Promise of Youth Served in Simi Valley Debutante Ball

With only four starting seniors, Newbury Park High softball Coach Pete Ackermann blamed youth for his team’s 3-0 loss to Simi Valley on Thursday at Rancho Santa Susana Park, calling the setback an “underclassmen’s initiation into the Marmonte League.”

“They still don’t understand that this is probably the toughest league in Southern California, where everything counts,” Ackermann said.

Meanwhile, it was a coming-out party for Simi Valley (9-2, 3-1 in league play), which started 10 underclassmen, including debutante Brittney Green, a freshman right-hander who notched a victory in her first league appearance.

Green (4-0), who retired 12 of the first 13 batters, allowed seven hits, struck out three and walked none.

Green tired in the final three innings when she surrendered six of Newbury Park’s seven hits. But who can blame her? She was the most active player on the field.

Green was thrown out at the plate in the second on a head-first slide, knocked down in the fifth at third by runner Tina Roscoe during a rundown, and dove back safely to first on a pickoff attempt. Nobody’s uniform was dirtier.

“She’s just real tough,” Simi Valley Coach Suzanne Manlet said. “She wants to play ball and works hard at it.”

The Panthers (10-3, 2-2), outhit Simi Valley, 7-5, but Newbury Park was outplayed from start to finish. Two errors, base running mistakes and mental lapses didn’t help its cause.

Simi Valley, The Times’ top-ranked team in the region, scored in the first when Lori Tande led off with a walk, took second on a wild pitch, advanced to third on Tracie Hall’s groundout and scored on a passed ball.

Newbury Park senior right-hander Stacie Beshore (5-2) had control problems throughout. Beshore, who struck out five, walked seven batters and hit another.

Simi Valley played well defensively. Third baseman Jill Clarkson and Tande, a junior shortstop, made routine plays on sharp ground balls down the line and in the hole.

Simi Valley added two runs in the sixth on a run-scoring single by Hall and a throwing error.