Moorpark Fights Early Retirement in 8-4 Win

Ron Stillwell was starting to worry that his resignation was going to become effective sooner than he had expected.

Stillwell, whose resignation as baseball coach at Moorpark College becomes official at the end of the season, said that a loss to Valley College on Saturday could have cost the Raiders a berth in the Western State Conference postseason tournament.

“If there is any such thing as a crucial win, this was it today,” Stillwell said after the Raiders rallied for an 8-4 WSC victory over Valley at Moorpark.

Even Valley Coach Chris Johnson, whose Monarchs have lost twice to Moorpark in WSC play, conceded that Moorpark needed the win to stay in contention for the WSC’s five-team Shaughnessy playoff tournament beginning May 2.

“Moorpark has been really struggling,” Johnson said. “But this league has been very even all season.”

With the win, Moorpark (21-14, 10-8 in conference play) moved closer to Valley (25-9-1, 10-7) in the WSC standings. Ventura, which had a bye Saturday, leads the WSC with a 14-3 record, followed by College of the Canyons (13-4), a 9-3 winner over last-place Cuesta.

Not only did the Raiders win, they did it impressively, scoring seven runs in the fifth inning and collecting 11 hits off three Valley pitchers to snap a four-game losing streak. Steve Sisco and Darren Romano each hit two-run doubles in the fifth to key the outburst.

“That rally is really what we needed at this point in the season,” Stillwell said. “I told my players that they were getting comfortable losing and we had to do something about that.”

After a shaky first inning, freshman right-hander John Chiaramonte (6-3) settled down and went the distance for the victory. Chiaramonte gave up 11 hits but pitched out of trouble several times.

With Moorpark leading, 8-4, in the ninth, Valley loaded the bases when Ray Sabado and Mark Cavarretta singled and Mark Caputi was hit by a pitch. But Chiaramonte struck out Vladimir Pajcin looking to thwart the rally.

Left-hander Joey Kane went 4 2/3 innings before being relieved in the fifth after Moorpark rocked him for seven runs on five hits and two Valley errors. Relievers Mike Roberts and Steve Slattery held Moorpark to only two hits in the last three innings, but the damage had been done.

“One big inning for them and that was all it took,” Johnson said. “We’ve had that happen to us several times this season. I don’t know why, but it just happens.”

Valley took a 2-1 lead in the third on Pajcin’s run-scoring double to left-center field that capped the Monarchs’ two-run rally. Valley extended its lead to 4-1 with two runs in the fifth. With two out, Greg Struhl and Caputi each singled before Pajcin hit a ground single into center field. Center fielder Don Smith’s throw got away from catcher Craig Pearson, allowing Struhl and Caputi to score.

Kane (6-4) gave up eight runs and nine hits in suffering the loss. Darren Aurand had three singles to lead Moorpark.