Camarillo’s Batters Leave Foe Battered : American Legion: District 16 champion’s hit and run totals match in 17-8 first-round win over Culver City.

After a day that featured more hits than a title fight, one had to wonder if this was the American Legion 6th Area baseball tournament or Caesars Palace.

Camarillo’s clubbers provided much of the doubt in the six-team tournament at UCLA’s Jackie Robinson Field. Camarillo, which entered the contest with a .370 batting average, battered two Culver City pitchers for 17 hits in a 17-8 win that lasted 3 1/2 hours.

Camarillo (21-3) will meet Claremont in a second-round game at 4 p.m. today.

Hits were everywhere but on the concession stand’s menu Thursday. Four teams combined for 60 in earlier games, and Camarillo and Culver City accounted for an additional 26. The 86 hits in three games average out to nearly 30 a game and 15 per team.

Camarillo’s display left even its coach impressed.

“I hate to say this, but I’m surprised at the way we swung the bat after such a long layoff,” Coach Gary Wagner said.

The District 16 champion last played Sunday. But it looked anything but rusty against Pepperdine-bound Mauricio Estavil and Brigham Young-bound John Wade.

Estavil (6-1), a Culver City High left-hander who was the Ocean League’s most valuable player, could not finish what he had started. He was tagged for seven runs and six hits in just three innings.

“He didn’t have his usual stuff,” Culver City Coach John Brasher said. “But Camarillo can hit the ball.”

Camarillo, which averages eight runs and 10 hits a game, benefited from pitching coach Rick Torres’ instruction. Torres, a former Santa Clara High left-hander who pitched at USC from 1985-89, tossed batting practice Wednesday to prepare Camarillo for Estavil.

“I think it helped them,” Torres said. “But we’re a good hitting team anyway.”

Camarillo established that fact early. Tim Cornish’s single in the first gave Camarillo a 1-0 lead. The advantage grew to 4-0 in the second on Corey Tucker’s two-run double and Danny Haas’ run-scoring single.

Camarillo added three runs in the third to take a 7-0 lead, and scored six in the fourth. The big blows in the fourth were Kwinn Knight’s two-run single and Tucker’s three-run double. Tucker, batting eighth in the order and hitting just .235 with seven runs batted in entering the game, drove in five runs.

“We said before the game that we needed somebody to pick us up, and that was Corey Tucker tonight,” Wagner said. “That’s just what we needed.”

Culver City (12-2), which had a 12-game winning streak snapped, chipped at Camarillo’s lead. Culver City scored five runs off Haas (7-0) and added two runs off reliever Garth Teron to cut its deficit to 13-7.

But Camarillo responded once again. Mike Muncy’s run-scoring single in the eighth extended the lead to 14-7, and Camarillo added three runs in the ninth. Matt Tackett’s second double drove in two runs and Mike Mitchell drove in the final run with a single.

Each Camarillo starter had at least one hit, and Haas--batting ninth--was three for three. Tucker, Tackett, Knight, Cornish, Mitchell and Kasha Clemons each had two hits. Tackett drove in three runs.

Despite the offensive display, Camarillo also was talking about its defense.

“Our kids swing the bat, but we play exceptional defense too,” Torres said. “Defense is what separates us from other good teams.”

Culver City, the District 24 champion, will meet Conejo Valley today at 12:30 p.m.