Camarillo Plays Like a SWAT Team

The Camarillo A team that will represent District 16 at the Legion Area 6 Championships beginning today has a motto similar to that of last season’s Camarillo High team that won the Marmonte League title.

“If our pitching can keep us in the game, our offense should be able to take care of the rest,” Camarillo A Coach Dave Soliz said.

The Legion team appears to have better depth on the mound, with the additions of Rio Mesa High standouts Jake Kor and Greg Ramirez, but the team is definitely a group of wall-bangers.

“We’re more offensively geared,” Soliz said. “And we feel pretty good now because we’re hitting the ball real well.”

Camarillo (22-5) averages one home run and two doubles a game.

Shane Miranda is batting .465 with 30 runs batted in, Jeff Bannon is batting .488 with eight doubles and 23 RBIs and Joe Yingling is batting .448 with 25 RBIs.

Tony Murphy has stolen 14 bases.

Defense, where Camarillo is averaging more than one error per game, is a concern, but Soliz said this year’s team compares favorably to the 1995 squad that won the area title and advanced to the state Legion tournament. Bannon and Joe Borchard also started on that team.

The ’95 squad had two pitchers who accounted for 22 of its victories. This season, Kor (5-0), Ramirez (5-0) and Miranda (5-3) are tied for the team lead in victories. Borchard is 2-0 with two saves.

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The name on the uniform is the same, but Newhall Saugus is a vastly different team than the one that played in the Area 6 playoffs the last two years.

Only three players--Canyon High graduates Chris Coash, Steve Lombardi and Jason Willis--were on last year’s team that won the District 20 title but won only one game in the Area 6 playoffs.

Eric Horvat and Chris Wright were on the 1995 Newhall team that lost both games in the double-elimination Area 6 tournament.

Most of the Hart High players on the team played for Santa Clarita South in 1996. Santa Clarita South was challenging Newhall Saugus--comprised mostly of graduated Hart players--for the Northern Division title last year when it was forced to forfeit all its games for using an ineligible player.

“It’s something that never should have happened but it’s all pretty much forgotten now,” Wright said. “It seems like a long time ago.”

Still, almost everyone on the team has played at Jackie Robinson Stadium--where most of this week’s games will be played.

Hart played there in the championship game of the Westside tournament earlier this season.

“It’s a great place to play,” Wright said. “It’s an honor to be playing on a college field like that.”

Newhall Saugus is hoping for better luck in the Area 6 playoffs, which begin today at Birmingham.

Coach Pat Eggleston virtually conceded the District 20 title by starting Cody Joyce on the mound against Valley North on Sunday. Joyce is one of Newhall Saugus’ best athletes, but it was the first time he pitched in six years.

“I’ve found out being the top team doesn’t help you a whole lot,” Eggleston said. “Everybody shoots for you. I’d rather sneak up on people a little bit.”

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Even when Newhall Saugus is eliminated from the Legion playoffs, the season will go on for Wright.

One of the top outfielders in the area after hitting .516 at Hart this season, Wright is slated to play in the Area Code games in San Diego next month and has drawn plenty of interest from colleges.

All of the attention has forced Wright to reluctantly give up football. Wright was the Indians’ starting running back last year, gaining 573 yards and catching 22 passes in Hart’s pass-oriented offense.

“It’s something I’m going to miss,” Wright said. “But it looks like my future is going to be in baseball so I’ve got to concentrate on being the best I can in baseball.”

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State American Legion officials have announced the first Area 6 playoff tournament for B teams. B teams are those that feature no players older than 17.

No District 20 teams will participate in the six-team tournament, to be held at Galvin Park in Ontario, July 31-Aug. 3. Royal is the District 16 representative and will play the 29th District representative in the tournament’s opening game at 3 p.m. on July 31.

State Legion Chairman Harold Hall said the tournament’s winner will advance to a six-team state B tournament Aug. 9-12 in Yountville.

Hall estimated that there are between 50 and 60 Legion teams using the B designation statewide.

“We’re trying to get more kids involved,” Hall said. “A lot of high school coaches only want to play their freshmen and sophomores and juniors.”

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Royal will enter the Area 6 B tournament with an unbalanced lineup of sorts--at least during warmups.

The team features only four outfielders and two of them, underclassmen Wes Martinelli and Matt Betancourt, are platooning in right field.

Left fielder Tony Ortega and center fielder Tyrone Kimbrough, varsity starters, have played almost every inning.

“In between innings of a doubleheader you look over at [Ortega and Kimbrough] and they’re just dead,” Royal Coach Dan Maye said.

That’s because four players are trying out at second and five more at first base, positions vacated by graduating seniors.

“We look over there and ask doesn’t someone want to go anywhere else, but no one leaves,” Maye said.

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American Legion Baseball Area 6 Playoff Games

Today at Birmingham High

* Newhall Saugus vs. Santa Monica, 9 a.m.

* Camarillo A vs. Westside, noon

* Valley North vs. West Covina, 3 p.m.