Channel Islands Arms to Wrestle Simi Valley

The Channel Islands High pitching staff has been very difficult to score on, but the Raiders will face their stiffest test today when they visit slugging Simi Valley in a Marmonte League game.

Channel Islands starters Angel Aragon (5-0) and Tajah Merrill (3-0) are a combined 8-0 with a 1.75 earned-run average. In 52 innings, they have 65 strikeouts and only 11 walks.

The Pioneers are averaging 14.5 runs in league games and have a .356 batting average.

Freshman Ryan Hankins joined Simi Valley’s varsity last week and immediately jumped into the hit parade. Hankins doubled in his first at-bat, then had four hits and four runs batted in Friday against Agoura. In two league games, Hankins was five for seven.

Simi Valley also has stolen 43 bases in 47 attempts, but likely will come up short of the school record of 110 set in 1982.

Defense: What’s it take to win a baseball tournament? For Poly, winner of the 16-team Holt-Willis tournament, it didn’t take much defense. The Parrots committed five errors in a 7-6 victory over Granada Hills in the championship game and 12 errors overall in their four tournament games. Poly (15-1) had made just 16 errors in its previous 12 games.

Pitching: Jason Sipperly, an El Camino Real junior who was promoted from the junior varsity to help bolster the staff during the Holt-Willis tournament, recorded saves in tournament games against North Hollywood and Cleveland. And Sipperly is on a roll: He pitched a no-hitter against the Kennedy junior varsity Thursday.

Offense: Antelope Valley (3-6, 1-2 in Golden League play) was batting .244 as a team and an anemic .182 in league play heading into Tuesday’s game against Quartz Hill. The Antelopes had not hit a triple or a home run all season, and only seven of their 59 hits were doubles. Throw out a 16-for-32 performance against Monrovia early this season, and the Antelopes were batting .204. . . .

David Cantella of Burroughs has been to the plate 30 times, but has only 14 official at-bats. In the past three games, Cantella has not had an official at-bat, walking six times and being hit by a pitch. .. .

Senior third baseman Matt Metzgar was seven for eight with five RBIs, and freshman outfielder John Lichterman was six for seven with six RBIs as Campbell Hall (2-5) recorded 8-7 and 14-1 victories in a doubleheader sweep of Hillcrest Christian. . . .

Hart’s John Aguilar is three for five with the bases loaded. . . . Keith Halcovich of Hart has reached base 10 of 15 times when batting with two out. He is seven for 12, has walked twice and was hit by a pitch. . . .

Softball: Nancy Evans (8-1) of Hoover threw two no-hitters in 24 hours last week. Evans struck out 16 and hit a grand slam in a 25-0 win over Muir on Thursday. The sophomore right-hander had 15 strikeouts and faced only 22 batters. The following day, she had three hits, three more than she allowed Bell-Jeff in a 5-0 victory.

Track: The Simi Valley boys’ team (0-4) has dropped three Marmonte League meets by a total of five points. The Pioneers opened with a 68-67 loss to Newbury Park, which finished 0-7 in league competition last year. A week later, Agoura nipped Simi Valley, 69-67, before the Pioneers lost to Camarillo, 69-67, last week. On Monday, Simi Valley was drubbed by Westlake, 77-54, in a makeup meet.

REGIONAL BASEBALL TOP 10

Selected by sportswriters of The Times

Last Rk Wk Team League Record 1 1 Poly East Valley 15-1 2 3 Simi Valley Marmonte 13-2 3 4 Channel Islands Marmonte 9-1 4 5 Royal Marmonte 10-1 5 6 Rio Mesa Channel 11-2 6 2 Notre Dame Mission 10-3 7 8 Thousand Oaks Marmonte 10-4 8 7 Chatsworth West Valley 9-5-1 9 NR Granada Hills North Valley 9-6-1 10 9 Sylmar East Valley 11-4

NR--Not ranked.