Simi Valley Singles Out an 11-5 Win

It seemed appropriate that Jesse Anguiano’s squib to the left of the mound found its way into the glove of Jose Estavil, only to spin wildly out of the leather and fall to the infield grass at Culver City High.

Appropriate, that is, for Simi Valley.

The Pioneers hit about .350 for most of the season but recently have hit into plenty of bad luck. The kind of luck that begs for an early departure from the Southern Section 5-A Division playoffs.

After scoring only nine runs in its past three games, Simi Valley scored nine in the second inning Tuesday to defeat Culver City, 11-5, in the second round. The Pioneers visit Esperanza, a 4-1 winner over Bishop Amat, Friday in the quarterfinals.

Simi Valley, better known for its no-doubt-about-it brand of hitting, instead drilled 11 singles to carve the Centaurs into neat little pieces. Its big little inning started with two out and runners on first and third. The game was still scoreless.

Anguiano, who had three hits in Simi Valley’s opening-round victory, topped a grounder toward the shortstop, Estavil, who dropped the sure--and final--out. One run scored, and the fun began.

With Anguiano on first and Marcus Lockwood on second, Darin Furlong doubled down the left-field line to score another run. 2-0.

Darren Aurand singled between the shortstop and third baseman. 4-0.

Scott Sharts singled to right-center field and Terry Hill walked. Greg Gerber took his second walk of the inning. 5-0.

Lockwood singled for the second time in the inning. 7-0.

Jeff Sommer singled to center field. 9-0.

Thirteen batters, nine unearned runs, six hits, three walks, two errors and one sore, windmilling arm for third-base and head Coach Mike Scyphers later, Joe Gallegos grounded into a fielder’s choice to end the inning.

“The ground ball hurt us, no question about it,” Culver City Coach Dave Reubsamen said, seemingly oblivious to the magnitude of his understatement. “It just happened very, very quickly.”

“I think when we have our backs to the wall, we hit,” Lockwood said. “They were bound to fall.”

Culver City fell further in the third, when the Pioneers built their lead to 11-0 on a two-run single by Hill.

Scyphers had tried to dispel the notion of a team-wide slump all along.

“We had been hitting the ball well, we’ve just been hitting them at people,” he said. “Today we found the holes.”

Simi Valley (23-5) was not without holes itself.

Culver City (15-11) scored once in the third when Lamarr Rogers singled home Mark Davies, who doubled with one out off Simi Valley starter Mike Jenkins. In the fourth, Culver City scored twice more, once on Juan Cueva’s sacrifice fly and again on a wild pitch by reliever Mike Laker.

The Centaurs narrowed the deficit to 11-5 in the sixth when Mauricio Estavil, Culver City’s starter and eventual loser, led off with a double and Cueva tripled. Cueva scored on Jose Estavil’s single one out later.

Rich Langford replaced Laker with the bases loaded and got a grounder and a strikeout to end the inning.

“We seemed to be content, coaches included, to sit on 11,” Scyphers said.