HIGH SCHOOL NOTEBOOK : Brown Steps Into Record Book

Leonice Brown might never be hailed as one of the greatest athletes to come out of San Fernando High, but his 21.2-second clocking in the 200 meters in the Northwest Valley Conference track and field meet Wednesday tied the school record held by Kevin Williams, one of the Tigers’ all-time greats.

Williams, whose 1975 time of 21.3 for 220 yards converts to 21.2 for 200 meters, is one of the top athletes to come out of a school that produced Anthony Davis and Charles White, among others.

Williams rushed for 2,366 yards during his three-year career at San Fernando, including 1,482 yards as a senior in 1975 when the Tigers won their second consecutive City Section title. He also won the 1975 state title in the 100-yard dash, running 9.4.

Brown’s time, turned in at Birmingham High, also made him the fastest 200 sprinter in his extended family.

Big deal you say?

It is when Charles White is your half-brother and Russell White is your nephew.

Charles White, the 1979 Heisman Trophy winner for USC, won the 1976 City Section 330-yard low hurdles in 36.0, a national high school record at the time.

Russell White rushed for a state-record 5,998 yards during his three-year career at Crespi and placed second in the triple jump in the 1987 state championships and third in 1989 as a senior.

He holds the Valley-area record in the event at 50 feet 6 inches, and, until Wednesday, he was the family record-holder in the 200, having run a fully automatic 21.47 in 1989.

Brown’s hand-timed 21.2 converts to a fully automatic 21.44, however, making Russell No. 2 on the all-time family list.

Pioneer power: Five players from Simi Valley’s 1986 team, which finished 26-4 and was ranked No. 1 in the nation during the season by USA Today, currently are playing professional baseball and three others are playing college baseball.

Pitcher Scott Radinsky is entering his second season with the Chicago White Sox, catcher Tim Laker is with the Montreal Expos’ Class-A team in West Palm Beach, Fla., second baseman Dave Milstien is with the Boston Red Sox’s double-A team in New Britain, Conn., shortstop Mike Hankins is with the New York Yankees’ Class-A team in Prince William, Va., and center fielder Shaun Murphy is playing with the Expos’ Class-A team in Rockford, Ill. A sixth player, right fielder Duane Mulville, recently was released by the Cincinnati Reds organization.

Playing at the college level are first baseman Scott Sharts (Cal State Northridge), left fielder Corey Aurand (USC), and catcher Marcus Lockwood (UC Davis), who was a backup to Laker.

Add Pioneers: Sophomore pitcher Bill Treadway is a distant cousin of Jeff Treadway, an infielder with the Atlanta Braves.

Nose to the grindstone: Twenty games into Crespi’s season, the team leader in innings pitched is a surprise. Neither super sophomore Jeff Suppan nor ace reliever Ryan Staley have pitched more than little-known sidearm-throwing junior Phillip Aghajanian.

Aghajanian’s 49 1/3 innings lead all Celt pitchers and Crespi Coach Scott Muckey could not be happier about it. After senior pitcher Rick Marino was suspended from the team last week, the Celts needed another starter and Aghajanian stepped to the fore.

“I didn’t think they were ever going to let him out there,” Muckey said of Aghajanian’s chances for mound time early in the season. “But then, early in the season, he started doing an awful lot of dirty work for us that kept us alive. That’s why he’s getting all the innings. He never wants to come out now.”

Aghajanian rarely needs to come out. He has a team-high 13 appearances, his 4-1 record is the best on the team and he boasts a respectable 3.26 earned-run average.

Fallen Crusaders: Village Christian broke from its nonleague baseball season with a 6-2-1 record and a win over highly rated Southern Section 1-A Division school Whittier Christian.

Seven games into its Alpha League schedule, Village Christian is winless in league play.

What happened?

Put simply, Coach Mike Henzie said, the Crusaders are not hitting. They’re swinging, but they’re not hitting.

Last year, Village Christian batted .353 and rolled to the 1-A championship game. With such key players as Matt Smay, Matt Henzie and Mark Vail returning, a bright season seemed to be in the offing.

But this year’s team is batting .240.

“Baseball is such a head game anyway,” Henzie said. “And this whole thing has built upon itself. It’s almost become defensive.”

Do they still have their fans?

“Fans?” Henzie asked. “We are a fan.”

Cardinal woes: Santa Paula’s bid to win its first baseball playoff game in 50 years is meeting with some obstacles. Last week, ace pitcher Pete Alamillo suffered a hairline fracture in his ankle.

This week, with an important game against Calabasas (7-8-1, 3-6-1 in league play) today, the third-place Cardinals (5-10, 4-5) could sew up the Frontier League’s No. 3 playoff berth with a win.

They will have to do so, however, shorthanded. First baseman Darin Grant is suffering from a stress fracture in his ankle, and starting catcher Freddie Torres has an ankle injury of undetermined severity.

“Freddie is a tough, tough guy,” Santa Paula Coach Mark Magdaleno said. “And if he absolutely had to, he could maybe put on the gear for Friday. But we’re hurting.”

Stepping up: Poly’s Robert Iglesias, a sophomore who was brought up from the junior varsity during the Holt-Willis tournament last month, has stepped into the Parrot lineup and become a permanent fixture as an outfielder/designated-hitter on an already talented team.

Although Coach Jerry Cord has been pleased with Iglesias’ numbers (.389, seven for 18 at the start of the week), he is quick to point out that there are more such players waiting in the wings.

“He’s a talented sophomore, but actually we have three sophomores that could do the same job,” Cord said.

Cord expects to bring up sophomores Pedro Castillanos (.333) and Danny Martinez (.432) from the junior varsity in the next two weeks for the playoffs.

Playing the field: Crescenta Valley Coach Tony Zarrillo had no doubts that freshman David Fielder had the ability to play on the varsity.

The question was where.

Fielder began the season as a reserve, then played left field before moving to right field and behind the plate. His latest destination is third base and it is likely to be his final destination.

“We think we finally found his place,” Zarrillo said. “He’s staying at third for the rest of the season. He’s the missing link to the infield. There are certain things he does you can’t teach and coach.”

R & R: Andy Gavel, Paraclete’s co-coach in baseball, usually needs a couple of hours to unwind after a game and he usually does it at a sports bar in Lancaster where he often meets up with other coaches.

“It’s the hot spot,” Gavel said. “During football season, you can see the whole Quartz Hill coaching staff. You can hear rumors left and right on what jobs are open and who is transferring where and who is transferring from your school.”

Gavel, however, has his own reasons for visiting the bar.

“They have a big TV and four little ones,” he said. “You can watch the Boston Bruins and the Pittsburgh Penguins and sit back and crank up the rock ‘n’ roll.”

Staff writers Kirby Lee, Paige A. Leech, Brian Murphy, John Ortega and Jeff Riley contributed to this notebook.