Red-Hot Royal Pushes Rivalry to Back Burner

The baseball rivalry between Simi Valley and Royal may never burn out, but in Wednesday’s Marmonte League matchup at Simi Valley High, it sure showed signs of cooling down.

Both teams came out lacking the intensity that has traditionally sparked this intracity rivalry before Royal, ranked No. 1 in the region by The Times, found the fire and stopped the Pioneers, 14-6.

“Hopefully, it wasn’t a case where we were looking ahead to Friday,” Highlander Coach Dan Maye said of his team’s impending showdown with league co-leader Camarillo.

“We knew Simi was kind of struggling this year so we had to do anything we could to get the guys to come out and play hard today.”

But what eventually got Royal (10-0, 3-0 in league play) fired up was a third-inning uprising by the Pioneers (3-6-1, 0-4) against Royal starter Matt Rainer that tied the score at 4-4.

“That made me mad more than anything,” said Bryant Leppard, who relieved Rainer with a runner on second and nobody out in the third and Royal leading, 4-3.

Rainer allowed four runs, walked three, hit a batter and threw a wild pitch without striking anyone out in his two-plus innings.

Leppard (2-0) let the tying run score when Danny Adair poked a single to right field that scored Billy Castonguay. Leppard escaped further damage when he struck out Robert Gonzalez with the bases loaded to end the inning.

The Highlanders answered with a three-run fourth, keyed by Zack Gordon’s two-out two-run single.

Royal scored three more in the fifth. Designated-hitter Matt Pitstick capped the rally with a two-run home run to center field that gave Royal a 10-4 lead and sent many of the Simi Valley fans home.

The game-breaking blast was the first career home run for Pitstick, a senior.

Royal added four runs in the seventh, highlighted by Ryan Nielsen’s two-out single that scored Pitstick and Jason Rischel.

Pitstick and Gordon each finished with three hits and three runs batted in.

Leppard allowed two hits and struck out three in three innings.

Gabe Gapol, making his first appearance of the season, worked the final two innings, allowing two runs on three hits with a walk and a strikeout.

Simi Valley got three hits and two RBIs from Adair and a solo home run to lead off the third by right-fielder Robert Comeau, his first of the season.

Simi Valley’s Al Boyles (1-2) allowed eight runs on seven hits and six walks in 4 1/3 innings.