Star-Crossed Game Rife With Chaos

It resembled more of a sandlot game than an all-star contest. Still, the Ventura County all-star baseball game Saturday at Ventura College did not fail to amuse.

Didn’t seem to matter who played for which team--or even the order in which they batted--all that mattered was, the East defeated the West, 22-8, in a revamped version of the traditional Channel League vs. Marmonte League matchup of top seniors.

“It was a good day to come out here and play,” said left-hander Adrian Mendoza of Royal, who pitched two perfect innings in relief to earn the victory. “It just felt good to come out here nice and relaxed.”

The mood was low-key from every perspective.

By an agreement made this week, players from Thousand Oaks, Channel Islands and Camarillo joined Channel League members to offset a shortage of players. Then, before the first pitch, a handful of West players switched squads to make up for absentee players and again balance personnel.

East Coach Dan Maye of Royal and West Coach Scott Cline of Camarillo employed free substitution, and Maye made for a messy score book by allowing players to bat out of position in at least two innings.

“We said we could do what we wanted to do with the lineups,” Maye said. “We were trying to get everyone the same number of at-bats. On defense, we pretty much did the same thing.”

Any strategy employed?

“No,” Maye said.

However, the game had its moments and individual highlights.

Matt Riordan of Westlake, who has signed with the University of San Francisco, had four of the East’s 25 hits, including a pair of doubles.

Tim Carr of Westlake, who has signed with Arizona State, had a pinch-hit triple to highlight a four-run sixth. Carr also had an inside-the-park home run in the ninth, the game’s only home run.

East players Matt Pitstick of Royal, Brian Riley of Buena and Al Broyles of Simi Valley had doubles.

Pat Colborn of Camarillo and Ryan Holmes of Thousand Oaks each had triples for the West.

“We tried to get everyone three at-bats,” Cline said. “We had a revolving No. 9 spot.”

The West led only once, 3-2, after one inning. Thousand Oaks players Tyler Holmes and Steve Yeager had run-scoring singles and Colborn drove in a run on a groundout.