Royal Experiences the Flush of Success

Royal High suffered through a pressure-packed final week of the baseball season last year and stumbled to a second-place finish in the Marmonte League.

There will be neither thrills nor spills for the 1996 Highlanders after Wednesday’s 6-5 victory over host Westlake, combined with Thousand Oaks’ upset of Camarillo, gave Royal the league title.

“Last year we were a mental wreck; we had a lot of off-the-field problems,” said Highlander Coach Dan Maye, whose team was upset in the final game of the regular season by Newbury Park. “This season we’ve been focused since winter ball.”

Royal’s narrow outlook helped it overcome an early deficit and break a 5-5 tie in the top of the seventh when Matt Pitstick singled home Dorian Stitt from third.

Westlake (11-10, 7-6 in league play), fell out of a third-place tie with Thousand Oaks. The teams could again be tied for third place and the league’s final Southern Section Division I playoff berth if Westlake upsets Camarillo on Friday while Thousand Oaks loses to lowly Agoura.

If Westlake and Thousand Oaks win, Thousand Oaks and Camarillo will be tied for second place. They would take the league’s last two playoff berths and use tiebreakers to determine second and third places.

The league’s first tiebreaker, head-to-head competition, is irrelevant since both Westlake and Thousand Oaks and Camarillo and Thousand Oaks split two games.

The second tiebreaker assigns points for each of the teams’ league victories: eight for defeating Royal, seven for defeating the second-place team, etc. The deadlocked team with the highest total advances to the playoffs. If the teams are still tied, a coin flip is used.

Westlake led, 3-0, after one inning when Mike McHargue hit a two-run double and scored when Royal left fielder Ryan Nielsen dropped a deep fly by Steve Udell.

Royal (22-2, 11-2) got started in the second on a solo home run by Kevin Mellinger and tied the game, 3-3, in the third on a two-run home run by Brent Egan.

The Highlanders scored single runs in the fourth and fifth and led, 5-3, before McHargue tied it with two-run home run in the fifth.

Royal’s Adrian Mendoza (7-1) allowed five hits and four earned runs in six innings, striking out none and walking three. Bryant Leppard earned his third save.

Westlake’s Tim Carr (2-4), who struck out three, walked two and hit three batters, left in the seventh after surrendering a leadoff double to Stitt.