Marmonte Title Showdown Pairs Teams Performing at Peak of Game

Mike Scyphers, Simi Valley baseball coach, has said it before, and the recent play of his Pioneers has done nothing to discredit the remarks.

The Pioneers, who have lost once since returning from the Colonial Classic in Orlando, Fla., are peaking.

“I really like the way we’ve been playing,” Scyphers said. “But none of that’s going to mean anything unless we win the championship.”

If Simi Valley (20-4, 9-1 in Marmonte League play) wins today at home against Thousand Oaks (16-6-1, 8-2), it will clinch its third consecutive league title.

The Pioneers have not only done it at the plate, where they have banged out a school-record 38 home runs while batting .351, but they have used good defense and strong pitching. Simi Valley’s infield has not committed an error in five games.

Scott Sharts--the pitcher--is 8-0, and Rich Langford, Mike Jenkins and Mike Laker have combined for 11 wins.

Offensively, the onslaught continues. Darin Furlong and Darren Aurand, the Nos. 1 and 2 hitters, have given Sharts--the hitter--plenty of RBI opportunities. In 104 at-bats, Furlong has struck out three times. After missing six games while playing for the basketball team, Aurand is batting .400.

Not only that, but Simi Valley has been winning emotional games such as Friday’s 6-5 thriller over Newbury Park. The Pioneers, who seven times have rallied to win in their last at-bat, scored six runs in the bottom of the seventh.

“With every win we get like that it brings us closer together,” Scyphers said. “I think it’s going to pay dividends for us in the playoffs.”

Power vs. power: Today, however, Simi Valley faces a team with as much momentum and nearly as much firepower. Thousand Oaks has hit 28 home runs, 11 more than the previous school record. Shortstop Steve Sisco’s eight homers is also a Lancer record. Each Thousand Oaks starter has at least one home run.

The Lancers’ 16 wins are the most since 1983, when they were 19-4.

“We’re about as ready as we’re going to be,” Thousand Oaks Coach Jim Hansen said. “That is if we can keep it going. The way we’re swinging the bats doesn’t go on forever, but we’d like to see it go on for seven or eight more games.”

Scorching the ball are Mark Skeels (.444, 4 home runs, 16 RBIs), Dan Chergey (.382, 14 RBIs), Bob Farber (.381, 18 RBIs), Mike Yanuzzi (.343), Tom Brozowski (.367, 8 doubles) and Sisco (.354).

“We don’t have a superstar like Sharts, we just have a bunch of super all-around kids,” Hansen said. “Each kid has had his day as a superstar.”

Pioneer pick-up: Simi Valley, which had won 19 games through Monday, picked up win No. 20 on Tuesday without playing a game. Lake Brantley (Fla.) defeated the Pioneers, 5-4, in the first round of the Colonial Classic in Orlando, Fla., but had to forfeit all of its wins for use of an ineligible player.

Final three: Hart has named three finalists for its football job, made vacant when Rick Scott resigned last month to coach at Buena in Ventura. Hart Principal Laurence Strauss is expected to announce at the end of the week his choice among Burbank Coach Dave Carson, Hart assistant Mike Herrington and Robert Schmitz, the offensive coordinator at Saddleback College.

Under pressure: The latest rage in the batting cage at San Fernando was implemented partially out of necessity.

After the Tigers lost two games last week to fall from first place in the Mid-Valley League--scoring only five runs in the process--San Fernando Coach Steve Marden went back to an old batting drill, dubbed “Pressure” by players, because hitters who don’t make contact pay the price.

“It’s more for individual batters than for the whole group like we usually do it,” designated-hitter Bobby Corrales said. “He puts pressure on us: hit it hard or run to the fence and back.”

Talk about hit and run--the center-field fence at San Fernando is 405 feet from home plate.

Wrong fight: Coach Mike Maio knew at the beginning of the season that El Camino Real would have to fight for first place in the tough West Valley League. But he never counted on the Conquistadores fighting for fourth place.

El Camino Real (4-9 in league play) appeared powerful enough to challenge first-place Chatsworth but instead is locked in a three-way tie with Cleveland and Taft for the league’s final playoff berth. Maio doesn’t know why.

“If a team is batting .240, you gotta work on hitting,” he said. “If a team is making errors, you gotta work on fielding. But we’ve been in almost every ballgame.”

The Conquistadores have lost six one-run games and one by two runs. The defense, which has committed only two errors the past five games, turned four double plays in Monday’s 14-11 win over Taft.

Alsen breezing: Ian Alsen of Granada Hills will not run in the City Section or state track championships because he is on academic probation, but he continues to turn in nation-leading performances.

Competing unattached, Alsen ran 3 minutes, 52.10 seconds to place fifth in the 1,500 meters in the Nick Carter Invitational at UC Santa Barbara on Saturday.

The time was the fastest high school clocking in the nation this year and converts to a 4:10.67 mile.

Staff writers Steve Elling and John Ortega contributed to this notebook.