Two Bad Pitches Cost Simi Valley, 3-2

Kenny Hood spent the better part of postgame interviews explaining away two pitches.

First, there was that 2-and-2 fastball the Simi Valley High pitcher offered to Artesia’s Robert Matos that was deposited over the center-field fence. Then, the 0-and-2 fastball that Margarito Castillo looped down the right-field line for a triple.

The first pitch tied the score and the second led to the winning run as Artesia beat Simi Valley, 3-2, in the semifinals of the El Segundo tournament Friday at Simi Valley.

It hardly seemed fair, however. Hood, a junior who was expected to round out an already strong starting rotation, has been thrust into a major role because right-hander Mike Jenkins is day to day with a pinched nerve in his left shoulder.

Hood responded with a complete-game six-hitter, striking out four and walking three.

Artesia pitcher Raul Olivas allowed seven hits but only two after the third inning. Olivas struck out seven, primarily on the strength of a nasty curveball that was devastating in the late innings.

“I didn’t feel I pitched all that poorly,” said Hood (0-1), a 6-foot-5 left-hander. “I’m pitching a lot more than I expected. I figured I’d get six, maybe seven games. I already have two in five games. I’d like to pitch more. It’s good for me.”

Simi Valley Coach Mike Scyphers is all for it.

“I think Kenny Hood matched him pitch for pitch,” Scyphers said.

Hood struck out Matos in the first inning on a curve, but fed him three consecutive fastballs in the third inning. The last was over the plate, belt high, and landed in the general direction of the basketball courts on the other side of the center-field fence.

“It was a perfect pitch for him, right down the middle,” Hood said. “If that was one thing I would change right now it would be that one.

“It didn’t sound that good, but it kept carrying and carrying.”

The solo shot tied the score, 2-2. Artesia scored a run in the first and Simi Valley answered with a pair in the bottom of the inning when Terry Hill, who had two hits, and Hood, hit run-scoring singles.

Artesia (4-0) scored the eventual game-winner in the fifth when Castillo, the ninth batter in the order, slapped a leadoff triple into the right-field corner. One out later, Edwardo Castillo singled him home.

It gave Olivas (2-0) the lead he needed. He struck out four in the final two innings, all on curves.

“When a high school pitcher can do that he deserves to win and not us,” Scyphers said.

Simi Valley (4-1) will play in the third-place game at 11 this morning against Edison, a 5-3 loser to Westminster, which plays Artesia for the championship.