to second in the Chancellors' defensive shuffle.

Chatsworth coach Tom Meusborn, who used the same starting lineup in 90 percent of the Chancellors' games prior to O'Hara's injury, moved first baseman Matt Cassel to third. Scott Sellz is now playing first.

``We talked about adjusting to adversity,'' Meusborn said. ``They weren't going to let (O'Hara's injury) slow them down.''

The right place: Crescenta Valley sophomore second baseman Mark McCauley started the playoffs with an error on his very first chance. That was out of character for McCauley, the Pacific League Player of the Year who committed just four errors in the regular season.

McCauley ended the playoffs on a different note. He made a tremendous stop of Nick Gor's grounder and a quick flip to second base that started the Falcons' double play that ended the Southern Section Division I championship game, which Crescenta Valley won 7-1.

``I'm in the dugout thinking `Hit it to Mark,' '' said Falcons coach Phil Torres, ``because he will make the play.''

Change for the better: Third baseman John Barbaro, another Crescenta Valley sophomore, was finally put in the starting lineup by Torres near the end of the season at the urging of his assistants.

Barbaro had two doubles and two RBI in the final.

``We haven't lost since we put (Barbaro) in the lineup,'' Torres said.

Uneasy: Even though he didn't play like it, Westlake junior third baseman Kevin Howard said he didn't feel comfortable in the Warriors' 9-3 loss to West Covina South Hills in the Division III final Saturday at Dodger Stadium.

Howard drove in the Warriors' first two runs - his long sacrifice fly in the third tied the game at 2 - and he also made a beautiful diving stop to his right on a one-hop grounder off the bat of Ryan Smith in the seventh.

Still, the 6-foot-2, 165-pound Howard, said he and the rest of the team seemed to be nervous the entire game.

``The surroundings kind of got to us,'' he said. ``We wanted to win so bad, we didn't come out and play comfortable.''

Howard, who batted over .500 as a sophomore, struggled at the plate for most of the season. But a late surge lifted his average to .366. He had two homers and 23 RBI.

Hot sophomore: El Camino Real's Conor Jackson is making coach Mike Maio look like a prophet. Much was expected of Jackson, who had an outstanding American Legion season last summer, but he hadn't gotten a varsity at-bat with the Conquistadores as a freshman.

Maio started Jackson at third base and in the cleanup spot in the batting order in the season opener. Jackson has thrived as teams have pitched around All-City senior Woody Cliffords. Jackson's five RBI against Sylmar in the semifinals gave him 37 for the season.

USC connections: Crescenta Valley pitching coach Darrin Beer, who played at USC, was on edge when he watched the Trojans' 21-14 win over Arizona State on Saturday in the College World Series title game.

``I was more nervous about that game than I am for this one,'' Beer said prior to the Falcons' win over Esperanza later that day.

Beer remembered when the Trojans were beaten by Fresno State 17-12 in a Western Regional game.