Davis: A Private Pitching Coach Who’s Loved by His Mummey

For pitching coach Mark Davis, the most difficult chore this season is choosing who to root for.

The Thousand Oaks private instructor has proteges all over the Marmonte League.

As Simi Valley, Westlake, Royal and Thousand Oaks fight for the Marmonte title and the league’s three Southern Section playoff berths, Davis has students on all four teams. And it was a big week for the pupils of the 33-year-old former Class-A pitcher with the Mets and Cardinals (1982-85).

On Friday, Royal’s Tom Manos posted his first victory, beating Channel Islands, 14-0, as the Highlanders (16-8, 8-4) moved into a three-way tie for second place. Manos (1-4) pitched a three-hitter and struck out 12.

Thousand Oaks (16-8, 8-4) remained one game behind first-place Simi Valley (17-7, 9-3) with an 8-1 victory over Agoura. Tim Baron (3-3), one of four Thousand Oaks pitchers who has trained with Davis, pitched a four-hitter and struck out eight.

Casey Vermette hasn’t pitched recently at Simi Valley, but the Davis pupil is 3-3 with a 2.49 earned-run average.

And Westlake definitely could have used Todd Singleton on Friday. Singleton, a Davis protege, was expected to be the Warriors’ No. 1 pitcher, but a sore shoulder has sidelined him.

Still, Westlake (18-5, 8-4) has a shot at the league title.

But the biggest success story for Davis this spring has been Santos Mummey, a 5-foot-11, 183-pound junior right-hander at Thousand Oaks who is the area ERA leader.

It’s an upset Mummey even made the varsity after a sore arm wiped out the last half of his sophomore season. By the time he began lessons with Davis last summer, his arm was shot.

“I had tendinitis in my elbow and it hurt so bad it was like I was injuring it all over again every time I threw,” Mummey said. “I’d wake up in the morning and my arm would hurt.”

All summer, Davis worked on Mummey’s mechanics, teaching him to draw his arm back properly and get maximum drive out of his powerful legs.

Mummey pitched only one inning a week during the fall and thought he was headed for the junior varsity until he got his first start in the San Fernando tournament in March. He beat Cleveland, 1-0, allowing two hits in 6 1/3 innings, even though his arm ached through the first few innings.

Then a surprising thing happened: The pain disappeared.

“My arm was really sore while I was pitching but after that it didn’t hurt anymore. I felt like I could pitch forever,” he said.

Mummey has helped fuel Thousand Oaks’ late-season drive: The Lancers have won five league games in a row. Mummey is 6-2 with a 0.67 ERA after beating Channel Islands, 2-1, on a five-hitter Wednesday.

Mummey is not overpowering--32 strikeouts in 52 innings--but Davis is delighted.

“He has good movement on his fastball, throws his breaking ball for strikes and keeps hitters off-balance,” Davis said.

Mummey is quick to credit his instructor.

“He believed in me,” he said. “He taught me how to pitch right. He didn’t make a lot of changes, just enough to make me throw better.”

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Despite the baseball team’s crushing 18-7 loss to Simi Valley on Friday, Westlake has a chance to become the first school in nearly a decade to sweep Marmonte League titles in the three major boys’ sports in the same school year.

Coincidentally, Simi Valley was the last school to complete the sweep, winning three titles in the 1985-86 school year. The Pioneers were boosted by two future professional athletes: Don MacLean (Washington Bullets) was a sophomore center on the basketball team and pitcher Scott Radinsky (Chicago White Sox) led the baseball team.

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Jara Goldstein picked up golf clubs for the first time less than two years ago and already might be the best female player in the area.

Goldstein, a Westlake sophomore, shot an 86 to lead area players in the third annual Girls’ CIF individual qualifying tournament recently at Saticoy Country Club. Any girl from Southern, City, Central or San Diego section schools could enter.

Eight area girls broke 100 and qualified for the State tournament, set for June 7 at Bernardo Heights Country Club in San Diego.

Goldstein, fresh off a round at Lake Sherwood Country Club on Friday, is playing nearly every day in preparation for the State tournament. That’s a far cry from two years ago when she merely played around on a driving range.

“Now, I’d definitely like to play in college,” she said.

Her performance in the qualifying tournament surprised her. In fact, she wasn’t even paying attention to her score.

“I had a really good round, but I didn’t know how good I was going,” she said. “It’s easier to play when I’m only thinking about golf, not numbers and rankings.”

Other county girls who qualified for the State tournament include Alicia Um of Newbury Park, Jill and Julie Kaopua of Hueneme and Lesley Hill-Alejo of Cornerstone Christian.

* Contributing: Steve Henson.