Columnist Ron Kantowski: Legion’s Leary was tops in the morning

Wednesday, Aug. 17, 2005 | 9:44 a.m.

Ron Kantowski is a Las Vegas Sun sports writer. Reach him at ron@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4088.

After recording the last out in Sierra Vista's 6-1 victory against the Kalani Falcons of Honolulu in Monday's American Legion Western Regional championship game, Lions pitcher Drew Leary clenched his fist and immediately looked for a place to lie down.

It might have been because he was pitching on just two days' rest. Or it might have been because Monday's game started at the rude hour of 8:30 a.m.

That's right, 8:30. In the morning. For those scoring at home -- or rolling over in bed at home -- that's 6:30 a.m. Hawaii-Aleutian Standard Time. No wonder the visitors had toothpicks holding their eyelids open.

I'm not saying that 8:30 is a little early to be playing baseball, but every bleacher seat at Lied Field on the CCSN campus in Henderson came with a complimentary copy of USA Today and a Do Not Disturb sign while two morning doves and a robin chirped the national anthem.

When the home plate umpire bellowed "Play Ball!" it was more like a wake-up call than a command to begin the game.

Heavy rain that washed out part of Sunday's schedule combined with limited access to Rapid City, S.D., site of this year's American Legion World Series, which gets under way Friday, forced Sierra Vista to win back-to-back games on Monday to remain alive, then get up to make the donuts on Tuesday.

Actually, it was more a case of getting up to watch Drew Leary throw donuts. He put eight of them on the board in a complete-game performance that enabled Sierra Vista to claim its second major championship of the year at the House That Chambers (Tim, the CCSN baseball coach) Built. Sierra Vista, in just its fourth year of existence, won the high school state baseball championship on the very same diamond in May.

Leary also was the winning pitcher in that game, throwing a five-hit shutout against Centennial. On Tuesday, he scattered seven hits.

Although both efforts were equally satisfying, Leary didn't hesitate when asked which was more difficult. He said he couldn't recall even getting up at 8:30 recently, much less pitching a complete game at that hour.

"I stay up really, really late in summertime," said Leary, a strapping 6-foot-3, 210-pound right-hander who left Saturday's game against Hawaii with a 6-2 lead, only to watch it evaporate during an eight-run, eighth-inning rally that saw the Islanders post a 10-7 win and knock Sierra Vista into the losers bracket.

But Leary said he was under the covers by 10 p.m. Monday, so he appeared relatively bright-eyed while throwing his warm-up pitches.

He didn't get bushy-tailed, however, until the fifth inning, when he allowed four hits and Hawaii's only run but pitched out of a no-out, bases-loaded jam by getting a pop fly and a double-play grounder.

"I just wanted to throw strikes. I know our defense is going to back me up if I can get a popup or a ground ball," said Leary, who wasn't blowing smoke, either figuratively or literally, as he walked one and struck out just three in letting his teammates make the routine plays behind him.

With Leary throwing everything between the knees and letters, the morning dew on the outfield grass barely had time to dry as the game was completed, Las Vegas 51s take note, in a snappy 2 hours, 2 minutes.

And so now Sierra Vista heads for the Black Hills of South Dakota hoping to mount Rushmore -- although they've been playing the American Legion World Series since 1925, a representative from Southern Nevada has never won. Las Vegas Post 8 finished second in 1986 and again in 1993, but otherwise, there have been more Legion errors than runs and hits for local qualifiers.

In that Sierra Vista had to win five games in six days just to get out its road atlas, and that third baseman Chris Carter, its best player, has signed with the White Sox and is swinging the bat for Class A Bristol, it's conceivable the Lions' chances to win it all may turn to stone.

But their coach said it just as easily could be a monumental weekend.

By next Tuesday, Levi Gill is hoping the four biggest faces in the Black Hills won't be Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt, but those of Leary and Sierra Vista's three Justins -- pitchers Justin Baca, Justin Garcia and Justin Mettelka.

"The way things have been going," Gill said with a chuckle about the thought of his pitching staff being cast in stone, "that could work."