No Games on Saturday

Due to disruptions (and lingering smoke) caused by the Topanga fire, all games scheduled for tomorrow have been postponed. Sunday's games, however, will be played as scheduled.

The Weekend Schedule

Malibu's varsity team will play on Saturday at 3:00 p.m. against Calabasas at Calabasas. The JV team plays on Sunday at 9:00 a.m. at Pepperdine against Monclair.

Back to Wednesday

Practice for the varsity fall ball team will be on Wednesday this week at 4:00 p.m. This will allow coaches the opportunity to go to Back to School Night on Thursday. (It will also allow players more time to surf on Thursday after the early out.)

Calabasas 4, Malibu 3

Malibu dropped the first game of the fall season to Calabasas on Saturday, 4-3. In spite of strong pitching performances by Colbie Bell, Jared Weinstock, Wesley Semkin, and Jacob Perrin, a series of defensive lapses leading to three unearned runs combined with a failure to get timely hits with runners in scoring position led to the loss.

Jace Dispenza hits for Malibu.

Leadoff hitter Greg Kernodle provided most of the offense for Malibu. Kernodle was 3-for-4 on the day. Weinstock, Perrin, and Nate Schoenbrun also had one hit each.

Jared Weinstock delivers in the fourth inning.

Stephen Williams awaits the play at first base.

Malibu returns to Calabasas for a rematch on Saturday at 3:00 p.m.

Jerseys

If you have a spare black jersey, please turn it in so incoming players will have one to use this fall. Coach Gallo will be at the field today at 1:00 and can redistribute jerseys then. Alternatively, you may bring whatever you've got to the first game. The uniform for both teams throughout the fall season is black caps, black jerseys, grey pants, and black socks. Washing the uniform occasionally would be a nice touch.

Schedule Change for Saturday

Saturday's varsity game will be at noon against Calabasas, not 3:00 p.m. as stated in yesterday's post. As a reminder, tomorrow's practice will be at 4:00 p.m.

For more schedule information, see the Westhills Baseball site here. (Please note: Schedule changes are a common occurrence during fall ball. We'll always post the latest schedule information available here.)

You've Got to Pay to Play

Just a reminder: If you haven't already paid your share of the fall baseball registration fee ($130 per player), please do so on Thursday. Checks may be made payable to Robert Williams.

Saturday at Calabasas

The first game of the fall season for the Malibu High varsity team will be 3:00 p.m. on Saturday, September 24, at Calabasas High.

The next practice will be on Thursday, September 22, at 4:00 p.m. Please note that school is out at 12:35 p.m. that afternoon.

Fall Schedules Coming

Westhills Baseball fall league schedules for both the varsity and junior varsity teams should be available Tuesday night. I'll post Malibu's schedules here within twenty-four hours. Complete schedules should also be available soon on the Westhills Baseball web site.

Meanwhile, workouts for the varsity team are scheduled for every Thursday afternoon at 3:30 p.m. (Stay tuned for an announcement about practice times on shortened days.) The junior varsity is working out every Friday after school until further notice.

Sunday at 4:00

That's when the next fall ball workout for the varsity team will be held. We'll be at Malibu High, as usual.

Back on the Field

Malibu's varsity fall ball team will practice tomorrow--August 24--at 4:00 p.m. on the field at MHS.

SID at MHS

Coach Paul Gallo has been named Sports Information Director at Malibu High School. Among his first contributions in the new position was the creation of a blog to make information about about all of Malibu High's sports readily available. You can find the new blog at http://sharkssports.blogspot.com. (I'll be adding a permanent link soon.)

Congratulations, Coach.

Fall Ball Preview

The fall baseball season is just around the corner. Once again, Malibu will have both JV and varsity teams competing in the Westhills high school program. The season begins the weekend of September 24-25 and continues through December 4-5. (No games will be played Thanksgiving weekend.)

This fall, Steve Weinstock and Robert Williams will be managing the varsity team. Justin Vititoe will manage the JV team.

Please check back soon for information about upcoming practices.

JV for the JV

Also from Coach Gallo comes word that Justin Vititoe, a 2003 graduate of Malibu High and the first baseman on the Sharks team that made it to the second round of the CIF playoffs, will be coaching the JV team in the West Hills Fall League. Welcome back, JV!

Van Soelen's Catch

I'm not sure why he's still bothering to watch the Dodgers on TV, but Coach Gallo was and he sends along this observation:

While watching the Dodgers-Mets telecast on the National Fox feed, Malibu Shark Jamie van Soelen was on catching a foul ball. And it wasn't live, it was such a good catch, it was shown on REPLAY. Sitting in the first row of the Loge section, about half way up the third base line, Jamie reached over the railing quite a way, and snatched the ball out of the air, getting the praise of Steve Lyons. He was then shown smiling with his girlfriend, as he admired the ball. NICE CATCH!!!

Way to go, Jamie!

From the Archive: 1999 MLL Diamondbacks

Here's one from the archives. Anchoring the ends of the front row in this photo of the 1999 Malibu Little League Diamondbacks are current Sharks players Stephen Williams and Jared Weinstock.

The Diamondbacks seem to have been missing a few players on Picture Day. But on game day these guys came to play!

The End of the Break

After almost three weeks without blogging, I'm back. There's some catching up to do on the American Legion season. I'll try to post some season stats sometime in the next week.

Also coming up is some information on fall ball. Look for news about a couple of August workouts followed by information on the West Hills Fall League. Once again Malibu will have two teams--JV and varsity--in West Hills' league.

Summer Vacation Begins

The American Legion season ended for Malibu today with a 5-1 loss to Santa Monica in the regional playoffs. Brooks Fitch pitched seven strong innings for Malibu, but got almost no run support just one day after a 23-run explosion against Templeton. Daniel Williams and Jamie Van Soelen ended the tournament in the cheap seats after being ejected in separated incidents midway through the game.

Legion Playoff Update

After losing to Covina on Thursday by a score of 6-4, Malibu rebounded today with a 23-5 win over Templeton in the American Legion regional tournament. Jason Puklus, who hit a first-inning homerun against Covina, had one of two grand slams for Malibu against Templeton. Brooks Fitch had the other one when he came to the plate as the fourth batter of the game for Malibu.

Malibu plays next at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday. All remaining games in the regional tournament will be played at Jackie Robinson Stadium at UCLA.

Legion Playoff Schedule

Malibu plays Covina on Thursday, July 21, at 11:00 a.m. in the first round of the American Legion playoffs. The game will be at Reeder Field on the campus of Cal State-LA.

The winner of Thursday's game plays at 2:00 p.m. on Friday at UCLA. The loser will play at 10:00 a.m., also at UCLA.

Batting practice will be on Wednesday at 10:00 a.m. at Malibu High.