Esperanza Puts on Show Beating Simi Valley, 10-1

Esperanza High School might have gotten the short end of the stick when it was handed a wild-card game to begin the Southern Section 5-A playoffs.

But it’s becoming apparent that the Aztecs can hit with either end of that stick.

Esperanza, with two home runs from Doug Saunders and another from Jason Moler, routed Simi Valley, 10-1, Friday at Esperanza to advance to the semifinals.

The Aztecs will play Beverly Hills, a 9-3 winner over Nogales in another quarterfinal, Tuesday at a neutral site to be determined.

Led by Moler’s four hits and four-hit pitching over five innings, Esperanza outscored the Marmonte League-champion Pioneers, 9-0, through the first four innings.

“We’ve got to show them what we can do,” said Saunders, whose home runs were his eighth and ninth of the season. “We got the bad draw and were upset. That, and coming in third place, we wanted to come out here and tear them up and we’ve done that.”

The timely hitting and overpowering pitching that had carried Simi Valley to 23 victories, its third consecutive league title and three rounds into the playoffs were nowhere to be found Friday.

Esperanza battered Simi Valley ace Scott Sharts for eight runs in 2 innings, including two home runs in the first inning to give the Aztecs a 3-0 lead.

Saunders hit the first on an 0-1 fastball with one out and a man on. Moler followed one batter later with a line-drive homer over the center field fence.

“He didn’t have anything today, I don’t think,” Saunders said. “His fastball wasn’t hopping and his curveball was kind of flat.”

The loss was Sharts’ first in 11 decisions this season and the fifth of his career.

Esperanza added five runs in the third and one each in the fourth and sixth and left the rest to Moler, who improved to 5-2.

Simi Valley scored in the fifth, when Jesse Anguiano doubled home Marcus Lockwood.

Moler, a third baseman by trade, turned in his finest pitching performance of the season.

“I wouldn’t count on anything better than that,” Moler said.

Nor would he need one--at least not against the Pioneers (23-6). Saunders replaced Moler in the sixth and allowed one hit in the final two innings.

Esperanza had 11 hits, nine in the first four innings. Moler had four of the hits, including his first-inning homer, an RBI double in the third and a run-scoring single in the sixth. Greg Hauser, Rick Pressel and David Allen also drove in runs in the third.

For Esperanza (20-8), however, the season goes on. The Aztecs are a game away from their third consecutive trip to a division final. They were 4-A champions in 1986--the year they knocked Simi Valley off in the semifinals--and were runners-up to Lakewood in 1987.