Frustration Eased With Big Victory : Baseball: Simi Valley bounces back to stomp Westlake, 18-7, two days after losing to last-place Agoura.

Traditionally after Simi Valley High home baseball games, the Pioneers form a line and jog around the bases, stepping on home plate one at a time.

On Friday, they seemed to be doing it during the game.

Simi Valley, working out the frustration of Wednesday’s loss to last-place Agoura, smoked Westlake, 18-7, in a key Marmonte League game. The 19-hit attack could not have come at a better time, because Westlake had been in a first-place tie with the Pioneers.

“We knew we should have beaten Agoura,” Simi Valley catcher Brian Kavanagh said of the 2-1 defeat. “It was a tough loss and we just wanted to redeem ourselves.”

The Pioneers’ play on Wednesday earned them a stern lecture from Coach Mike Scyphers at practice on Thursday, and the message seems to have been well-taken.

“We wanted to win this game by 10 runs,” Scyphers said. “That was our goal and we discussed it.”

Kavanagh, who had four hits and three runs batted in, said he was confident the Pioneers could beat the Warriors easily.

“I was telling some of the guys on our team, ‘We’re going to roll up at least 13,’ ” Kavanagh said, “and we had that by the third inning.”

Simi Valley (17-7, 9-3), which is now alone in first place, wasted no time in making a mockery of what shaped up to be the game of the year in the league.

Westlake (18-5, 8-4) started junior Tim Carr (3-1), who lasted one inning and was charged with five runs. Erik Devine came on and pitched another 1 1/3 innings and was charged with five runs. Jay Kenny relieved Devine and gave up eight more runs in two innings.

“We came out with our three best guys--Carr, Devine and Kenny--all ready to go,” Westlake Coach Bob Wade said, “but the wheels just came off the cart.”

The Pioneers led, 13-2, after three innings. They added five in the fifth, four on a grand slam by Neil Oberheide, who had five RBIs.

“It feels great,” Oberheide said. “We came out focused and that’s what we lacked against Agoura.”

While Simi Valley was putting up its most runs since 1993, Pioneer left-hander Bill Castonguay (3-2) was pitching effectively enough to win, even without such a cushion. In five innings, he gave up three runs on four hits. He struck out six, using an assortment of tantalizing pitches that ranged in speed from slow to slower.

“When you can put a high school kid on the mound who is a) left-handed, b) throws strikes and c) can get three pitches over for strikes at any count, he’s going to be successful,” Scyphers said.

Eight of the nine players in Simi Valley’s starting lineup had at least one hit. Tim Nykoluk had three hits and two RBIs. Dan Schwartz and Adam Springston each had two hits.

Westlake’s Brian Schuster and Matt Riordan each had two hits.