Royal beats Agoura in Marmonte League baseball
By Steve Ames
Special to Simi Valley Acorn

If the Royal High baseball team wins too many more games by a shutout, the Highlanders’ head coach could go broke.

Dan Maye told his team that every time the Highlanders blank an opponent he’d treat the team to doughnuts the next day.

"When we shut them out, I’ve got to go to Krispy Kreme because I have to buy them all doughnuts," Maye said. "They’ll be in my classroom (the next day) getting doughnuts."

So far, the victories have been sweet.

In its first four Marmonte League games, Royal (7-4, 3-1) tallied three consecutive shutout wins.

On March 19 the team scored a 13-0 victory over the visiting Newbury Park Panthers. March 24 the final score was 9-0 at the expense of the host Agoura Chargers and last Friday the score was 1-0 as the visiting Calabasas Coyotes took the loss.

The 23 unanswered runs and trio of triumphs come after Royal opened the league season by losing to the visiting Westlake Warriors, 5-3.

Against the Chargers, junior pitcher/third baseman/first baseman D.J. Smith pitched five shutout innings, gave up one hit and struck out five.

Maye said Smith "can hurt you both ways.

"He threw a great game on the mound plus he also hits for us real well."

Also in the Agoura game, Smith and junior pitcher/first baseman Clayton Edwards each powered 3-run homers and Eric Blackwell hit a solo homer.

With reference to the three home runs, Maye said he didn’t expect the Highlanders to be such a power machine.

"Our goal is to be a team that plays good defense," the coach said. "I’m more pleased with the shutouts because even if we get into a one-run ballgame we still have a chance of winning.

"I want our defense to feel that ‘hey, we can go out and shut teams out.’ It’s difficult to do at the high school level. We’ve had good pitching."

The coach said he was impressed with how well Edwards pitched in the win over Newbury Park—in addition to his work at the plate.

"He got himself in the lineup because of his bat," Maye said. "He was actually the third first baseman, but he’s been swinging real well. (In the Agoura game) it didn’t seem to be a good at bat, but all of a sudden it was out of the ballpark. So he’s able to do that."

The coach said that the middle of the Highlanders’ lineup has done well. The names include Blackwell, Smith and sophomore third baseman/pitcher Kevin Harrington.

"They’ve been real productive as 3-4-5 guys," Maye said. "Everyone else is saying, ‘just get on base.’ That’s kind of our game plan. We get guys on base, keep it simple. I don’t think we’re a long ball team. (Against Agoura) we just happened to get three up in the air."

Last Friday against Calabasas, Edwards (4-0), who hasn’t allowed an earned run in 20 innings, hurled a four-hitter that included eight strikeouts. The Highlanders won by virtue of junior shortstop/pitcher Phil Boscarino’s double that sent sophomore centerfielder/pitcher Kevin Harrington home with the go-ahead run.

"Once you start to get it, the guys start to get a little confidence in their swing and they start seeing the ball," the coach said. "I think confidence helps their bats."

Last Saturday Royal split a double-header with the visiting Dos Pueblos Chargers of the Channel League. Dos Pueblos won the opener, 5-3, and the Highlanders took the second game, 15-6.

Boscarino (1-0) doubled, accounted for four RBI and was the winning pitcher in the second game. Junior first baseman Steven Vranau and junior pitcher/outfielder Corey Vane had doubles for the Highlanders.

"Saturday (was) a game for guys to get mechanical out on their hitting," Maye said. "It’s a game we want to go out and win, but it’s not a league game. Guys who have been working hard and not in the lineup can play."

"We battle with teams at the top, Moorpark (Wednesday) and Simi Valley (today)," Maye said. "They are both very good. A sweep would be outstanding. A split would be good."

Today’s game is at Simi Valley High against the Pioneers. First pitch will be at 3 o’clock. Next Wednesday Royal will be at Thousand Oaks to play the Lancers. During spring break Royal will travel to play in the San Luis Obispo Easter Tournament.

As the Highlanders continue through the season, Maye said the coaches are going to stress defense more.

"Our offense always gets better because kids like to take batting practice," he said. "My job is to keep them in tune and say, ‘hey, we really need to work on defense.’ Our kids are actually defense oriented because I think I am."