WENDY PIERRO/Acorn Newspapers BLOCKED OUT- Simi Valley High's Tawny Reeger is thrown out at the plate as Trabuco Hills catcher Madi Geiger applies the tag. Having not played a game in 12 days, the Simi Valley High softball team showed a lot of rust offensively against Trabuco Hills on Tuesday.

Thankfully for the Pioneers, their pitching didn't miss a beat.

Simi Valley hurlers Kelli-jo Killingsworth and sophomore Amanda Oliveto combined to give up no runs on two hits in seven innings for a 1-0 win in the second round of the CIFSouthern Section Division I playoffs.

The win improved the Pioneers' overall record to 28-0.

Killingsworth pitched the first three innings, allowing one hit while hitting a batter.

Although Killingsworth only threw 32 pitches, 25 of which were for strikes, SVHS head coach Russ Michael decided to take the senior out in the top half of the fourth inning.

"It was something I had planned on doing before the game started," Michael said. "We hadn't played a game in nearly two weeks, so I wanted to give a couple girls some innings."

The decision paid off for Michael, as Oliveto showed no signs of playoff pressure. In four innings of work, Oliveto gave up one hit while striking out four.

The only time Trabuco Hills threatened to score was in the top of the sixth inning. After Kursten Evanski struck out, Oliveto gave up a hit to Taylor Thurman. The Mustangs' leadoff hitter, Kelsi Luttrell, then reached on an error.

"When it was first and second and one out, my teammates came up to me and told me not to worry about it and that they had my back," Oliveto said.

"They had a lot of confidence in me, and that helped."

Oliveto then proceeded to get Kristyn Summers to pop out to third before striking out Kayla Massey to end the threat. The next inning Oliveto retired the side in order.

"I hadn't played in a game for about three weeks due to an ankle injury I had against Thousand Oaks, so I was a little nervous when the game began," Oliveto said.

"My screwball and curveball really worked well for me, and I had a great defense as well. I was so happy when I got the last out for us to win, but I made sure I didn't jump while running off the field this time."

The Pioneers ended up needing a great pitching performance, because their hitting couldn't get going. Simi Valley scored its only run in the bottom of the first on a sacrifice fly by Sam Fischer, who went 0-3 on the afternoon.

"In that first at-bat I had a 2-0 count, and I told myself that the next pitch was going to be the one I could hit," Fischer said. "It turned out to be a pitch I could get up in the air a little bit, and thankfully the ball was hit far enough to get a run in."

Michael was happy to get the win, but reminded his team afterwards that they need to score more runs when runners get on base.

"I told my team that the only thing I wasn't happy with was that we missed on so many opportunities to score," Michael said.

"We had three chances to score more runs earlier in the game, and we couldn't take advantage of them."

Simi was slated to play at Esperanza Thursday afternoon in a quarterfinal contest but the game was rained out and had to be rescheduled. The winner will play in the semifinal round on Tuesday.