Treadway Makes Amends to Lead Simi Valley to Final

Two days between starts had to seem like two weeks for Simi Valley High right-hander Bill Treadway, who Tuesday was roughed up for four hits and four runs before being relieved in the second inning of a first-round game in the Colonial tournament.

Thursday, Treadway got another chance, and he took advantage of it.

Facing Lakeland, N.Y., Treadway (3-1) gave up only one hit and struck out 11--a career high--as Simi Valley earned a berth in Saturday’s championship game with a 3-1 triumph.

The Pioneers (11-5) will play Orlando Boone (23-3), the fourth-ranked team in Florida, for the championship. Boone, which edged nationally ranked Fresno Bullard, 2-1, in 11 innings Wednesday, advanced to the final with a 10-0 victory over Germantown, Tenn., on Thursday.

Treadway said he took the mound Thursday with a different attitude than he had earlier in the week--and it showed.

“Before, I knew I was going to be on the mound,” Treadway said. “Today, I wanted to be on the mound. There is a difference. My head was a lot more into the game.

“I got a chance to do a lot of thinking since Tuesday, and I wanted to be on the mound really bad. I thought I let my teammates down the other day, and tonight I wanted to pick them up.”

He certainly did that, saving Coach Mike Scyphers from going to his bullpen, and giving Trevor Leppard, the pitching hero of the Pioneers’ first two wins, a needed day off. Treadway displayed an excellent mix of pitches. He was, he said, figuring out what the batters wanted--and then feeding them something else.

He did not feel comfortable with his changeup, normally a strength, and abandoned it early, relying instead on a sharp breaking ball that rendered his fastball that much more effective. Treadway carried a no-hitter into the sixth when, with two out, Jason Kalle knocked a fastball about 400 feet into right field for a home run.

But that was the only run for the Hornets (5-1), considered to be one of the top two prep teams in the Northeast along with Andover, Mass.

Kevin Nykoluk got the Pioneers off to a strong start, lining his second homer in as many days to left field in the top of the first. It was his ninth homer.

Simi Valley added single runs in the fourth and fifth innings. Shortstop Ryan Briggs, who made three outstanding plays in the field, singled and eventually scored on a wild pitch in the fourth, then added a two-out, run-scoring double to the gap in left-center an inning later.

Lakeland left-hander Chris Moran nearly matched Treadway’s effort, limiting Simi Valley to four hits and striking out 11.

Nearly, though, was not nearly enough the way Treadway was pitching. “Before, he wasn’t pitching with any focus at all, so two nights ago I sat down with him and my other coaches and we talked about that for about two hours,” Scyphers said.

“He got back on track tonight. Nothing bothered him. That was the Bill Treadway of old you saw out there.”