Maki Kramer

Maki Kramer was just doing what he was told. He didn't expect a knife in his back. As a K mart rookie stock boy, he didn't know his job included chasing down armed shoplifters. Now Kramer is just hoping his back wound heals enough so he can pitch for Westlake-Royal in the American Legion Area 6 playoffs this week. "I'm planning on playing," Kramer said. "I'm going to keep (the stitches) in to pitch so the cut doesn't bust open."

Maki Kramer walked off the mound after pitching the first inning and searched the dugout for painkillers to quell the ache in his right shoulder. Who could blame him? He hadn't pitched in two weeks, not since he had been stabbed in the back below his right shoulder after he wrestled a shoplifter to the ground, an act well beyond the call of duty for a rookie stock boy at the local Kmart. "I just thought I was doing my job," he said.

Maki Kramer walked off the mound after pitching the first inning and searched the dugout for painkillers to quell the ache in his right shoulder. Who could blame him? He hadn't pitched in two weeks, not since he had been stabbed in the back below his right shoulder after he wrestled a shoplifter to the ground, an act well beyond the call of duty for a rookie stock boy at the local Kmart. "I just thought I was doing my job," he said.

Maki Kramer was just doing what he was told. He didn't expect a knife in his back. As a K mart rookie stock boy, he didn't know his job included chasing down armed shoplifters. Now Kramer is just hoping his back wound heals enough so he can pitch for Westlake-Royal in the American Legion Area 6 playoffs this week. "I'm planning on playing," Kramer said. "I'm going to keep (the stitches) in to pitch so the cut doesn't bust open."

Gail Castro of Glendale and partner Deb Richardson will meet Dennie Knoop of Topanga Canyon and Elaine Roque today at the U.S. Olympic beach volleyball trials in Baltimore to determine the final berth on the Olympic team. Castro, from Crescenta Valley High and Valley College, and Richardson, defeated Janice Harrer and Gayle Stammer, 15-4, in a losers' bracket match Saturday.

Area players selected in the Major League Baseball Amateur Draft. Boldface denotes players who have signed contracts. Information on players drafted beyond the 10th round was provided by players and scouts. *--* NAME SCHOOL POS.

JETHAWKS Josh Watts of the JetHawks will begin serving a two-game suspension today. The California League office handed down the sentence because Watts threw his helmet and it landed in the stands in a game on June 24. * Former Rio Mesa High standout Mike Mitchell appears to have shaken off any effects from a recent automobile accident. He singled home the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes' first run in the sixth inning Friday night against the JetHawks.

The battle for second place--the real race in the Marmonte League this season--has finally been won. Newbury Park High survived a seventh-inning rally by host Royal on Wednesday to escape with a 5-4 victory that assured the Panthers (16-8, 11-2 in league play) of a second-place finish. Royal (14-9, 9-4), which has clinched third, dropped two games behind Newbury Park with one to play.

The Lancaster JetHawks failed to cash in Jason Regan's 17th home run and leadoff hitter Joe Mathis' three runs batted in and lost, 6-5, in a California League game at High Desert on Saturday night. The JetHawks led, 5-4, on Regan's bases-empty shot in the fifth inning, but the Mavericks came back with a run-scoring single by Ron Hartman in the seventh and an RBI-double by Jamie Gann in the eighth to win for the second day in a row. * Tonight's game: JetHawks (Ivan Montane, 0-8, 7.

Westlake-Royal players joked that it would have been nice if right-hander Maki Kramer could have pitched two complete games in the Area 6 American Legion playoffs Sunday. Unfortunately for Westlake-Royal, the rules stopped Kramer before his arm or the Arcadia hitters did. Arcadia beat Westlake-Royal, 7-5, in the Area 6 championship game at UCLA's Jackie Robinson Stadium, but only after Kramer beat Arcadia, 10-5, earlier Sunday to send the double-elimination playoffs to a final game.

When the Hangar's public address announcer told Friday night's crowd that Ken Griffey Jr. had hit three home runs in Toronto, giving him a major-league record of 13 in April, JetHawk pitching coach Jim Slaton turned to right-hander Aaron Scheffer. "Scheff, you're the one who got him hot," Slaton told the pitcher. "He's having a good season because of you." Scheffer gave up two line drives--a single and a double--to Griffey in the Mariners' exhibition game in Lancaster on March 30.