Simi Erupts for 30 Runs and 29 Hits at Royal

When Simi Valley High reflects on this season, April 11 will be a day to remember--and to forget. The Pioneers, ranked No. 2 in the Southern Section 4-A, were upset, 12-9, by crosstown rival Royal--their first loss to the Highlanders in five years.

With the loss came doubts that Simi Valley deserved to be ranked at all. They couldn’t be that good and lose to Royal, could they? Surely, they had the best hitting in the area, but the 18 straight wins must have been a fluke, right?

Wrong.

Simi Valley is that good. And after Friday--it might be considered better.

The Pioneers provided enough highlights in one game against Royal to make a lesser team happy for the entire season.

First things first. Simi Valley beat Royal, 30-0. Count ‘em, 30 .

Pitcher Todd Sullivan pitched a three-hitter . Outfielder Shaun Murphy broke five school records. The Pioneers had a school-record 29 hits .

“A lot of people stopped believing in us,” Simi Valley Coach Mike Scyphers said. “If they don’t wake up after this performance, I don’t know what will wake them up.

“We were excited about playing Royal again. They’re our rival. It’s a relief to beat them after the loss. They beat us for the first time in five years and these kids didn’t forget that.”

Said Murphy: “This game meant a lot. We all got pretty hyped up for this game. When we played them last time, we were just dead. But this time we knew we were going to beat them, we all knew it.”

The junior center fielder had six hits (a school record that ties the Southern Section mark), including three doubles (a school record he shares with Mike Hankins, who also achieved the feat Friday). He collected six runs batted in, including his 38th this season (a school record). Murphy also broke the school record for most runs scored in a season, 38.

He has 40 hits, a school record he shares with Eric Fischer, who had four hits in seven at-bats against Royal.

How does he feel about rewriting the record books?

Said Murphy: “It feels great. I’m pretty stoked.”

Murphy drove in eight runs earlier this season, against Canoga Park, when the Pioneers routed the Hunters, 32-4. The game has been in question. Simi counted it a victory, but Canoga Park didn’t.

A standing-room-only crowd at Royal could smell Friday’s rout early. There were 16 Simi Valley batters in the first inning accounting for 11 hits and 11 runs.

In the top of the second, the Pioneers picked up where they had left off, with eight runs on five hits. Designated-hitter Tim Laker hit his first homer, a two-run blast into the wind, to cap the inning.

Simi Valley added a run in the fourth, when Dave Milstien scored on Laker’s sacrifice fly to center.

The Pioneers erupted again in the top of the seventh, in which Hankins doubled twice and drove in three. Simi Valley scored 10 that inning on eight hits.

“I really wouldn’t say it was revenge,” Scyphers said. “We just wanted the (Marmonte) league win. We wanted to be assured a playoff spot. Of course it was nice to beat Royal doing it. But now we have to concentrate on winning the league title.”

The Pionners (8-2, 22-3) travel to Camarillo on Wednesday. A win against Camarillo will clinch the Marmonte League championship. Simi Valley last won the league title in 1982.

“Camarillo is pretty good,” Murphy said. “But we’ll be up for that one just like we were for this one. We’re going to win the league. We’re going to take it.”

Royal is 3-5 in the Marmonte, 5-13 overall.