Thousand Oaks’ Campbell Slowed by Illness but She’s Still Up to Speed

Shireen Campbell just wanted to finish the game.

The Thousand Oaks softball pitcher went to sleep the night before feeling sick, woke up the next morning feeling worse and slept through most of last Friday. She caught a couple of hours of sleep after school, then napped all the way to Anaheim, site of the Tournament of Champions.

Her temperature was nearly 102. The velocity of her fastball was considerably less than that going into the Lancers’ game against Garden Grove, but it did reach a fever pitch.

Somehow, Campbell canned the Argonauts, 4-0, with a no-hitter. The senior struck out six as she improved her record to 5-5.

Shireen, what ails you?

“I guess the reason why I did so well was because I was worried about completing the game instead of if they’d hit me,” Campbell said.

By the seventh inning, however, she was worrying more about the latter.

“Every time they hit it in the seventh inning I thought, ‘Please catch it,’ ” Campbell said. “I wasn’t nervous, but I wanted to get it once I got into the seventh inning.”

Moving up: After turning in victorious distance doubles at the Pasadena Games and Arcadia Invitational, Ian Alsen of Granada Hills will get a chance to test world-class competition at the UCLA-Pepsi Invitational at UCLA’s Drake Stadium on June 5.

Promoter Don Franken announced Thursday that Alsen, who ran 4:09.67 in the 1,600 meters and 8:59.54 in the 3,200 at Arcadia, will be matched against Joaquim Cruz of Brazil, the 1984 Olympic 800-meter champion, and Steve Scott, the American record holder, in the Pepsi mile.

“It will be a great chance for Alsen to break four minutes in the mile,” Franken said. “We’re hoping that the great competition will pull Ian to a sub-four clocking.”

The timing of the meet will not help Alsen in his quest to break four minutes, however, since it comes the day after the state high school championships in Cerritos, where the Highlander senior will run in either the 1,600 or 3,200.

Only three U. S. high school runners, Jim Ryun (East High, Wichita, Kan.; 3:55.3 in 1965), Tim Danielson (Chula Vista High, 3:59.4 in 1966), Marty Liquori (Essex Catholic High, Roselle, N. J.; 3:59.8 in 1967), have broken four minutes in the mile.

Simi surge: Coach Mike Scyphers has had baseball teams with more talent, but he likes the looks of this season’s model just the same.

The Pioneers are 14-5 overall, 4-1 in Marmonte League play, but that’s not all. Scyphers feels Simi Valley is building momentum by virtue of its league schedule.

“I feel real good about the way we’ve been playing,” he said. “In the past we’ve peaked early and we were head and shoulders above the competition in preseason and early league.”

The entire Pioneer lineup has begun to produce--the team batting average has reached .350.

Scott Sharts leads the team at .500. Darren Aurand, after a slow start, is at .364 and leads the team with eight stolen bases.

Sharts chasing Sharts: Simi Valley pitcher-first baseman Scott Sharts needs five victories to tie his brother’s school record for career wins.

Steve, who pitches for the Philadelphia Phillies’ Double-A team in Redding, Pa., won 20 games for the Pioneers. Scott has 15 career wins, including five in as many decisions this season. He is scheduled for four more regular-season starts.

Sharts in tow: Sharts is tied with several others for second on the team in stolen bases with three.

The catch is, the 6-4, 220-pound Sharts has been on the tail end of a double steal each time. Aurand has been on the front end of all three.

Royal wrestling: Royal will play host to a summer wrestling camp Aug. 8-12 for boys aged 8 to 17. The camp is an extension of the Oklahoma Sooner wrestling camps.

The camp coordinator is Royal Coach John Reed. He will be joined by members of the University of Oklahoma coaching staff.

Information: 805-527-3232.

TV guide: Portions of the Colonial Baseball Classic tournament championship game, in which Chatsworth defeated Kaiser of Hawaii, 5-2, in Orlando, Fla., will be shown on ESPN’s Scholastic Sports America at 8 a.m. Saturday.

Shrine update: Senior quarterback Jeremy Leach, who led Granada Hills to the City Section 4-A Division championship, is now the first alternate at quarterback for the South team in the Shrine football game.

Leach, originally the second alternate, was bumped up a notch when Capistrano Valley’s Todd Marinovich declined an invitation to play.

Bret Johnson of El Toro and Mark Brunnell of Santa Maria St. Joseph are the other quarterbacks.

Staff writers Steve Elling and John Ortega contributed to this notebook.