Simi Valley Dips Into the Fantasy League

Simi Valley High leads Thousand Oaks by a half-game in the race for the Marmonte League baseball title and the Pioneers are hoping a recent transfer with a 90-m.p.h. fastball can keep the Lancers in check.

Or, at least, in confusion.

Word has it that Simi Valley (19-4, 10-2 in league play) recently obtained Bob Rowedder, a hard-throwing pitcher from Oklahoma who has signed a letter of intent with Oklahoma State.

Rowedder is slated to start today against Thousand Oaks (16-5-1, 9-2-1) in a game that likely will decide the league champion.

Then again, maybe he won’t.

Maybe Rowedder is just another chapter, albeit a mythical one, in the ongoing saga of Simi Valley, ranked No. 1 in the region by The Times, and Thousand Oaks, ranked No. 2.

Before these teams met earlier this season, Simi Valley assistant Brian Maloney concocted a story about a transfer from Oklahoma with a 90-m.p.h fastball who would pitch against the Lancers.

Maloney was speaking with Mary Ann Lee--a longtime friend and the mother of Lancer pitcher Mike Lee--when Mrs. Lee asked who would pitch for the Pioneers.

“We have this transfer named Bob Rowedder who has worked out with us the whole week,” Maloney told her. “He has a full ride to Oklahoma State and throws 90 to 91 m.p.h. He has no idea about this rivalry, so we thought he’d pitch with a clear head.”

The rumor quickly spread. The victims included Channel Islands Coach Don Cardinal and Rick Oliver, a professional baseball scout who phoned Maloney to inquire about Rowedder.

Actually, Rowedder is Maloney’s roommate and a former teammate at Westlake in 1984 who played second base.

“They bought it big-time,” Maloney said with a laugh. “I wasn’t trying to deceive her, because she’s a good friend. I just knew it would get back to their coaches, and I was trying to make them think a little and mix things up.”

Garth Marcus, a Thousand Oaks assistant, approached Simi Valley Coach Mike Scyphers before the game and asked about Rowedder. Of course, Marcus later denied he fell for it.

It turned out that all the Pioneers needed was the real Brian Vasey, who silenced a Thousand Oaks rally in the top of the seventh, then hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the inning that gave Simi Valley a 12-11 victory.

Today, rumor has it that Vasey (8-1) will pitch for Simi Valley and Adam West (5-2) will pitch for Thousand Oaks.

Family ties: Since starting the season three for 17, David Skeels of Thousand Oaks is batting .400 with eight doubles, three home runs and a team-leading 24 runs batted in. The surge coincided with his being moved from catcher to third base before the Visalia tournament in late March.

Both positions run in the family. David’s brother Mark is a sophomore third baseman at Stanford and brother Andy is a catcher in the Yankees’ organization.

David follows in his brothers’ footsteps in other ways. This month, he will take a recruiting trip to the University of Arkansas, where Andy set the school’s home run record in 1987. David, who scored 1,280 on the Scholastic Aptitude Test, is also being recruited by Stanford.

Turnaround: Hueneme began its Channel League season with three losses, but Coach Reg Welker vowed his team would still qualify for the Southern Section 4-A Division playoffs.

Apparently Welker knows his Vikings (15-6, 8-4), who won eight of their next nine games and are contending for their first league title since 1981, Welker’s first season. Hueneme began the week tied with defending champion Rio Mesa (15-6, 8-4), loser of three consecutive games, for first place with two league games remaining.

“I think everybody in the league thought Rio Mesa would run away with it,” Welker said.

But apparently nobody asked Hueneme’s opinion. Pitchers Frank Adame (8-1, 1.57 earned-run average) and Karl Whitnall (3-4, 3.23) have made the biggest impact.

“Those two guys are the reason we’re where we’re at,” Welker said.

Left fielder Jose Reyes (.424), catcher Jim Pettit (.318, seven home runs, 22 RBIs) and first baseman Mike Ortega (.306) provide much of the offensive spark. Ed Montez (.318), Casey Bolen (.314) and Jesse Olivares (.308) are also batting better than .300.

“Really, we’re a team without any big bright stars,” Welker said. “They’re just a bunch of guys who have worked real hard and come so far since the beginning of the season.”

The comeback kid: Santa Paula defeated Calabasas, 5-3, Friday to clinch its first playoff berth since 1987 and second since 1954. The hero? Pete Alamillo, a senior right-handed pitcher thought to be lost for the season two weeks ago when he suffered a severely sprained right ankle.

In the week preceding the Calabasas game, Alamillo had thrown during practice, lifting Coach Mark Magdaleno’s hopes. But reality tempered expectations, and Alamillo’s bum right ankle made it difficult for the senior to run, much less push off a rubber.

But with Santa Paula leading, 3-2, in the fourth inning and Calabasas at bat with the bases loaded and none out, Magdaleno looked at Alamillo on the bench.

“You ready?” Magdaleno asked.

“It’s in the bag,” Alamillo told him. Alamillo allowed just one run in the jam, then finished the game to improve to 4-1.

“It was as gutty a performance as I’ve ever seen,” Magdaleno said, noting that Alamillo pitched exclusively from the stretch to lighten the stress on his ankle. “When he went to the mound, you could just feel the kids say, ‘Petey’s in there. It’s over.’ ”

Roller coaster: This season has not been particularly easy on Alemany baseball Coach Jim Ozella or his team. The Indians have ridden through peaks and valleys--with the peaks coming in nonleague play and the valleys dotting their Mission League schedule.

After chalking up an 8-6 nonleague record, Alemany has suffered through league games such as the one against Bishop Montgomery on Thursday night.

Bishop Montgomery scored first when a batter walked, stole second, then scored when the catcher’s overthrow went between the center fielder’s legs.

Alemany struck back. With one out and runners at first and second in the seventh inning, freshman Bill Scheffels singled to center field. Unfortunately, pinch-runner Dan Osuna was thrown out at home on the play. And when Scheffels tried to take second on the throw? He too was gunned down, and the game was over. Bishop Montgomery 1, Alemany 0. The Indians’ league mark fell to 2-9.

Injury update: The Saugus baseball team, plagued by injuries all season, received more bad news last week when pitcher David Weeg suffered a broken right hand and first baseman-pitcher Chris Hernandez sprained an ankle.

Better late than never: Antelope Valley Coach Ed t’Sas is asking himself why he waited so long to get Von VanLeeuwen into the lineup. VanLeeuwen, who did not bat in the first 16 games, is four for 10 in the past three games with a double, two triples and a home run. His slugging percentage is 1.200.

“He had a little bit of an attitude problem earlier in the year, but then he started to show up for practice every day, and say a lot of yes sir and no sir,” t’Sas said. “The way he’s hitting makes me look like a real smart coach.”

Sticking to their guns: Moorpark pitchers have pitched complete games in 16 of 18 contests Brad Taylor has eight, Chuong Ho seven and Rich Hernandez has the other.

In a 3-2 win over Carpinteria two weeks ago, Taylor went 6 2/3 innings and Ho picked up the save.

Inverse order: Typically, varsity runners have faster times than those who compete on the junior-varsity or frosh-soph levels.

Such was not the case, though, in the Northwest Valley Conference finals last Wednesday at Birmingham High. Taft’s Darnell Hendricks won the varsity 300 intermediate hurdles in 41.5 seconds, but his time was the third fastest of the day among all levels.

Sophomore Drue Powell of Reseda won the class-C 300 hurdles in 41.1 and senior teammate David Garay took the class-B race in 41.2.

Too slow: Birmingham sprinter Mike Moguel was the 1990 Valley Pac-8 Conference champion in the 200 meters but was not allowed to defend his title this year because he was the fourth fastest among his teammates in that event.

City Section rules allow for only three entrants from each school in their respective events in the conference preliminaries. Tony Serpas (22.1), Patrick Abdelkerim (22.1) and Manuel Goodman (22.4) all posted faster 200 times than Moguel (22.6) during the regular season and each timed 22.9 in the conference finals Thursday en route to a 1-2-3 finish.

Instead, Moguel ran and won the 400 in a personal-best 49.3.

Transfer: McLane Hansen, an All-Marmonte League placekicker last season at Camarillo, has transferred to Rio Mesa. Hansen, a junior, converted 33 of 41 extra points and one of three field-goal attempts for the Scorpions.

Mike Glaze and staff writers Kirby Lee, John Ortega and Jeff Riley contributed to this notebook.