I know for some of you, I’m too obsessed with releaguing. But I thought I’d dig out this proposal I came up with a few weeks ago on my own (although it could match up with one of the many dozens of proposals out there). I’d like to hear what you think about the winning proposal, and whether Glendora, Rowland, South Hills and Charter Oak have legitimate beefs.

Parentheses are differences in the two leagues

BASELINE LEAGUE

Winning-6 teams: Alta Loma, Etiwanda, Los Osos, Rancho Cucamonga, Upland, (Glendora)

My proposal-6 teams: Alta Loma, Etiwanda, Los Osos, Rancho Cucamonga, Upland, (Damien/St. Lucy’s)

SIERRA LEAGUE

Winning proposal-6 teams: Ayala, Chino HIlls, Claremont, South Hills, (Damien/St. Lucy’s, Charter Oak)

My proposal-6 teams: Ayala, Chino Hills, Claremont, South Hills, (Glendora, Diamond Ranch)

MIRAMONTE/SAN ANTONIO

Winning proposal-7 teams: Bonita, Diamond Bar, Los Altos, Walnut, West Covina (Diamond Ranch, Rowland)

My proposal-6 teams: Bonita, Diamond Bar, Los Altos, Walnut, West Covina (Charter Oak)

MT. BALDY LEAGUE

Winning proposal and my proposal-7 teams: Chaffey, Colony, Don Lugo, Ontario, Garey, Montclair, Chino

VALLE VISTA LEAGUE

winning proposal-7 teams: Baldwin Park, Covina, Nogales, Northview, Pomona, San Dimas, Hacienda Heights Wilson

My proposal-8 teams: Baldwin Park, Covina, Nogales, Northview, Pomona, San Dimas, Hacienda Heights Wilson, (Rowland)

MONTVIEW LEAGUE

winning proposal and my proposal-8 teams: Azusa, Bassett, Duarte, Gladstone, La Puente, Sierra Vista, Workman, Ganesha

Although possibly not completely satisfying them, appealing schools Rowland, Charter Oak and Glendora would likely prefer my proposal. The other appealing school, South Hills, would not be helped by my proposal, and Diamond Ranch and the Chaffey district would not be happy, among others.

Even in Lancaster, an 8-1 lead in the ninth inning should be safe, right? Apparently not for the Quakes.

The JeHawks rallied for seven in the ninth, with Koby Clemens hitting a pinch-hit three-run double and Jonathan Gaston hit a game-tying two-run homer. Then in the 10th, Clemens hit a walk-off three-run homer against Sammy Leon (1-2) for an improbable 11-8 Lancaster victory. The Quakes actually led 8-0 until Lancaster got one run in the bottom of the eighth.

Nearly lost in the performance was six shutout innings by Quakes starter Jayson Miller, making his Cal League debut.

The Sixers, meanwhile tied the score on a Scott Van Slyke RBI single in the top of the eighth, but Lance Zawadzki’s three-run homer in the bottom of the eighth gave Lake Elsinore a 6-3 victory at The Diamond.

This is the new league alignment as passed by Mt. SAC Area prinicpals at Tuesday’s releaguing meeting:

Baseline League
Alta Loma
Etiwanda
Glendora
Los Osos
Rancho Cucamonga
Upland

Sierra League
Ayala
Charter Oak
Chino Hills
Claremont
Damien/St. Lucy’s
South Hills

Miramonte/San Antonio League
Bonita
Diamond Bar
Diamond Ranch
Los Altos
Rowland
Walnut
West Covina

Mt. Baldy League
Chaffey
Chino
Colony
Don Lugo
Garey
Montclair
Ontario

Valle Vista League
Baldwin Park
Covina
Nogales
Northview
Pomona
San Dimas
Hacienda Heights Wilson

Montview League
Azusa
Bassett
Duarte
Ganesha
Gladstone
La Puente
Sierra Vista
Workman

Someone was going to be unhappy, and it turns out it is Glendora and South Hills. I firmly believe that Damien/St. Lucy’s was a better fit competitive-equity wise for the Baseline League, but the Chaffey district schools blocked that possibility. Glendora wanted relief from the Sierra League, only to be placed in a tougher league.

Glendora will likely appeal on competitive equity grounds, as Glendora officials repeatedly said as the school’s name kept being mentioned in the Baseline League.

South Hills’ issue is more with geography, and transportation costs that would rise. But, competitive equity has been determined to be the No. 1 criteria. South Hills should be able to compete in the Sierra League, which it is under the new plan.

Just like there are a lot of schools that don’t want to be in the same league as Damien/St. Lucy’s, there are also a lot to the west that don’t want to be in the same league as South Hills. Last time that happened, it was 8 years ago, and South Hills’ fellow Covina Valley schools Covina and Northview wanted to be separated from South Hills, after the trio had been together in the Valle Vista League.

This might not be quite done, but kudos go out to the hard work of the ad hoc committee members to satisfy many different people. A lot of it came down to politics.

The vote to decide the high school leagues alilgnment for the Mt. SAC Area takes place Tuesday at 2 p.m. at Diamond Bar High School.

The two proposals (as mentioned in a previous post) are up for vote. If neither gets 2/3 of the vote, other proposals can be heard.

I’m hearing there is some support for a five-team Baseline League. Not from the other Baseline League schools mind you (the Baseline League prefers 6 or 7 schools), but from other schools who have been placed there in various relgeaguing aliignments. None of them feel like they’re a good fit for the rest of the Baseline schools (Alta Loma, Etiwanda, Los Osos, Rancho Cucamonga and Upland) and others may agree.

We will see. Of course, there is time for appeals because this won’t take place until the fall of 2010.

It’s kind of hard to know where to start with Friday’s epic Quakes  13-9 victory over the 66ers, with all the odd, strange, and ugly plays.

Actually, let’s start with who 66ers broadcaster Mike Saeger chose as his star of the game, Quakes official scorer Chris Watts, because of the number of bizarre, unusual plays and six combined errors.

As for who won, the Quakes scored four runs in the bottom of the eighth to pull out a 13-9 victory. With the score tied 9-9, Clay Fuller singled with one out, went to second on a wild pitch and went to third on Andrew Romine’s infield single. Then, Matt Sweeney hit a grounder to first. Sixers first baseman Eduardo Perez tried to come home but threw wildly, scoring Fuller with the go-ahead run and putting runners on second and third. Julio Perez doubled home two runs to make it 12-9, then he scored when he stole third and catcher Alex Garabedian’s throw ended up in left field.

The Sixers went meekly in the ninth.

Here’s how the see-saw game went: 66ers led 2-0, then Quakes tied it 2-2. Quakes took a 5-2 lead, and the Sixers tied it, 5-5. Quakes took a 6-5 lead in the bottom of the third, which held up until the top of the seventh. That’s when the Sixers scored two to take a 7-6 lead. The Quakes came back to score three and take a 9-7 lead, only to watch the Sixers tie it, 9-9 before the Quakes finally took the lead for good in the bottom of the eighth.

In the game, there were six errors (four Sixers, two Quakes), including one where Quakes second baseman P.J. Phillips literally kicked a single to right all the way into the right-field bullpen for a two-base error.

There were four wild pitches, a run-scoring balk, two batters hit by pitches, nine walks, 20 strikeouts, two plays that were recorded as caught stealing but had no outs recorded, and a multitide of poor decisions by baserunners or fielders. There were 22 runs scored in the game, but only 16 RBIs.

The Sixers actually out-hit the Quakes, 13-12, with Preston Mattingly (4-for-5, three runs), Trayvon Robinson (3-for-5, two runs) and Pedro Baez (3-for-3, two RBI) leading the way. No Quake had more than two hits, but Matt Sweeney and Julio Perez each went 2-for-4 with three runs and two RBI.

The Sixers were 11-for-21 in the 1st, third, seventh and eighth innings, and 2-for-16 with no runs in the other five innings.

Almost lost in the game was the impressive end to an otherwise forgettable outing by Sixers starter Chris Withrow.

After allowing six runs in the first three innings, Withrow came out for the fourth (and what turned out to be his last) inning and retired the side in order, striking out three Quakes (Alberto Rosario, Phillips and Fuller) on 10 total pitches.

Quakes starter Robert Fish, after throwing 27 pitches in the first inning, needed only  five to retire the Sixers in order in the second inning.

Oh, and I nearly forgot, because it doesn’t show up in the box score. But in the third inning, after hitting what appeared to be a two-run double to tie the score 5-5, the Sixers’ Scott Van Slyke was called out. Why? It appeared to be because he passed the runner on first, Pedro Baez, before making it to second. Instead it’s a two-run single and Van Slyke was out for the second out.

All in all, a bizarre game, but one that could be topped at some point this season in a league known for wild and crazy games.

Both the 66ers and Quakes had rough games on Wednesday, although the Sixers had more to do with the final result and the Quakes with how they lost it.

The Sixers’ loss was by a 14-3 score at Lancaster. In that game, two Lancasters hit three home runs apiece: Jonathan Gaston and Brian Pelligrini. Gaston went 4-for-5 with three runs and five RBI and Pelligrini was 3-for-5 with three runs and four RBI.

The Quakes lost 9-4 at home to Visalia to drop to 2-5 on the season with their fifth straight loss. Here’s some of that ugliness:

• The Quakes blew a 4-1 lead by giving up eight unanswered runs
• Seven of Visalia’s nine runs were unearned, thanks to four Quakes errors
• The Rawhide managed only four hits in the game, including just one during a six-run eighth when the Quakes walked four, made three errors, and had a passed ball.
• The Quakes walked 10 batters in the game
• In the three-game sweep by the Rawhide, the Quakes committed 11 errors.
• Quakes outfielder Anthony Norman pitched the last 1 1/3 innings, and was effective, not allowing a run, although he walked three.
• Quakes closer Mason Tobin left the game in the eighth with an apparent injury.

Nearly 12 years after leading Damien High School to a CIF-SS baseball title at Anaheim Stadium, Chris Jakubauskas is in the big leagues.

And on Wednesday, the 30-year-old Jakubauskas, a reliever with the Seattle Mariners, made his big-league debut. Jakubauskas pitched two shutout innings, allowing one hit and one walk while striking out two in the Mariners’ 6-5 loss to the Minnesota Twins. Jakubauskas put an exclaimation point on the outing, by picking off Twins veteran Michael Cuddyer off second base to end the seventh inning.

I knew he had the talent back in high school, when he homered in that CIF championship game. But back then, he was considered more of a hitter than a pitcher. Getting to the big leagues after toiling in independent ball for a long time, is a testament to his hard work and perserverance. Congratulations to him.

It’s down to 2 proposals, but might not be limited to two, for releaguing the Mt. SAC Area in the high schools. There will be plenty of politicking over the next few weeks about which of the two proposals to vote for. If they can’t get a 2/3 vote by the 42 principals in the area on one of the two, then other proposals will be considered.

Sticking points that my be an issue at the principal’s meeting April 21:

1) The Baseline League wants Glendora and not Damien/St. Lucy’s, to join their league.

2) One proposal has Covina Charter Oak in the Sierra League. Charter Oak contends that works for baseball and maybe 1 or 2 other sports, but isn’t a good match overall.

3) The red proposal has too many five-team leagues to pass, is my guess

4) Damien/St. Lucy’s is an unpopular school tandem to have in a league, but others have issues with Diamond Ranch and/or West Covina South Hills, for various reasons, too.

5) Do people prefer the 6 or 7 league proposal?

Here are the proposals (note: Mt. Baldy, Valle Vista and Montview are the same in the 2 proposals)

RED (7 LEAGUES) *-changed from existing

Baseline(5): Alta Loma, Etiwanda, Los Osos, Rancho Cucamonga, Upland

Sierra (5): Ayala, Chino Hills, Damien/St. Lucy’s, D. Ranch*, Glendora

Mt. Baldy (7): Chaffey, Chino*, Colony, Don Lugo, Garey, Montclair, Ontario

Miramonte (5): Bonita, Charter Oak, Claremont*, Los Altos, S. Hills*

San Antonio(5): Diamond Bar*, Nogales, Rowland, Walnut, West Covina

Valle Vista(6): Baldwin Park, Covina, Northview, Pomona, San Dimas, Wilson*

Montview (8): Azusa, Bassett, Duarte, Ganesha*, Gladstone, La Puente, Sierra Vista, Workman 

BLUE (6 LEAGUES) *-changed from existing

Baseline(6): Alta Loma, Etiwanda, Los Osos, Rancho Cucamonga, Upland, Damien/St. Lucy’s*

Sierra (7): Ayala, Chino Hills, Charter Oak*, Claremont*, Diamond Ranch*, Glendora, S. Hills*

Mt. Baldy (7): Chaffey, Chino*, Colony, Don Lugo, Garey, Montclair, Ontario

San Antonio(7): Bonita*, Diamond Bar*, Los Altos* Nogales, Rowland, Walnut, West Covina

Valle Vista(6): Baldwin Park, Covina, Northview, Pomona, San Dimas, Wilson*

Montview (8): Azusa, Bassett, Duarte, Ganesha*, Gladstone, La Puente, Sierra Vista, Workman