Newbury Park’s Smith Leaves Royal Without Much Choice, 8-2 : High school baseball: Panther ace strikes out nine, seven looking, to pick up his first Marmonte League victory.

Guessing sometimes works on multiple-choice exams. But at bat with two strikes, it’s usually not such a good idea.

Look for a curveball and watch a fastball go whizzing by for strike three and you’re likely to look pretty silly, likely to look like the Royal High baseball team.

Newbury Park’s Keith Smith struck out nine Highlanders in the Panthers’ 8-2 Marmonte League victory on Wednesday, and seven of them went down with bats on their shoulders.

“I think they really were looking for certain pitches and (pitching coach John Marsden) had ‘em guessing,” Newbury Park Coach Gary Fabricius said. “When they were looking for a fastball, they got a curve.

“But you need a horse on the mound. It doesn’t matter what pitches you call if he can’t throw them for strikes.”

Most of Smith’s strikeouts came on fastballs on the outside corner, but he was also fooling Royal hitters with a good curve and a changeup. He walked two in the first inning, but got out of a bases-loaded jam when catcher Jeff Bennett picked off Maki Kramer at first base.

From there, Smith cruised while his teammates built him a sizable cushion.

“Today I just felt I was really hitting my spots,” Smith said. “I hadn’t been doing that since . . .”

He paused.

”. . . Since Ray (Clinton) started taking all my wins.”

Smith (4-1) picked up his first league victory in four starts. Although the first-place Panthers (14-4, 7-0 in league play) have won all four of those games, Clinton picked up the victories in relief in the first three. Smith left two of them with a lead.

“Right after the game,” catcher Jeff Bennett said, “the first thing (Smith) said to me was, ‘Finally, a complete game.’ ”

Smith gave up six hits and walked four, but those numbers are misleading. He might easily have taken a no-hitter into the seventh. None of the four hits he surrendered in the first six innings left the infield. Three were routine ground balls to shortstop Matt Cassaro, who simply took too long to get the ball to first base. The other was a chopper that Clinton, playing third base, stopped but could not pick up.

Brent Egan, with two infield singles, was Royal’s leading hitter.

“We just didn’t come close to hitting the ball until the last two innings and by then it was too late,” said Coach Dan Maye of Royal (11-6, 4-3).

Newbury Park jumped to a lead in the second inning on Clinton’s two-out, two-run single against David Vicari (1-3). In the third inning, Bennett drove in a run with a single and Kes Anderson drove in two more with a double, giving the Panthers a 5-0 lead.

Brian Collins led the Panthers’ 11-hit attack with a double and two singles. He scored three runs and had an RBI. Shawn Adams and Clinton each had two hits, with Clinton driving in three.