Simi Valley Wins on a Shot in the Dark : Sharts’ Eighth-Inning Grand Slam Stuns Canoga Park, 8-7

It was, by nearly all accounts, baseball by Braille.

The sun went down. Women shivered, babies turned blue and grown men longed for the comfort of a comforter. It was no longer a nice day--or night--for a baseball game.

Simi Valley’s Scott Sharts hit a one-out grand slam in the bottom of the eighth inning, giving the Pioneers an 8-7 nonleague win over Canoga Park in an extra-inning game at Simi Valley.

Sharts’ shot came at 6:08 p.m. Many still in attendance surely needed flashlights to find their cars, because Sharts almost needed one to get around the basepaths. Hefollowed the chalk line like a driver follows the white line of a highway.

“I just made real sure that I touched all the bases,” Sharts laughed.

Sharts, who pitched the first 7 innings, striking out 13, surrendered a home run to pitcher Aaron Marks in the top of the eighth, which broke a 3-3 tie. Marks, who came in from left field in the fifth to relieve Canoga Park starter Adam Schulhofer, started a four-run outburst off Sharts, who was eventually relieved in the inning by Paul Frias (1-0).

Canoga Park, ranked No. 2 in the Times Valley poll, went into the bottom of the innng with a a 7-3 lead, which seemed insurmountable in light of the darkness, so to speak.

But Marks, who had held Simi Valley scoreless for three previous innings, couldn’t find--or couldn’t see--the strike zone. Marks walked the first four batters, forcing in a run, before he finally struck out Pioneer catcher Tim Laker.

Canoga Park Coach Doug MacKenzie made a couple of trips out of the dugout to discuss the darkness issue with the umpires, who ruled that Simi Valley should be allowed to complete its last at bat.

Sharts, who hit six home runs last season and batted in the cleanup spot Wednesday, stayed in the game as the designated hitter, and hit Marks’ 2-1 curveball over the left field wall.

“It was getting pretty dark, and I could barely see the ball,” Sharts said. “When I hit it, I knew, uh, I pretty much knew it was gone. I saw the left fielder turn and go back, stop and look. I just concentrated on making it home.”

The win was the eighth in nine games for Simi Valley Coach Mike Scyphers, who graduated from Canoga Park in 1970.

Sharts was even happier than Scyphers. Since he was relieved by Frias in the eighth, he wasn’t credited with the victory, but his homer saved him from being debited with the loss. The ding removed the sting.

“That was probably the best I’ve ever pitched in my life,” Sharts said. “I was hoping to hang in there and make it all the way through, but I had really thrown a lot of pitches. And pitching is going to be one of my main jobs out there.

“Besides hitting the ball.”