It Takes All Kinds to Make Highland Hall a Winner : Prep baseball: Hawks become a Small Schools power despite fielding a potpourri of nationalities, abilities and genders.

Sharpen those No. 2 pencils, students of baseball, because what follows is a multiple-choice quiz on the danger s of being the second-sacker on the baseball team at Highland Hall High.

The test is presented in the form of a team defense practice drill dubbed “Situations.” When run as designed, it forces players to think fast and execute according to the defensive situation at hand.

With a runner on first base and one out, a ground ball is hit near the bag at second. The lead baserunner, however, freezes between first and second. (Check the most appropriate course of action for the second baseman given this scenario):

A) Glove the ball and toss it to the shortstop, starting a 4-6-3 double play.

B) Run to the bag at second and record the sure out on the force play.

C) Hit your girlfriend in the mouth.

Hawks second baseman Tum Ratanatraiphob chose “C” in a situation drill earlier this week, putting himself in hot water with his teammate and best girl, Chanel Wen. Wen was the runner on first and Ratanatraiphob accidentally nailed her in the mouth with a throw to first base.

“Looks kind of awkward, doesn’t it,” said Highland Hall co-Coach Dave Desmond, making a general observation. “This is Small Schools baseball.”

It’s distinctly Highland Hall baseball too, a strange conglomeration of nationalities, abilities and, this season, gender. Three girls joined the team when the school’s softball team folded because of a lack of numbers, adding yet more variety to a team whose demographics are only slightly less noteworthy that its record-breaking statistics.

At times, Desmond barely can suppress a smirk. For years he coached the Valley Dodgers, a semipro team that before folding in 1988 qualified in three consecutive summers to play in the National Baseball Congress World Series in Wichita, Kan. Included on one Dodger team were two future first-round draft picks in the amateur free agent draft.

The most consistent draft on the Hawks’ practice field is generated by whiffing bats. But at the Small Schools level, the Highland Hall wrecking ball--a moniker that Desmond asked school officials to consider as a new nickname--has leveled records aplenty. “There was a big adjustment period,” said Desmond, 28, and a Highland Hall graduate. “We’d have tryouts for the Valley Dodgers and we’d get 100-and-some-odd players out there.”

Desmond now coaches 17 players, including five freshmen, a brother and sister, and starting outfielder Monica Palma. There are just 75 high school students enrolled in the college preparatory school located in Northridge.

Palma, a 5-foot-7 senior, drove in a run on an infield ground out in her first at-bat. In her second, she doubled down the line in right. Palma, who has three hits in 15 at-bats (.200), was selected to the All-Southern Section Small Schools girls’ basketball team after averaging 16.7 points this season.

“It’s been more fun than softball,” she said. “It’s more of a challenge. Softball kind of dragged.”

Kristen Johansen, a sophomore outfielder, has had no official at-bats. Wen, who was born in Taiwan, is zero for four. Johansen’s brother, Josh, also plays.

“We weren’t quite sure what to expect when (the girls) came out,” said Jakob Jensen, a senior who was born in Denmark. “But halfway through the first practice, we could see that they could help us out. And in more ways than just cheering us on from the stands.”

For all its international flavor, Highland Hall has long terrorized area teams at the Small Schools level. Since Desmond and co-Coach Pat Cheek took over the struggling program four-plus seasons ago, the Hawks have won 32 consecutive Westside League games to move within three of tying a state record for consecutive league victories and compiled an overall record of 81-26-1.

The Hawks (5-5) open league play today at 2:30 p.m. against Westside Prep in Venice--a team Desmond has tagged as the league favorite--and could break the record April 23 against South Bay Lutheran.

Yet if the name Highland Hall sounds familiar, it is probably because of its trademark: aggressive baserunning. Highland Hall players routinely are the area leaders in stolen bases, and, in fact, prompted The Times in its weekly regional baseball leaders list to separate statistical categories for Small Schools players. Players from large schools were being buried statistically by a host of Hawks.

Ratanatraiphob, a junior and a three-year starter at second base, has 100 career stolen bases, which puts him squarely in the Southern Section’s fast lane. The section record is 113, set by Rio Hondo Prep’s Dave McLelland in 1977-80.

After surveying Tum’s hair-raising base-stealing numbers in mid-1990, one of Desmond’s pals dubbed fearful opposing catchers as having “Ratanatraiphobia.” Last year, Tum wore his hair in a long ponytail that often obscured the numeral on the back of his jersey. He lopped it off this year.

“It was getting pretty long,” said Ratanatraiphob, who has swiped 11 bases this season. “ Too long. I just decided to make a change.”

Ratanatraiphob started the season tied for sixth on the section stolen base list with Philadelphia Phillies center fielder Lenny Dykstra, who stole 89 career bases at Garden Grove High from 1979-81. There is some question whether Tum, who was born in Thailand, knows Lenny Dykstra from Lenny and Squiggey. “I still don’t think he knows who Dykstra is,” quipped Cheek, 25, a Monroe High graduate.

Desmond calls Jensen “a legit guy,” which means the returning All-Southern Section catcher would make the roster at most larger high schools. Jensen, who carries a bat that is much heavier than his accent, is threatening several section records.

Jensen, to be sure, is an import of considerable import. He has 138 hits in his four-year career and soon will shatter the section record of 147 set by Scott Davison of Redondo High (1986-88). Davison’s career mark for runs batted in (147) also is in jeopardy--Jensen has 120. Jensen needs three doubles to tie the section career record of 36 set by Danny Paranick of Mammoth (1986-89). And Jensen knows it.

“I like to keep track of what I do,” Jensen said. “Not to the point where it’s outta hand though . . . This is Small Schools, but it is exciting for me.”

Jensen, in fact, knows that Rio Mesa High shortstop Dmitri Young also is on pace to break each of the aforementioned batting marks. Young is considered by many experts to be the nation’s best high school prospect.

“He’s matched Dmitri hit for hit for most of their careers,” said Desmond. “How many base stealers has Dmitri thrown out? And how many languages can Dmitri speak?”

But Highland Hall’s fortunes may change when Desmond and Cheek--who met while riding the bench at Moorpark College in 1985--leave at year’s end. Desmond hopes to find another coaching position and Cheek said he no longer has time to coach and survive his day job.

Though it is baseball in its rudimentary form, both coaches take it seriously. So do their potpourri of players--within reason.

When Ratanatraiphob clipped Wen in the mouth with the errant throw, he left his position and glove behind and helped her wobble off the field.

“It’ll be an adjustment to go anywhere else,” Desmond said. “I have an empty feeling already.”