NABA Attempting to Change Its Ways : Baseball: Group alters policy after Marmonte League controversy.

A local chapter of the National Adult Baseball Assn. is revising the way it secures fields after coaches at Simi Valley, Royal and Newbury Park highs admitted last week accepting cash or equipment from the group in exchange for field use.

Payments will go to school districts rather than to coaches or the schools’ baseball programs in accordance with district policies, said Jeff Richardson, director of the Thousand Oaks chapter of the NABA.

“We will comply with the policies of each district we deal with,” Richardson said Tuesday. “There has been an implication that we are trying to pull something over on people. That’s not the way it is.”

Under previous guidelines, the league paid baseball programs directly for field use.

“That is our standard practice and there has never been a problem,” said Mike Micheli, the NABA national director. Micheli said the NABA, a recreational league that plays on Sundays, uses about 500 fields nationally.

The league postponed games scheduled at Newbury Park High last Sunday at the request of Newbury Park Athletic Director Teri Scarpino. Once a permit has been granted through the district office, the NABA might resume play, she said.

Several league members questioned Richardson after the revelations last week of payments to coaches and the suspension of Mike Scyphers, the highly successful Simi Valley High coach. He was suspended pending a police investigation into possible financial and disciplinary improprieties.

Richardson, who took over as director of the Thousand Oaks chapter two months ago, assured the group’s members that mistakes made before his arrival will not be repeated.

“We’ve taken a black eye,” he said. “I’m paying for what was done before I got here and I am doing my best to get the situation rectified.”

Richardson said he visited the offices of the Simi Valley Unified, Conejo Valley Unified and Las Virgenes Unified districts in the past few days in an attempt to meet district requirements.

The NABA uses varsity and junior varsity fields at Simi Valley and Newbury Park highs and is planning to use a field at Agoura High. The season began April 24 and extends into September.

The Conejo Valley district will charge the NABA an undetermined amount for the use of Newbury Park High. The NABA had planned to pay $320 to the Newbury Park baseball program for the field.

“We have budgeted $7 an hour for fields, so anything more than that will pose a problem for us,” Richardson said.

The NABA must pay the Simi Valley district an undetermined fee for use of the Simi Valley High fields once the group’s permit has been approved, said Roger Grady, the district’s director of facilities. The $2,000 paid to the Simi Valley baseball program and Scyphers for field use is not recognized by the district.

“From our standpoint, no fee has been made for field use and they should not be out there playing until the permit has been approved,” said Grady, who added that the league must also increase its insurance coverage to a level acceptable to the district.

There is still a strong interest in the NABA, Micheli said. The Thousand Oaks chapter has 15 teams and there also are chapters in the San Fernando Valley and Ventura.

“Too many adults want an opportunity to play baseball on weekends for us to fold up now,” he said. “(These problems) are very much a shock to all of us.”