Preps / Scott Howard-Cooper : The Block Gives Simi Valley a Burning Desire to Win

Being the new kid on the block is nothing until you have played for the Simi Valley baseball team, a group that has redefined the meaning of burning desire to win and where any player, regardless of his home run swing, can be the sultan of swat. Being No. 1 sure is fun.

The Pioneers, ranked first in the Southern Section poll and first in the country by Collegiate Baseball newspaper, are no doubt pretty high in the in-house fund raising department, too. All because of the block.

The rules, as set down by Coach Mike Scyphers, are simple: A player who makes a mental mistake--being late to practice or for the team bus, forgetting a glove--is then hit with a paddle by the player who bids the most money. The paddle is the only thing allowed and the swatter must keep both feet on the ground and hit the swatee in the buttocks. Too high or too low and the favor is returned.

Only the off-hand can be used for first-time offenders, but after that it’s open season for free swingers.

“It sounds corporal, but it just stings for a few minutes and then you’re fine,” Scyphers said.

“But no one wants to go on the block, believe me. A guy can get slaughtered with that paddle.”

Scyphers has used this method of discipline since 1980 and says it usually brings in about $100 or $125 a season, which is then used for a team party at the end of the year. The champion single-incident fund raiser was a team captain a few years ago whose you-know-what was worth $12 to a teammate.

“He hadn’t been on for three years,” Scyphers recalled. “He was the captain and well-liked and everyone wanted a chance at him in a fun way.”

Road Sweet Road: Simi Valley’s 7-1 win Wednesday over Newbury Park was its first home game after 14 straight on the road, six of which were Marmonte League games. Scott Radinsky made it two straight at home Friday as he pitched a one-hitter and struck out 11 Westlake batters in a 7-0 victory.

Tournament play is the big reason for the unbalanced schedule. There was a trip to Orlando, Fla., for the Colonial Tournament beginning March 31 that forced Scyphers to reschedule some league games.

The Pioneers, who are 21-3 overall, with 14 straight victories, had their first extra-inning game of the season last Friday against Channel Islands before winning, 8-5. Leads of 5-0 and then 5-3 in the sixth disappeared and the teams were tied, 5-5, before a bases-loaded triple by All-Southern Section outfielder Shaun Murphy in the top of the eighth won it.

“We talk about that aspect almost every day,” Scyphers said of the team possibly becoming overconfident. “Now, if somebody beats us, it makes their season. Channel Islands had us on the ropes and were acting like they were No. 1 in the country. We never trailed, but that was a real tough game and you could see that they were a very fired up team.”

Simi Valley is 17-1 since third baseman Mike Hankins joined the team after finishing the basketball season as a starting guard on the team that made it to the 4-A championship game.

The search for a replacement for Southern Section Commissioner Ray Plutko, who has taken an administrative job in Colorado, will end next week, with the last scheduled interview of the three finalists May 6 and an announcement set for May 8.

A screening committee in early April pared the original list to nine, and that group was then interviewed by five members of the executive committee April 21, with three candidates emerging: Dean Crowley, a Southern Section administrator; Stan Thomas, administrator in charge of commerce and technology for the Tustin School District and a former high school principal and football coach, and Margaret Davis, associate commissioner of the California Interscholastic Federation.

Prep Notes Granada Hills, the No. 6 team in the country according to Collegiate Baseball, lost Thursday to San Fernando, 11-4, as Junior Gonzalez walked only one while scattering 11 hits in to earn a complete-game win. Granada Hills committed six errors and had three players kicked out of the game in the seventh inning. . . . Dan Covarubias of Long Beach Jordan last week became only the third Californian to clear 16 feet in the pole vault this year. The others are Brent Burns of Acalanes, the state leader at 16-4 1/2, and Steve Williams of Anaheim Servite. . . . Scott Williams of Hacienda Heights Wilson was a second-team selection to Basketball Weekly’s All-American team. . . . Charles Bryan Flynn Wilson King, a junior at Providence of Burbank, will compete in speed skating at the Sports Festival in May. . . . Nevada Las Vegas is taking a wait-and-see approach on the future of basketball standout Clifford Allen, who signed a letter of intent last November but is scheduled to remain at El Paso de Robles, a California Youth Authority school in Paso Robles, until June of 1987.

The Southern Section individual golf finals will be held Monday at California Country Club in Whittier beginning at 7:30 a.m. . . . Lawndale Leuzinger pitcher John Ingram recorded 12 straight strikeouts April 16 against Inglewood Morningside, tying him for third place on the all-time Southern Section list. A 6-foot 4-inch left-hander, he finished with 18 strikeouts. In the Olympians’ next game, senior Scott Francis threw a no-hitter against Morningside. . . . Guard David Jones of Verbum Dei, an All-Southern Section pick as a junior, signed with Lamar. . . . Marc Dani of El Cajon Valhalla and brothers Eric and Mark Mastalir of Carmichael Jesuit, three of the top distance runners in California, will compete in the open 3,000-meter race at the Pepsi Invitational May 17 at UCLA. . . . Jesuit is looking for a parochial school to fill a spot in the Jesuit Christmas basketball tournament Dec. 18-20. Housing in the Sacramento area will be provided for coaches and players. For more information contact Tom Shakely at (916) 482-6060.

Eleven of UCLA’s 13 football recruits from California made the Shrine all-star team, nine from the South.