A PLAYER FOR ALL REASONS : Camarillo Basketball Team Begins and Ends With Parrott

During the day, Mitch Parrott is a mild-mannered, bespectacled senior at Camarillo High who carries a 3.2 grade-point average.

After classes, though, Parrott dips into a nearby locker room, slips on a colorful uniform and when he emerges, he looks invincible.

It’s a bird. . . .

Well, he’s birdlike anyway. Larry Bird-like, that is.

Parrott, like the National Basketball Assn. star, is pervasive on the basketball floor.

One moment, Parrott is jumping center. The next, he’s dribbling the ball down the floor against the press. Then he’s screening the opposing center. Seconds later, he’s sliding in from the baseline to grab an offensive rebound. Next, he’s sinking a 15-footer.

And he does it all with a scowl. Parrott is intense, like a hungry hawk panning the landscape for prey.

On offense, especially, he’s constantly in motion. He circles through the lane, round and round, while his teammates wait patiently for him to shake the duo of defenders who bird-dog him.

In his third varsity season, the 6-4 Parrott is hard-nosed and aggressive. It is a state of mind he learned from older brothers Steve and Mike, who both played basketball and baseball at Camarillo and later had professional baseball careers.

“Most guys I cover are three to four inches taller than me,” Parrott said. “So I get psyched up for games. You could say I’m intense.”

Parrott is averaging 24 points and nine rebounds a game while guarding 6-8 centers like Don MacLean of Simi Valley, Jon Walker of Thousand Oaks and Dave Heckmann of Westlake in Marmonte League games.

“Mitch has to play inside for us,” Camarillo Coach John Harbour said. “Especially on defense when we face a big, physical center.”

MacLean, not an easy fellow to impress, is quick to compliment Parrott.

“He’s a good player--very smart--and definitely the guy you have to stop on that team,” MacLean said. “He’s especially tough screening off on the boards, because he always seems to be in the right position.”

Camarillo is in a three-way struggle with Thousand Oaks and Westlake for second place in league. Simi Valley, which has clinched the title, has been beaten in league only by Camarillo. Parrott had 22 points, 13 rebounds and hit a 20-foot jumper with four seconds left in the Scorpions’ 42-40 win over the Pioneers.

Because teams have been using zone defenses designed to stop Parrott from scoring, Harbour two weeks ago implemented a spread offense to force opponents to go man-to-man.

No one can defend Parrott one on one, Harbour’s thinking goes.

The first two times the spread was used, Parrott scored a total of 64 points in wins over Channel Islands and Westlake. He scored 74% of Camarillo’s 87 points in the two games. No other Camarillo player has a scoring average in double figures, yet the Scorpions are 13-9 overall.

This is a bright season for individuals in the Marmonte League. Tom Neumayr of Thousand Oaks, Brent Tapia of Royal, Mark Schlegel of Newbury Park and Gerald Boyd of Channel Islands and MacLean all are counted on heavily in their teams’ scoring schemes. Parrott is the closest to a one-man show, though.

“If you stop Parrott,” Westlake Coach Roy Gilmore said, “You stop Camarillo.”

But Parrott isn’t the high school version of a playground glory hog, Harbour insists.

“Mitch understands the team concept completely,” he said. “His teammates are willing to go to him again and again, and that’s a tribute to Mitch.”

Although he doesn’t possess a classic jump shot, Parrott pecks away for points on an assortment of drives through the lane, tip-ins, jumpers and layups.

Parrott’s role will be streamlined in college. He has signed to attend UC Irvine, where he will play guard.

“I think Mitch will give Irvine dimensions other teams won’t have,” Harbour said. “He is able to post up a big man and drive the lane.”

Before Parrott leaves for college, though, he will compete in the long jump and triple jump this spring for the Camarillo track team.

Parrott’s leaping ability shows up on the court.

“He can really sky,” Harbour said.

Said Parrott: “Last year, I went out on the track just for fun one day and long-jumped 22-5.”

At the recent Sunkist Invitational meet, which attracted the best high school track and field athletes in the Southland, the winning long jump was 22-6.

The Parrott family is loaded with athletic ability. Mike, 31, led Camarillo to a Southern Section basketball title in 1972 and pitched for the Baltimore Orioles and Seattle Mariners. Steve, 28, was a talented Camarillo basketball and baseball player and pitched in the minor leagues.

“I was too young to remember Mike in high school,” Mitch said. “But I thought Steve was the greatest player in the world.”

More than Steve’s ability, Mitch was impressed by his brother’s attitude.

“I try to play like he did,” Mitch said. “Unselfish. Aggressive. Hard-working. Self-motivated. I just hope those words describe me, too.”

The Camarillo record book is peppered with Parrotts. Mitch scored a school-record 42 points against Calabasas in the opening game of the season, and will be the school’s all-time scorer if he maintains his average the rest of the season.

Parrott has improved by long leaps each season. He averaged 13.7 points and 9 rebounds last season, and 8.8 points and 6 rebounds as a sophomore.

A professional career seems like more than just a dream to Parrott because he’s watched his brothers play professional baseball.

“Of course I think about playing pro basketball,” Parrott said. “But that’s distant right now. I’ve got four years at Irvine to think about first.”

If he is as impressive in college as he is at Camarillo, the sky is the limit for Mitch Parrott.