Baseball: Maybe there should be training for dog-piles
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The broken right wrist suffered by UCLA infielder Tyler Rahmatulla during a dog-pile celebrating the Bruins’ clinching a spot in the College World Series raises the question whether teams and coaches should be a little more careful on how to celebrate.
Woodland Hills’ El Camino Real Coach Josh Lienhard said his players made it out of their dog-pile at Dodger Stadium in the City Section championship game relatively unscathed but there was still an injury.
‘We had a guy bump his nose on someone’s head,’ Lienhard said.
Perhaps Chatsworth Coach Tom Meusborn can become an advisor on dog-piles, since the Chancellors have had eight at Dodger Stadium with no major injuries.
Santa Ana Mater Dei Coach Burt Call, who coached Rahmatulla in high school, said, ‘I feel for Tyler.’
The Monarchs didn’t have any injuries in their dog-pile at The Diamond at Lake Elsinore this month, but Call said it’s tough to warn players before a championship game because you don’t want to ‘jinx’ the possible ending.
-- Eric Sondheimer