Simi Valley Flexes Muscles in 7-2 Victory : Prep softball: Pioneers rout Thousand Oaks with three doubles and two triples to remain unbeaten in league play.

The Simi Valley High softball team busted out of its batting slump in a big way Thursday with five extra-base hits to steamroller Thousand Oaks, 7-2, in a Marmonte League game at Rancho Simi Valley Park.

The Pioneers (10-1, 5-0 in league play) and Thousand Oaks (4-4, 3-1) were the league’s only undefeated teams before taking the field, but Simi Valley’s hitting overwhelmed the Lancers, who managed only three hits off sophomore right-hander Sara Griffin.

Simi Valley was averaging only four hits a game in league play, so the concern of Coach Suzanne Manlet was obvious.

“We had a talk about our bats and we told them they need to start bringing ‘em,” Manlet said.

Bats in tow, the Pioneers responded with eight hits, including three doubles and two triples. In four league games before Thursday, Simi Valley had just two extra-base hits. “The girls need to know that they can hit anybody, but they have to be focused,” Manlet said. “And that’s what they did today.”

Simi Valley parlayed two hits and an error into a 2-0 lead in the fourth. Tracy Hansen, who also doubled and tripled, grounded out to the shortstop to drive in Jessica Cunningham for the first run. Kris Lufkin (two for three) followed with a line-drive single to left-center field to score Kathy Beasley, who had doubled.

Griffin (7-1), who has been hampered since last week by a strained right deltoid, looked anything but injured--especially through the first five innings. She surrendered only one hit in the first and struck out six consecutive batters through the first three innings.

After Christie Collier’s line-drive single to left-center field in the first, Griffin retired the next 14 batters. Griffin, who struck out nine and walked one, was happy to get such strong offensive support.

“We brought our bats today,” Griffin said. “It was great. We haven’t hit this way in a long time.”

In the fifth, Simi Valley knocked out five hits to score five runs--all unearned--off junior right-hander Carrie Russell (4-4) to take a 7-0 lead.

With one out, Dayna Skinner reached on a throwing error. Griffin followed with a double down the left-field line to score Skinner. Cunningham’s subsequent single and Amy Powell’s triple gave Simi Valley a 5-0 advantage. After a groundout, Hansen tripled home Powell and Lufkin’s single scored Hansen.

Thousand Oaks scored in the sixth on a two-run double by Nicole Ochoa.