Tolzin Gave It His All and It Cost Him Everything : Softball: Camarillo coach broke 'Never on Sunday' rule, lost his job.

By ROB FERNAS

June 14, 1995 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

CAMARILLO — His coaching days perhaps over, Darwin Tolzin contemplated how he would spend his spare time without softball.

“There are other things to do,” he said. “I wouldn’t mind taking a Sunday drive to Monterey, or something like that.”

Until recently, Tolzin didn’t need to look for alternate activities. He loved coaching softball so much, he frequently spent weekends working with Ventura County youngsters who sought his help.

“The man gives,” said Diane Ziese, whose daughter, Jessica, played for Tolzin on the Camarillo High softball team. “He has worked with all the children in Camarillo. It didn’t just stop with the high school players.”

Said Tolzin: “I never turned anybody away.”

While many saw that as a virtue, in the end, it proved his downfall.

Tolzin’s willingness to help a struggling player started a chain of events that led to Camarillo’s ouster from the Southern Section playoffs and his dismissal as coach.

Camarillo forfeited a second-round Division I playoff victory over San Marcos on May 23 after it was discovered Tolzin had pitched batting practice to junior outfielder Jefflyn Spahr the previous Sunday. Southern Section rules prohibit any games or practices on Sunday.

Tolzin said the practice lasted about 15 minutes after Spahr unexpectedly showed up at school, where Tolzin was preparing the field for the San Marcos game two days later.

“It was just a quirk of fate that I was there,” said Tolzin, who decided that day against playing with his fast-pitch softball team in Riverside.

“I should have went and played, but I wanted the field to look good.”

Other players said Spahr sought Tolzin’s help because she was in a batting slump. She unwittingly revealed the illegal practice to reporters when she credited her three-hit game against San Marcos to the extra batting she had taken with Tolzin on Sunday. Spahr’s quotes appeared in two newspapers, leading to a complaint filed with the Southern Section.

Section Commissioner Dean Crowley asked Camarillo Principal Terry Tackett to investigate the allegations. Tackett, after talking with Tolzin, Spahr and Spahr’s father, Michael, determined no violation had taken place.

The next day, however, Tackett was given new information by a person who reportedly witnessed the illegal practice. Tackett resumed the investigation and discovered he “had not been told the truth.” Camarillo was ousted from the playoffs May 25, the day of its scheduled quarterfinal game.

“I have to take responsibility for what happened, and I do,” Tolzin said. “I told the kids that the day [of the forfeit].”

Tolzin said Tackett “did what he had to do” by firing him a week after the forfeit.

But players and parents continue to support the successful coach, who in 5 1/2 seasons guided Camarillo to a 102-37-1 record, two Marmonte League titles and the Southern Section 5-A Division title in 1991.

“He made a mistake, but I’d like him to continue on as softball coach,” said Gil Mendoza, father of freshman catcher Jessica Mendoza.

Despite an outpouring of support, Mendoza said parents’ efforts to have Tolzin reinstated appear hopeless after a meeting with Tackett last week.

Mendoza, who was an assistant baseball coach with Tackett at Moorpark College in the early 1980s, said the principal was more upset with Tolzin’s attempt to cover up the illegal practice than with the rules violation itself.

“[Tackett] said he was lied to, that’s the bottom line,” Mendoza said. “He lost all faith and confidence in Darwin.”

Tackett declined to comment, as did Tolzin regarding allegations that he deceived Tackett by telling him Michael Spahr actually pitched the Sunday batting practice.

Senior shortstop Julie Borchard said Tolzin told her that he went along with a cover-up scheme at the suggestion of Michael Spahr, who declined to comment, as did Jefflyn Spahr.

“[Tolzin] didn’t tell the truth about it,” Borchard said. “I think he was trying to protect our team.”

Diane Ziese said Tolzin’s actions, though inadvisable, were understandable under the circumstances.

“He went into a parental mode,” Ziese said. “When he saw that 17 girls would be kept from continuing in the [playoffs], he wanted to protect them.”

Borchard, one of two seniors on the team, was disappointed with Tolzin’s disregard for the rules.

“It’s kind of upsetting because I know Darwin knows what the rules are,” Borchard said. “My first question was, ‘Why didn’t they [have the practice] on Saturday?

“I know [Tolzin] cares. I know that he didn’t do it on purpose. But I’m a little disappointed that he didn’t think about it more. We could have maybe gone to the [Division I] finals.”

Tolzin said the rule forbidding Sunday participation in softball needs to be changed because many high school players practice with traveling teams on Sundays during the prep season. He said all but four of Camarillo’s players practiced with traveling teams on the Sunday he pitched to Jefflyn Spahr, who only played on the high school team.

“The intent of the rule was to give [the players] a day off, but it’s not working,” Tolzin said.

“Sometimes they practice from six to seven hours [on Sunday]. By the time they come back to school on Monday, some of the kids are so stiff and sore they can barely walk.

“I just think [the Southern Section] can loosen up the rule,” Tolzin said.

Tolzin, 54, a Navy weatherman, is unsure about coaching again.

“Luckily, coaching is not my livelihood,” Tolzin said. “I coach as a hobby.”

Those who have watched Tolzin’s dedicated coaching over the years have a hard time believing he will give it up.

“I hope Darwin is able to continue in softball, because he has so much to offer,” Mendoza said. “It’s a dirty shame what has happened.”