Devlin, Pond Provide Lift for Simi Valley

The Channel Islands High baseball team discovered Friday just how difficult it is to keep Simi Valley down.

Simi Valley, a perennial Southern Section power that has won five of the past six Marmonte League titles, has endured a character-testing stretch. Last week, starting pitcher Bill Scheffels was declared ineligible and Wednesday the Pioneers blew a two-run lead in the seventh inning of a loss to cross-town rival Royal.

But there was no discouragement among the Pioneers against host Channel Islands. Simi Valley’s No. 9 batter, 5-foot-6 second baseman Britten Pond, hit a solo home run, and Chris Devlin, a seldom-used senior, threw a two-hitter in a 1-0 victory that snapped Channel Islands’ eight-game winning streak.

“We played well, but we lost to a better team,” said Channel Islands Coach Don Cardinal, whose team fell to 8-1, 2-1 in league play.

The Southern Section last week declared Scheffels ineligible because of what it believes was an attempt by Scheffels to circumvent change-of-residence rules after his transfer from Alemany. Devlin, filling the void, pitched for only the second time this season and finished with 11 strikeouts.

Devlin (2-0) struck out the last two batters to thwart a seventh-inning rally with the tying and winning runs on base and one out.

“When you consider what’s happened to our staff with the loss of Scheffels, (Devlin’s) performance is huge,” Simi Valley Coach Mike Scyphers said.

Devlin coasted through six innings, allowing only an infield hit in the fourth on a chopper that deflected off his glove. He had retired 18 of the previous 19 batters when Alex Zavala, who had both Raider hits, doubled off the center-field fence.

The next batter reached base on an error, but Devlin caught George Macias looking at a fastball for strike three and retired Brad Fullmer with a two-strike curve.

Pond provided the only run Simi Valley (7-2, 3-1) needed when he sent an Angel Aragon fastball over the left-center-field fence with one out in the fifth. Pond’s second home run spoiled a strong performance by Aragon (5-1) in which he struck out seven, allowed seven hits and pitched out of five jams.

It also took the sting out of Pond’s demotion from sixth to ninth in the batting order. “If I keep getting those fastballs and doing what I did, I don’t mind hitting ninth,” said Pond, who went two for three.