Simi Valley Wins One After Getting Two, 6-4 : Baseball: Pioneers make all the plays in Marmonte League victory over Westlake.

Lacking power hitters or dominant pitchers, the Simi Valley High baseball team has turned to a new weapon for success.

“A hundred ground balls a day,” shortstop Dan Schwartz said after the Pioneers’ 6-4 Marmonte League victory over Westlake on Wednesday.

A double play started by Schwartz deep in the hole extinguished a Westlake rally in the fifth inning. That play was the most spectacular, but equally important were the dozen other tough plays the Pioneers handled flawlessly.

“We’ve put a lot of emphasis on defense,” Simi Valley Coach Mike Scyphers said. “Our infield takes ground balls for half an hour every day because we know our pitchers aren’t strikeout pitchers.”

Simi Valley right-hander Adam Springston (6-0) pitched four innings and Neil Oberheide pitched the final three to pick up his first save. Oberheide was on the mound in the fifth when the infield got him off the hook.

The Pioneers (11-2, 5-0) led, 5-2, before Westlake’s Matt Riordan hit a towering one-out home run over the hill in right-center field. Oberheide walked Mike McHargue and gave up a single to Aaron Tapking. The Warriors pulled to within 5-4 on Kevin McClure’s perfect suicide squeeze.

Todd Kostjuk then ripped a hard ground ball to Schwartz’s right. Schwartz made a backhanded stop, whirled and threw to second baseman Tim Nykoluk at the bag. Nykoluk, with a runner just a few feet from taking him out, fired to first baseman Jeff Michael, who made a nice stretch.

“That was a sweet play,” Scyphers said. “They got a little momentum on Riordan’s home run, then we turned the double play and took it right back.”

Said Oberheide: “That fired me up. I was hoping for them to make that play behind me.”

Simi Valley, which took a two-game lead over Westlake (8-3, 3-2), added an insurance run in the seventh when Casey Vermette doubled off the center field fence, driving in Michael.

Vermette had two hits and two runs batted in. Pioneer left fielder Robert Comeau had a single, double and triple.

The Pioneers used two walks, two infield singles and a run-scoring ground ball to take a 4-0 lead against Westlake starter Erik Devine (2-1) in the second.

The Warriors came back with two runs in the bottom of the inning on a run-scoring grounder by Joe Primack and a ground-rule double by Jason Simmons.

Devine came out after four innings. He did not allow any other runs. Junior Tim Carr pitched the final three innings for Westlake.

Simi Valley took a 5-2 lead on Vermette’s two-out single in the fifth.

Tapking had two hits for Westlake.