The Tampa Tribune from Tampa, Florida • 44

8-NW NORTHWEST TRIBUNE. Monday, February 22, 1982 utch Garcia A Coach's Dream For Leto 6.. "Number one, it's pretty obvious he's better than anyone else on the team. But it is also pretty obvious that a day doesn't go by that he doesn't work harder than anyone out there. He's always going full speed.

That's special when you have a kid that knows he's better than most but can never get enough work." Coach Mike Notaro plied, "I talk it up. Always hustling. I keep the team up." Asked what separates Butch Garcia from the masses, the 16-year-old took his time. His words were a smooth as his self-described style of "I think probably I have more desire." ZZXr III- fv I i 1 Catcher Butch Garcia confers with Mack "Goose" Jenkins during Leto's losing Saturday battle against rival Jefferson. IOTALK 6ALE 7T 77) IIHMMUU MMt SATURDAY FEB.

27th Cl REDUCTION SALE! Entire Stock By WAYNE MIZE Tribune Sports Writer As a means of self-expression, baseball is his loud speaker. The message comes through at deafening decibels. Butch Garcia can play. He is a coach's dream, a power-hitting catcher with leadership qualities. Granted, Garcia is only 16 years old and a juh- ior at Leto.

He has a long way to go before graduation and the professional draft. He may not be the greatest catcher to ever grace a baseball diamond in Hillsborough County. Still, he is special. Leto Coach Mike Notaro has been a baseball man most of his adult life. He is in his second year at Leto and serves as a minor league coach for the New York Yankees in the summer.

This qualifies Notaro as an adequate judge of baseball talent. "Number one, it's pretty obvious he's better than anyone else on the team," said Notaro of Garcia. Notaro's intention was not to put the knock on his team, but to compliment Garica. "But it's also pretty obvious that a day doesn't go by that he doesn't work harder than anyone out there. He's always going full-speed.

'That's special when you have a kid that knows he's better than most but can never get enough work." Garcia only says of himself, "I have to improve on hitting curve balls. I can hit them now. I just need to improve." Garcia, a 6-1, 195-pounder, didn't have too much trouble with the curve ball, fastball, or any pitch for that matter, last year as a 15-year-old sophomore in the competitive Western Conference. He led the Falcons in hitting with a .393 batting average, in home runs with four and RBIs with 24. "I didn't think I would do that good," he said of 1981 high school season.

Then came the summer of '81 and the things dreams are made of. Garcia started every game for the American Legion Post 248 World Championship team. He says of the experience, "It was the best feeling I ever had" and admits it took him "about two months" to come down. "I still think about it a lot now," he adds. Garcia is no stranger to Northwest Tampa baseball followers.

He played in the Town 'N Country youth leagues for eight years. It was there he became a catcher. "I was the biggest guy on the team so they put me behind the plate. I've been there since." Then came the transition to high school baseball last year. "It was a lot different," Garcia remembers.

Then adds, "I got used to it real quick." Garcia credits a former Pony League coach, Lynn Johnson and his grandfather with his suc-; cess in hitting. He credits Notaro and assistant Joe Taylor his his improvement behind the plate. Notaro will tell you that Garcia hits with "power to all fields'. Garcia describes himself as a "contact hitter." Suffice it to say that Garcia is a power-hitter, who makes good contact. He uses a straight-a-way stance from the right side of the plate.

He will bat third in this year's Falcon lineup and should easily improve on last year's numbers though he has set no personal goals. "I just want to help the team as much as possible and hope we win a lot of games," he said. Garcia believes himself to be a "better" player than last year. He points to his summer of American Legion baseball has the major reason. The experience of playing with the "older guys" like David Magadan of Alabama, the competition and the travel.

"It was all that," he said. "But, mostly it was facing the better pitchers. They all knew what they were doing." Asked to describe himself as a player, Garcia said, "smooth." Asked to describe his style of play, Garcia re- VA "SANSABELT" SLACKS FOR MEN ENTIRE STOCK OF MEN'S SPORT COATS AND BLAZERS 50 OFF Reg. Price "1 r7 TTSr 20 OFF REG. PRICE VILLAGE SQUARE WEST 11618 N.

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'They (Jefferson) showed character coming from behind 3-0. We made some mistakes, but once these kids start believing in themselves they'll be tough at the end." Leto Coach Mike Notaro would not comment on the loss. Obviously upset, Notaro was the first one on the team bus which waited in the grassy parking lot behind the Falcon dugout. Cuesta explained his reason for pinch-hitting Alfonso, normally a pitcher. "Noel had been hitting the ball well in practice games," said Cuesta, "I told him somewhere along the line I would pitch and hit him.

Greiger was having some trouble at the plate. I told him (Alfonso) to get a bat and go up there and hit. He told me he was ready." That he was. Leto took an early 2-0 lead in the second inning on a two-run home run down the left field line by Robinson. The Falcons made it 3-0 in the fourth on a double by Joey Gervais, a sacrifice bunt by Jim Diehm and a run-scoring fly ball by Mike Green.

Jefferson tied the game in the bottom of the fifth on a wild pitch by Mirocke and a two-run double by Dipico off of Jenkins. All three runs were unearned. The Falcons would not be denied and regained the lead in the sixth on back-to-back doubles by Gervais and Fred Pineiro. Jefferson starter Larry Gonzalez retired Leto in order in the seventh setting the stage for the two-out rally. Gonzalez yielded three earned runs on five hits, while walking four and hitting two batters.

The right-hander struck out four and was helped by two infield double plays. Mirocke went 4 23 innings and yielded three unearned runs on three hits, five walks, while striking out seven. Jenkins was tagged with the loss. Jefferson (1-1) will host Brandon (0-1) Tuesday, while Leto (0-2) hosts Plant City (0-1). Both games start at 3 p.m.

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