Lineup Shuffle Saves All-Star Baseball Game

Which is the better baseball league: Channel or Marmonte? Perhaps the answer lies in the revamped format of the Ventura County all-star baseball game today at Ventura College.

After a pair of showdowns this spring, members of Marmonte League powers Camarillo and Royal were anticipating being teammates in the matchup that annually pits Marmonte all-stars against their Channel counterparts. But this season, in a move that likely salvaged the game, the battle lines have been erased.

Players from Camarillo, Channel Islands and Thousand Oaks will join the Channel League squad for the 1 p.m. game being billed as East vs. West. Camarillo Coach Scott Cline will coach the West, Dan Maye of Royal the East.

“The poor kids were kind of looking forward to playing with each other,” said Maye, whose team finished two games ahead of Camarillo to win the league title. “Now we’re playing against each other again.”

The decision to shuffle the squads was made during a meeting in which Channel representatives volunteered few players.

“The Channel League didn’t give us many names,” Cline said.

Said Maye: “Apparently, their whole league is [mostly] juniors and they didn’t want to [choose] juniors who were not deserving. It was really close to being called off.”

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Ventura County All-Star Baseball Game

Large Division

* When: Today.

* Time: 1 p.m.

* Site: Ventura College

* Admission: Free

* Directions: Exit 101 Freeway at Victoria, north to Telegraph Road, left about one-half mile. College is on right side of street.

* ALL-STAR ROSTERS: C15