East’s Timing Is Right in Win

It was supposed to be an easy Sunday afternoon for the East, a stroll to victory in an American Legion District 16 All-Star baseball game at Camarillo High.

But the East, loaded with players from front-runners Agoura and Ojai-Santa Paula, needed all the help it could get for a 5-4 victory in the 18-and-under game, which went nine innings as agreed beforehand.

The West had more hits, but the East had timely hitting, scoring twice on two-out singles.

The most important was a run-scoring single in the fourth inning by Tim Penprase, giving the East a 5-2 lead.

“Two-out hits are the key to baseball,” said Coach Tom Mendoza of the East. “If you can get them, they’re big.”

Penprase, who attends Moorpark High, also had a run-scoring double in the first inning and a single in the third.

“He did a great job with the stick,” Mendoza said. “He battled and wore the pitchers down.”

The West, which had 11 hits but only two for extra bases, hurt itself in several innings.

The West grounded into inning-ending double plays in the fourth and fifth innings, and ended the third when Steve Westerfield was caught trying to steal second.

The seventh inning ended when Brian Borchard was nailed in a rundown trying to advance to third on Westerfield’s single to right.

“I think we ran ourselves out of a couple innings,” said Coach Brian Harrison of the West. “But it’s an All-Star game and guys are going to be as aggressive as they can be.”

Brandon Mascorro, a junior shortstop for Ventura, had two run-scoring singles for the West.

Adam Segovia and Adam Schneider each hit doubles in a three-run fourth inning for the East.

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In the 17-and-under All-Star game, Davey Komatsu scored from third on a soft grounder to first by Brad Boyer in the bottom of the seventh inning to lift the South to a 10-9 victory.

Boyer, a junior shortstop for Camarillo, had two hits, and his mishandled grounder to first base capped a three-run rally in the seventh.

Eric Ross of Simi-Royal hit a grand slam for the North.