Amber Willard
LA CRESCENTA -- Crescenta Valley High School baseball coach Phil
Torres is hoping a guilty conscience will result in the return of a
stolen piece of the team's equipment.
"We worked the last Fourth of July selling hot dogs to pay for it,"
Torres said of the navy blue windscreen, which was taken Saturday or
Sunday from the school.
The windscreen, which looks like a giant tarp, hangs from a fence
behind practicing pitchers to help the catchers see the baseballs as they
are hurled. The windscreen was in the bullpen, the school's only
baseball-related practice area -- the team usually plays and practices at
Stengel Field in La Crescenta.
"It would've taken two people to get it down and out of there," Torres
said of the 36-foot-wide by 12-foot-high plastic backdrop. "They knew
what they were stealing."
The windscreen, which cost about $450, had been secured to the fence
along the east side of the track since February, Torres said.
"It's a constant battle to keep our equipment locked up," Torres said
of the various locations the team stores its items, adding this is not
the first piece to be stolen, but is one of the most expensive. "It's
disappointing that it happened at school."
A report of the theft was filed at the Crescenta Valley Sheriff's
Station and is being investigated, officials said.
"Hopefully, somebody saw something," Torres said.
Torres said he just wants the windscreen returned, either to the
school or to police.
"Otherwise, we'll have to figure out something to replace it,," he
said.
Anyone with information about the theft can call the Sheriff's Station
at 248-3464.
