JANN HENDRY/Acorn Newspapers HIT THE SHOWERS- Pioneer head coach Matt La Belle takes a bucket of ice water over his head at Dodger Stadium. Simi Valley's supermen don't wear an S in the middle of their chests, but it's pretty darn close.

The letter, in fact, is a little further to the left, over the heart, and instead of just an S there's a small V, too. The jersey represents the Simi Valley High baseball team, champions of the CIF-Southern Section Division I playoffs.

"These kids are just absolutely unbelievable," said Simi Valley head coach Matt La Belle following his team's thrilling 4-1 victory in nine innings over Long Beach Wilson at Dodger Stadium last Friday night.

"The heart they had. The courage they had. . . . Unbelievable. The kids are unbelievable."

Believe it, Simi Valley.

The Pioneers (25-8) are only the second team in county history to capture a Major Division baseball championship. Led by current Minnesota Twins outfielder Delmon Young, Camarillo High accomplished the feat in 2002. The Pioneers lost to Esperanza, 3-0, in the 1993 Division I final at Anaheim Stadium.

JANN HENDRY/Acorn Newspapers GAME-CHANGING PLAY- Simi Valley third baseman Kyle Raskin, left, tags out Long Beach Wilson baserunner Aaron Hicks in the eighth inning. Hicks was on second base with no outs, representing the winning run, when the Pioneers picked him off. Simi Valley won its first section title during the 2004 season when the team, also managed by La Belle at Dodger Stadium, competed in Division II.

All it took for SVHS to dethrone the reigning section champion from Long Beach were a dramatic pitching performance by junior right-hander Drew Sandler, a key defensive play that La Belle put in during practice the day before, some bad baserunning by Wilson, a blown suicide squeeze which produced the gamewinning score and a bomb off the bat of designatedhitterturnedreliefpitcher Nick Russo in the top of the ninth inning.

The Pioneers, coming off an 11-inning victory against Mater Dei in the semifinals, also had to try and solve Long Beach fireballer Aaron Hicks, who, on Thursday, was chosen by the Twins with the 14th overall pick in the Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft.

JANN HENDRY/Acorn Newspapers THE MAN- Although he didn't factor into the decision, Simi Valley High junior pitcher Drew Sandler was brilliant through seven-plus innings during the Pioneers' 4-1 victory over Long Beach Wilson. Okay, so the journey to the top wasn't that easy. Chalk it up as a characterbuilder of the championship variety.

"We've grown up playing baseball with each other for a long time," said Russo, who earned the win after throwing two innings of scoreless relief.

"This is how it's always been; we've always been there for each other."

It was Sandler who saved his finest pitching performance of the season for when his team needed it most.

Entering the contest with a 6-3 record and 3.02 ERA in 10 starts, and without a complete game to his credit, Sandler produced sevenplus strong innings against Wilson in which he allowed one run on four hits while walking two and striking out a pair.

JANN HENDRY/Acorn Newspapers GO CRAZY!- Pioneer players celebrate after the final out of the Division I baseball playoffs. It's the program's second section title. Essentially, Sandler matched the highly-touted Hicks pitch for pitch.

"We were talking before the game when we were looking into it," La Belle said, "and we asked, 'What do you want from the starting pitcher?' A couple of people asked me that.

"I said that I want a kid with heart and a kid that's tough who's going to leave it all on the mound, and (Sandler) did that, he absolutely did."

Hicks, bringing heat in the mid-to-upper 90s, was on top of his game as well.

After Wilson went ahead 1-0 in the bottom of the second inning on a two-out bases-loaded walk to Ryan Endres, Simi Valley scored an unearned run in the third to tie the score at 1-1.

Russo opened the third inning by advancing to second base on a throwing error by Long Beach third baseman Zach Wilson. Robert Toczynski replaced Russo as a pinch runner and advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt by Matt Orloff.

Following a groundout by Brent Keys, Pioneer first baseman Eric Bernstein's two-out single to left field plated Toczynski.

From the fourth through eighth innings, however, Simi Valley could muster little offense. The Pioneers put two runners on base in the fifth and another on in the seventh inning, but Hicks quickly extinguished both threats.

Sandler breezed through the third, fourth, fifth and six innings by allowing one hit. As the game wore on, the Pioneer pitcher began to feel more comfortable.

"I was definitely building confidence," Sandler said.

"After I got the first couple of guys out and they weren't hitting the ball hard, I was just cruising. I was just hitting the glove and doing my job."

In the bottom of the seventh, Long Beach pushed the potential winning run to third base with one out, but Sandler retired the next two batters on a groundout and strikeout, respectively.

Sandler walked the speedy Hicks to open the bottom of the eighth inning and was promptly replaced on the mound by Russo. Sandler then took his normal position behind home plate.

With Hicks on first, Sandler fired the ball down to the base in an attempt to pick the runner off. Hicks broke for second and slid in safely when Bernstein's throw went into left field.

With Hicks now in scoring position and no outs, the Pioneers went to a play they'd only worked on during their last practice leading up to the big game.

"The play at first I threw when I shouldn't have," Sandler said. "But when (Hicks) got to second we knew he'd fall for the fake, so we ran it."

Sandler fired to second as Hicks took a big lead. The runner got caught in a pickle and was tracked down by Simi Valley third baseman Kyle Raskin for the first out. Two batters later, a double play ended the inning.

Brett Hale was hit by a Hicks pitch to begin the ninth inning. Sandler was then plunked on an 0-2 count, and, just like that, Hicks' night was over, and Simi Valley had its most significant rally of the night.

With Ray Hanson on the mound for Long Beach, Pioneer shortstop Jonathan Meyer struck out. Chance Cross followed with a walk to load the bases. Up came Raskin, who, at 5-foot-6, is the shortest player on Simi Valley's roster.

Because Raskin had been drilled by a Hicks fastball earlier in the game and could hardly pick up a bat, La Belle called for a suicide squeeze.

Raskin "couldn't physically swing," La Belle said. "He's my third baseman, and I like having him there, so I thought we'd take a chance. Obviously the first one was bold, and then we took another chance. Basically we got lucky."

Raskin fouled off the first bunt attempt and missed the ball on the second try. As Hale was hung out to dry between third and home, Long Beach catcher Tanner Perkins overshot third base with his throw and Hale scored the tiebreaking run.

"My heart dropped," Hale said. "I was pretty scared. I was thinking I needed to just run home because there's no point in going back to third and getting thrown out. Why not just try to score, I figured."

Russo followed with a deep drive into the left-center field gap that plated Sandler and Cross. It was all the insurance Simi Valley would need.

"It's an awesome feeling," said Cross amid the postgame pandemonium.

"I've grown up with these guys my entire life. I've known all of them the whole time. It's so sweet that we can share this together. It means so much."