Royal’s De Van Strands Thousand Oaks, 3-1

Royal High pitcher Danielle De Van laughs and smiles a lot with her teammates but admits to being darn stubborn with opposing batters, which Thousand Oaks found out Thursday in a Marmonte League game at Rancho Simi Park in Simi Valley.

The Lancers loaded the bases in the first and second innings against De Van, only to be shut down with no runs to show for it.

The rest of the day was not much better as the senior right-hander scattered nine hits and stranded 10 Thousand Oaks baserunners.

Carie Castenada contributed a two-run double in the first inning to provide Royal with the winning margin as the Highlanders prevailed, 3-1.

“I don’t give a batter a pitch to hit,” De Van said. “I hardly throw fastballs, just junk--curveballs, changeups and a riser. Everything is low, too, so they’ll hit ground balls. No popups.”

De Van, who has accounted for all of the Highlander wins (6)--and losses (3)--this season, suppressed a Lancer rally in the seventh. With two runners on and one out, De Van induced Diana Borck and Trisha Gregoire to ground. De Van only allowed two fly-ball outs.

And though a tyrant on the mound, she doesn’t act like the queen of the Royal order.

“You have to be a team to win. When the bases are loaded, my teammates give me a lot of support,” she said.

Royal, which has three freshmen, four sophomores and only two seniors, improved to 2-1 in Marmonte League play.

Castenada said the Highlanders needed to beat Thousand Oaks (5-4, 1-2), which returns many players from last year’s team that reached the semifinals of Southern Section playoffs.

“We knew we had to prove ourselves today,” she said. “Everybody thinks we are underdogs.”

Castenada had three of the seven hits off Thousand Oaks ace Shireen Campbell (2-3).