AROUND THE LEAGUES : Scyphers Tries to Warm Simi Valley’s Bats by Making His Players Break a Sweat at Practice

A symbolic gesture when a team is slumping is to torch bats, but aluminum doesn’t burn, so Simi Valley Coach Mike Scyphers lit a fire under his team instead. “We weren’t working in practice as hard as we should have been,” said Scyphers, whose Pioneers (19-4) suffered back-to-back, two-hit shutouts last week to Thousand Oaks and Westlake. “Our performance against Westlake was pathetic. We worked long and hard Monday and will do the same the rest of the week.”

Simi Valley had not lost a Marmonte League game since 1985 and had not been shut out since 1983. Scyphers said the team had not suffered consecutive shutouts in his nine years as coach.

Thousand Oaks junior Dan Chergey (1-5) picked up his first varsity win with his two-hitter over Simi Valley. Chergey pitched in bad luck early in the season but has a respectable earned-run average of 3.38 in 47 innings.

Westlake’s John Chiaramonte (4-1), who pitched the second two-hitter over the Pioneers, won two games last week to pull the Warriors within a half-game of first-place Simi Valley. The junior right-hander has an ERA of 2.55 in 58 innings.

Westlake senior Jim Henderson, who plays basketball and baseball, had been 0-4 on hardwood and 0-3 in hardball against Simi Valley until Westlake’s win last week. Henderson was 3 for 3 with 3 RBIs. Making the win even sweeter was the fact that Henderson got all three hits off Scott Sharts, who also starts on the Pioneer basketball team.

Rule? What rule?: Del Rey League athletic directors unwittingly violated a CIF rule when they agreed last week to count ties in baseball games as one point, with wins counting as two. “We decided it was the fairest way,” said Marty Dusserre, St. John Bosco athletic director and league secretary, “and no one had any complaints.” Southern Section Commissioner Stan Thomas, however, certainly would have a complaint. CIF rule 2421 states: “A tie . . . shall be counted as 1/2-game won and 1/2-game lost for each team. This rule will apply to all contests and leagues may not waive this rule.” Informed of the rule, Dusserre said: “That’s interesting. We were completely unaware.” Ties became an issue because three Del Rey games have ended in deadlocks. Currently, the standings would remain the same using either formula. But five teams are fighting for three playoff berths and three--Crespi, Notre Dame and St. Francis--have ties. The way ties are counted could determine who makes the playoffs.

Fencing lessons?: Coaches think up creative ways to take away a visiting team’s advantages, but Buckley might be taking the practice to new lengths. Portable outfield fences at Buckley give the team a special home-field advantage, according to Faith Baptist Coach Les Estrada. “When the big teams play there, they move the fences back,” Estrada said. “They force you to beat them without the long ball because their pitching is so weak. We would have had five home runs.”

The distances to the fences, which are placed in front of a track, are 320 feet to the right-field corner, 350 to right, 400 to right-center, 340 to left-center and left, and 345 to the left-field corner. Buckley Coach Chris Schultz admitted the fences are a long way from home plate but denied altering the distance. “If I had a strikeout pitcher, maybe we’d move them in,” he said. Schultz does admit, however, to keeping the infield grass tall to slow ground balls. “It’s a standing joke around the league that our infield is thick and our fences our deep,” he said. “That’s what playing at home is all about.”. . . . Buckley’s Adam Glickman got more than an autograph from his hero--he got his glove. When Dodger third baseman Bill Madlock’s daughter, Sara--a sophomore on the Buckley softball team--lost a glove she had borrowed from junior varsity baseball player Ponti Lambros, she gave Lambros one of her father’s as a replacement. Glickman borrowed it from Lambros and uses it regularly even though it is kept together by strings. “It’s his pride and joy,” Schultz said.

Hurdy-gurdy McCurdy: Royal plays its last three games on the road, which is music to the ears of opposing Marmonte League coaches. At home games, the Highlanders played loud rock ‘n’ roll during pregame drills. Opposing coaches didn’t mind songs like John Fogerty’s “Centerfield” blasting away during Royal’s drills, but several were disturbed when the music continued during their drills. “It’s surprising how many coaches are against it,” Royal Coach Mike McCurdy said. Newbury Park retaliated by taking a “phantom” infield drill, during which players pretended they were using a baseball. The Panthers might have used phantom bats as well, because Royal won, 1-0. . . . Thousand Oaks Coach Jim Hansen didn’t object to the music, but he protested last week’s 4-1 loss to Royal because the game began 20 minutes late. It was Royal’s last home game and McCurdy introduced each senior at home plate before the contest. “Mike didn’t say anything to me about a ceremony and my pitcher was warmed up and ready to go at game time,” Hansen said. “I don’t expect to win the protest but I wanted to bring this to somebody’s attention.” Royal scored three runs in the first inning off Lancers starter Kris Kaelin.

Spotlight full of Watts: Taft’s Quincy Watts, the defending state champion at 200 meters, is one of the featured athletes in the Making Tracks section of Track and Field News magazine’s May issue.