Simi Valley Has Some Fun With the Pressure Off, 9-3

After giving away its shot at the tournament championship the day before by walking in the winning run, the Simi Valley High baseball team sought to have a little fun Friday.

The Pioneers didn’t waste any time.

Simi Valley (15-2) scored six first-inning runs en route to a 9-3 victory over Campolindo of Moraga, Calif. at the Colonial tournament in Orlando, Fla.

Simi Valley plays Walton of Marietta, Ga., today at 8 a.m. PDT for third place. Scott Sharts (7-1) will pitch for Simi Valley.

“I was real concerned,” Simi Valley Coach Mike Scyphers said. “This was probably the first game we’ve played all year where I knew we’d be pretty loose, but it turned out to be a good team win for us.

“It was the first game that we didn’t have a lot of pressure on us. All our league games we feel are must-win games, and the other games here have been real pressure-packed.”

Simi Valley took the suspense out of this one soon after Campolindo, playing its second game of the day, jumped to a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning.

With one out, Darin Furlong doubled and Tim Laker walked. One out later, Greg Gerber walked to load the bases. Darren Lloyd’s single scored two runs and Joe Gallegos followed with another run-scoring single to give the Pioneers the lead for good.

A run later, Marcus Lockwood’s two-run single capped the rally to give Simi Valley a 6-2 lead.

The Pioneers added another run in the second inning when Furlong singled, stole second base and scored when Sharts grounded out.

In the fifth inning, Sharts led off with a double and Gerber singled him to third. Lloyd grounded out to score Furlong and send Gerber to second. Gerber broke for third on a steal attempt and and wound up scoring from second on Gallegos’ slow ground out.

“He had third base stolen easily and we had him keep going,” Scyphers said.

Simi Valley had nine hits in support of Laker, who allowed six hits, struck out six and walked three in six innings to improve his record to 3-0. After Laker allowed a run in the sixth inning, Paul Frias pitched the final inning.

Campolindo was playing its fifth game in four days after losing, 5-4, in the first game of the tournament.

“They had it tough,” Scyphers said. “Coming through the loser’s bracket was pretty tough on them.”

Although his team cannot win the tournament, Scyphers said he still has a goal in mind.

“We want to win four games in this tournament,” he said. “If we come home 16-2, I’d be real happy with that.”