SPRING SPORTS HIGHLIGHTS : Royal Chases Chase to Defeat Camarillo

Mike Chase, considered a mere book carrier for ace Travis Willis on the Camarillo High pitching staff, took over the class for a few innings Friday and taught Royal the fine points of pitching.

Chase retired the first six Highlander batters and didn’t allow a runner past first base until the sixth inning.

But then, the student-athletes of Royal began abusing him as if he were a substitute teacher and handed Camarillo a 4-3 Marmonte League loss at Camarillo.

Chase took a 3-0 lead into the sixth, but David DeMaio opened the inning with a solo homer. Chase then walked the next two hitters and was dismissed by Scorpion Coach Ken Wagner in favor of reliever Jim Walsh.

Walsh fared little better. He got out of the inning without allowing a hit, but Joe Summers’ sacrifice fly pulled Royal to within one, 3-2.

DeMaio added another key hit in the seventh, singling home Don Giannone to tie the score with one out.

J.P. Hardy followed with a squeeze bunt that scored Mike Kinnaman from third with the winning run.

Chris Lillich gave the Scorpions the lead in the third by slugging a three-run homer, his third home run of the season.

The Royal victory avenged a 2-1, extra-inning loss to Camarillo earlier this season, and improved the Highlanders to 4-4 in league and 8-11 overall. The Scorpions, two-time defending league champions, fell to 6-4 and 14-8.

Simi Valley 8, Channel Islands 5--Shaun Murphy belted a three-run triple in the top of the eighth inning as the Pioneers clinched the Marmonte League championship at Channel Islands.

It was Simi Valley’s 12th consecutive win and its 14th straight road game.

In the eighth, Duane Mulville singled with one out and Von Herron doubled to put runners on second and third. Mike Hankins was then walked intentionally and Murphy followed with his third hit, a blast off the right-center field fence.

Simi Valley took a 5-0 lead in the third inning, but the Raiders eventually tied the score on Ben Sherman’s two-run double in the sixth.

Murphy, now 2-0, pitched the final 3 innings and earned the win. Mulville had three hits while Herron and Hankins each had two. Sherman and Eddie Sajor each had three hits for Channel Islands.

Newbury Park 5, Thousand Oaks 2--Tim Bohling was 3 for 4, including a run-scoring single to left field in the third inning that proved to be the winning hit in the Marmonte League game.

Newbury Park pitcher Glenn Evans struck out four and allowed six hits to pick up the victory.

Notre Dame 4, Loyola 1--Mike Peterson pitched a complete game, striking out five and walking only one to lead the two-time defending league champion Knights to their first Del Rey League victory of the season.

Nate Milone led off the third inning with a single and Greg Haptor and Rex McMackin followed with walks. Milone was forced in on a third walk, and McMackin scored the winning run on a throwing error.

Schurr 8, Burroughs 6--Burroughs’ E.J. Pape hit a grand slam in the fifth inning, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the Indians’ shabby defense. Schurr scored seven unearned runs in the first three innings and cruised to the Foothill League victory at Burroughs.

Agoura 8, Santa Paula 1--Donnie Rea homered and four Chargers had two hits each as Agoura clinched the Frontier League championship at Santa Paula.

Agoura’s Jon DeGennaro (5-2) struck out only one, but recorded 10 ground-ball outs. DeGennaro, Grant Landy, Marty Williams and John Gilette each had two hits for the Chargers.

Oak Park 11, Santa Ynez 4--Santa Ynez did everything possible to give the Tri-Valley League game to Oak Park.

The Pirates committed five errors which led to four Eagle runs, and issued 12 walks.

Offensively, the Pirates stranded 15 runners.

Jeremy Lipton paced Oak Pak (2-6 in league) with a three-run homer in the sixth, and teammate Wally Sweeterman was 2 for 4.

Saugus 5, Palmdale 2--Dennis Moran turned in an impressive performance both on the mound and at the plate to lead Saugus to the Golden League victory.

Moran struck out seven and allowed only five hits to earn his fifth victory of the season.

He also homered and drove in two runs to help pace the Centurions’ offensive attack. Teammate Chris Joy also homered and had three RBIs.

Bell-Jeff 9, Pater Noster 5--Petar Vucurevic was 3 for 4 and doubled in Tony Antonelli with the winning run in the fourth to lead Bell-Jeff to the Santa Fe League victory.

L.A. Baptist 3, L.A. Lutheran 1--Mark MacArthur blasted his second home run of the season, a two-run shot in the third, to lead L.A. Baptist to the Alpha League win. Ninth-grader Casey Burrill allowed only two hits and struck out two in four innings on the mound.

Montclair Prep 14, Webb 2--Jeff Light was 2 for 4 with 3 RBIs for Montclair Prep while teammate Frank Charles was 2 for 4 with 2 RBIs and Darrell Handelsman was 2 for 3 with one RBI. Scott Randall got the win, striking out nine batters and walking only one.

College Baseball

Moorpark 14, Pasadena 4--First baseman Eric Fischer was 3 for 5 and drove in four runs to lead host Moorpark College to a nonconference rout of Pasadena.

Bob Ayrault was 3 for 4 with two RBIs for Moorpark, while teammate Greg Conahey was 2 for 2 with two RBIs.

Moorpark is 18-13.

High School Softball

Campbell Hall 8, Crossroads 7--Tracy Murray had three hits and drove in three runs to lead the Vikings to the Delphic League victory at Crossroads.

Crossroads scored three runs in the seventh and had the tying run on second base, but the Roadrunners were unable to score again. Jessica Ackroyd of Campbell Hall went 3 for 4 with one RBI.

Boys High School Track

Poly 92, Verdugo Hills 35--The victory gave Poly (7-0) the East Valley League Championship.

Helge Guenther won four events to pace Poly. The junior won the 120-yard high hurdles in 14.7, the high jump at 6-4, the shot put with a heave of 46-5 and the pole vault at 11-0. Teammate Jerry Gilmore won the long jump at 22-2 and the triple jump at 43-1 1/2.

Reseda 95, Canoga Park 25--Darrell Armstrong won the long jump and the 440-yard dash with marks of 20-3 and 50.7. Teammate Tom Lynch was a double winner in the 110-meter high hurdles (15.6), and the 330-yard intermediate hurdles (41.2). Robert Barnes won the 100-meter dash in 10.8 seconds for Reseda.

Taft 100, El Camino Real 27--Taft’s Jay Borick won the pole vault with a mark of 14-3. Marlon Rodriquez won the mile, the 880 and the triple jump (41-11) to lead Taft.

Quincy Watts won the 100-meter dash in 10.6 and the 440 in 53.0, while teammate Melvin Florence won the 330 intermediate hurdles (43.5) and the 120 high hurdles (15.9) to help Taft (5-0 in West Valley League).

El Camino dropped to 3-2 in league.

Girls High School Track

Birmingham 59, Van Nuys 45--Kelley Peacock won the 100-meter low hurdles in 14.7, and the long jump with a mark of 17-6 1/2 for Van Nuys.

Poly 75, Verdugo Hills 32--Sprinter Jocelin Allison won the 100-meter dash in 13.1, the 220 in 28.3 and the 440 in 1:05 to lead Poly. Malinda Barton won the 110-low hurdles and the 330 low hurdles, while teammate Raphella Mclurkin won the shot put with throw of 27-1 and the long jump at 14-0 1/2 for Poly, 4-2 in East Valley League.

Taft 61, El Camino Real 48--Both teams went into the meet undefeated at 4-0 in West Valley League and Taft was favored to win. Sprinter Sureak Woods led Taft, winning the 100-meter dash (13.2), the 220-yards (27.7) and the 440 (64.4).

JC Volleyball

Pierce def. Westmont (15-13, 15-7, 15-13)--Bob Samuelson led with 10 kills on 20 attempts, off the setting of Tony Rusen, to keep Pierce’s 15-0 Southern California Men’s Volleyball League record intact. Michele Podesta had eight kills, while Ron Dugar added six.

Pierce will host the league qualifyer for the state finals next Friday starting at 3 p.m.

College Golf

UC Irvine golfers shot a six-over-par 566 and won the 36-hole Cal Lutheran Kingsmen Invitational held Friday at Los Robles golf course in Thousand Oaks.

Cal State Northridge and Cal State Dominguez Hills tied for second place at 587. Cal Lutheran finished fifth in the nine-team event with a score of 606, 11 strokes behind fourth-place United States International.

UC Irvine also had the top three individual finishers: Ted Norby, a three-under 137; Eric Woods, 141; and Perry Parker, 142.

Tim Hogarth of CSUN was fourth at 143. Cal Lutheran’s top finisher was Mark Howe, who shot 147 for 11th place.