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'; myContent.SVExaminer06112004 = '\ \ \ \ \ \
\ Pioneers never doubted that they could be contenders
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By Wayne Bocat
Simi Valley Examiner\
\
\     The Simi Valley baseball team hadn\'t reached the CIF playoffs since 1995. In \'93 the Pioneers had lost in the CIF finals. In \'86 they\'d lost in the CIF semifinals.
\     But after finishing in third place in the Marmonte League this season, Simi Valley, under first-year head coach Matt La Belle, knew they had a team that could contend for a CIF title.
\     Even if others didn\'t believe.
\     \"I think we kind of got used to the fact that people didn\'t really believe, like we did,\" said La Belle. \"Our logo is, \'Ya Gotta Believe.\' It was kind of a running joke that every game we won, we\'d read what the other team did wrong to lose. It wasn\'t really that we won.\"
\     Said senior Dylan Gaughen: \"It doesn\'t get any better than this. For all the people that put us down and said we were underdogs, and said we were going to lose this game, maybe now they\'ll realize that we weren\'t going to lose.\"
\     \"And even if we had to play five more games,\" added Gaugen, \"we wouldn\'t have lost those either. Everyone here loved this. This is the best feeling I\'ve ever had playing baseball.\"
\     Still, if the Pioneers didn\'t get the respect it deserved from the media, it did get a lot of support at school and in around town.
\     \"Our crowd, our school, the whole community supported us 100 percent,\" said Gaughen. \"This is our last game and what\'s a better way to go out than CIF champs, at Dodger Stadium? It doesn\'t get any better.\"
\     Mike Roe, the senior right-hander who won the title game against El Dorado and finished the season with 12 wins and only two losses, agreed.
\     \"Our school is very supportive,\" Roe said. \"Our cheerleaders, our football players, our basketball players, our parents, everybody. All of Simi Valley. It\'s been great.\"
\     Of Simi Valley\'s 20-man playoff roster half are seniors.
\     Gaughen, Roe, Mario Collletto, Laydell Shelton, Steven Schultze, Troy Warn, John Schock, Evan Bryan, Travis Martin and Phil Giannone earned CIF championship rings in their senior year of high school.
\     \"Just going to the playoffs with those 10 kids was awesome,\" said La Belle. \"With all the tremendous success this program has had in the past, they\'ve never gotten to this point and won. It takes a lot of luck as well as talent.
\     \"They\'re going to walk out with the knowledge that they\'re one of the best in our school\'s history,\" added La Belle. During the regular season, the Pioneers lost five league games by a total of six runs. But in the playoffs, Simi Valley proved unbeatable.
\     \"It means a whole lot for the whole school,\" Roe said. \"We\'ve never had a CIF championship in baseball, ever. It was great. Everybody wanted it out here. We have ten seniors on our team. This is a great way to go out. It was awesome.\"
\     La Belle never doubted his players.
\     \"We stumbled in the CENTER of the season there, but we were still playing pretty good baseball,\" he said. \"In the playoffs, a different guy clutches up every time. Today we had five, six, seven different guys who got key base hits and obviously we\'ve gotten great pitching and defense.\"
\     Still, contending for a CIF title and winning one are two different things.
\     \"I knew we were going to be a pretty good team because we\'ve got such a great group of kids,\" said La Belle. \"But you can\'t predict this.\"\
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\ Simi Valley baseball wins first-ever CIF title
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By Wayne Bocat
Simi Valley Examiner\
\
\     The Simi Valley baseball team completed its historic run through the 2004 playoffs by defeating El Dorado 5-4 in the CIF-Southern Section Division II championship game last Saturday at Dodger Stadium.
\     The final out of the game came when Simi Valley\'s catcher Bryan Anderson, a junior, threw to shortstop Ben Orloff, a junior, who then threw back home to Anderson way ahead of a sliding El Dorado runner who attempted to tie the game on a delayed steal with runners on first and third and two outs.
\     Senior Mike Roe got the win and finishes the season 12-2. He pitched six sterling innings, allowing two runs, and left with a 5-2 lead, having thrown the maximum 10 innings allowed per week.
\     Senior Dylan Gaughen, after November shoulder surgery, didn\'t pitch until about two-thirds of the season was over, but has been clutch ever since including an incredible run in the playoffs. He proved human in the seventh, issuing four walks and giving up two runs to cut the Pioneers\' lead to 5-4.
\     With runners on first and third, two outs, and an 0-2 count on the El Dorado batter, Michael Olsen, a senior shortstop, the runner at first, Chris Taylor, a senior catcher, broke for second but stopped midway between first and second.
\     Anderson saw this and knew Orloff would be stepping in front of second base to shorten the throw home on a potential delayed double-steal attempt by El Dorado pinch runner Casey Vidovich, a junior, who did indeed break for home.
\     \"We had the (El Dorado) sign, so we knew they were going to delay,\" said Simi Valley first-year head coach Matt La Belle. \"So we knew that was coming. If we get the ball in Orloff\'s hands, it\'s going to be an out.\"
\     La Belle added: \"Assuming your shortstop is the best defensive guy you have in the infield, and obviously that\'s the case with us, and with Bryan (Anderson), a stud, behind the dish, that makes it easier.\"
\     It was another exciting win for Simi Valley, which won a 14-inning thriller over West Torrance, 5-4, in the quarterfinals, and an 8-7 thriller - thanks to Gaughen\'s two-out, sixth inning grand slam - against Santiago in the semifinals.
\     \"I had absolutely nothing and it showed,\" admitted Gaughen, referring his seventh-inning of relief pitching. \"But the rest of our team kept us in there.\"
\     La Belle knew Gaughen\'s only concern was keeping the Pioneers ahead on the scoreboard.
\     \"The other day Dylan said, \'I could care less if I go 0 for 4 as long as we get the win,\' and that\'s the feeling that they\'ve all had all season,\" La Belle recalled.
\     Simi Valley led 1-0 after scoring in the bottom of the second inning, 2-0 after scoring again in the third, and 4-0 after getting two more runs in the fourth.
\     Consecutive one-out doubles by Steven Schultze, a senior designated hitter, and sophomore third baseman Nick Giarraputto (an RBI), put the Pioneers ahead 1-0 in the second inning.
\     In the third, Anderson led off with a single and scored when Mario Colletto, a senior first baseman, singled to right field and the ball was misplayed by El Dorado\'s junior right-fielder Jeff Coats.
\     (Colletto was taken in the 39th round of the Major League Baseball draft later in the week by the Cincinnati Reds).
\     In the bottom of the fourth, the Pioneers rallied with two outs when Gaughen walked, Orloff singled, Anderson was intentionally-passed, Colletto was hit by a pitch with the based loaded, and senior center fielder Laydell Shelton drove home a run - making it 4-0 - with a single between third and short.
\     \"The first couple of innings I didn\'t feel real loose,\" said Roe. \"But I felt a lot more relaxed with a couple of runs up on the board. It\'s easier to throw when you\'re ahead.\"
\     El Dorado battled back, however, getting a run-scoring single from senior DH Mike Sandoval in the top of the fifth, and a sixth-inning triple by Taylor, the senior catcher, that led to a run on a ground out by Coats. The score was 4-2.
\     In the bottom of the sixth, Simi Valley stretched the lead to 5-2 when Gaughen singled, was sacrificed bunted to second by Orloff, and scored on Anderson\'s single to right field.
\     In the top of the seventh Gaughen walked the first three batters, struck out Sandoval, walked home a run, making it 5-3, got the second out, but also gave up the fourth El Dorado run - making it 5-4 - on a ground out to Orloff, setting up the final play.
\     \"Six or seven guys got clutch base hits today,\" La Belle said. \"This group has done that all season. They have a great work ethic and great chemistry. They get to walk out with (championship) rings on their fingers, something that\'s never been done at our school.\"\
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\ Simi\’s team of destiny brings home 1st CIF title
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By Kyle Jorrey
Simi Valley Acorn Sports Writer\
\ A CHAMPIONSHIP BATH-Simi Valley players dump a bucket of ice on head coach Matt La Belle immediately after the Pioneers won the Division II baseball championship against El Dorado last Saturday at Dodger Stadium. The final score was 5-4.\
\     Coming into the 2004 CIF Southern Section Div. II playoffs, it\’s doubtful that anyone knew the potential of this year\’s Simi Valley High School baseball team anyone that is, except the Pioneers themselves.
\     But no matter. Because after last Saturday\’s title game at Dodger Stadium, doubters will only have to turn to the record books to see just what kind of team this really was.
\     Culminating an unforgettable playoff run that included a 14-run crushing of Aliso Niguel, a 14-inning thriller against West Torrance and one memorable grand slam versus Santiago Corona, the Pioneers defeated five-time Div. II champs El Dorado, 5-4, for the school\’s first CIF baseball title.
\     After the game, senior standout Dylan Gaughen said he and his teammates were happy to finally put all the second-guessing to rest.
\     \"For all the people that put us down, that said we were underdogs, who said we were going to lose this game, maybe now they\’ll realize that we weren\’t going to lose,\" Gaughen said. \"And if we had to play five more games, we weren\’t going to lose those either.\"
\     Though El Dorado starter Zach Pettikas got most of the press coming into the game, having allowed just one run in 18 innings of playoff work, in the end it was Simi ace Mike Roe who was the star on the mound.
\     Roe (12-2) allowed just two runs (one earned) in six innings of work as he continued to play with the poise and confidence he\’s shown all season long for the Pioneers.
\     \"He\’s been our ace all year, the guy we go to every time in big games,\" said senior Ben Orloff. \"He\’s come through so many times, you just know when you come out what you\’re going to get from him, and he proved it again.\"
\     The pitcher said he was just doing his job.
\     \"I just wanted to go out there and give up less runs than the other team,\" Roe said. \"I knew we were going to score some runs, I have a lot of faith in our team and in our defense.\"
\     Entering the top of the 7th with a 5-2 advantage, head coach Matt La Belle was forced to turn to his bullpen because Roe had pitched his max amount of innings allowable yet he didn\’t feel too bad with Gaughen and his miniscule 1.02 ERA coming to the mound.
\     Only this time Gaughen didn\’t have his stuff, and before Simi fans could barely blink an eye, the Golden Hawks had the bases loaded with just one out after three walks by the pitcher.
\     \"The last inning I had absolutely nothing, and I showed it,\" Gaughen said. \"I just couldn\’t find the strike zone.\"
\     But the Pioneers, led by an unshakable group of 10 seniors, simply refused to relinquish the title when they had come so close. After El Dorado scored two runs, one on a wild pitch and the other on a sacrifice hit, the lead had diminished to 5-4, and the tying run sat on third with one out remaining. Gaughen then jumped ahead of the game\’s final batter, 0-2, and with the championship just one strike away, El Dorado tried some last-second tomfoolery. Unfortunately for the Golden Hawks, a team known for its aggressive baserunning, the Pioneers were ready for it.
\     With the ball in the hands of junior catcher Bryan Anderson, the El Dorado runner on first made a move for second base. Anderson reacted to the bluff and threw the ball to the shortstop Orloff, who began to chase the runner back to the bag. Just about that time the tying run on third began to make a mad dash for home plate, but Orloff wasn\’t about to be tricked that easy.
\     \"We had an idea that we were going to try something I started running him back when I heard my third baseman (Nick Giarraputo) yelling at me\" Orloff said. \"I just turned to Bryan (Anderson) and made the throw. That\’s stuff we\’ve practiced for all season, and to see it come through in a big situation like that makes it all worth it.\"
\     Anderson took the throw from Orloff, faced down the oncoming baserunner and made the tag for the game\’s final out. Pandemonium ensued both on the field and among the hundreds of Simi fans who had made the trek to the game.
\     \"It\’s an awesome feeling, I can\’t describe it,\" said La Belle, a first-year head coach who had inherited a Simi team that had finished last in the Marmonte League a year prior. \"I\’m just happy my boys get to feel it because they very much deserve it.\"
\     When asked if he had any doubts after Gaughen\’s poor start on the mound in the 7th, Giarraputo said his teammates never lost faith in their leader.
\     \"We knew Dylan from what he\’s been doing all year for us, and we stayed behind him,\" Giarraputo said. \"We knew somehow he would come through.\"
\     Offensively, it was truly a group effort for the Pioneers. Seven out of nine Simi batsmen recorded a hit, and four different players had at least one RBI. In the end though, it was senior Mario Colletto (2-for-3, 2 RBI) who stood out from the pack.
\     \"It\’s been that way all year long,\" La Belle said. \"We have a couple guys that stand out a bit, but every single game we\’ve won has been because of our team everyone does what they can and today Mario had some big hits for us.\"
\     Following another drama-drenched victory, the Pioneers couldn\’t help but give praise for the way the Simi Valley community has rallied around them throughout their storybook run to the title.
\     \"Our crowd, from our whole school to the community has supported us 100 percent,\" Gaughen said, his sweat and dirt covered face unable to hide his joy. \"Now we\’re CIF champs, it doesn\’t get any better than this.\"
\     Second baseman Troy Warn said no one on this Simi squad ever listened to those who doubted their ability to win it all.
\     \"We believed this could happen the whole time, every step of the way,\" Warn said. \"As amazing as it is, no one on this team every doubted we could do it.\"\
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\ Can\’t match that championship feeling
\
By Steve Ames
Special to the Acorn\
\ GAME OVER-Simi Valley\'s Bryan Anderson tags out Casey Vidovich of El Dorado at home plate for the final out.\
\     When the Simi Valley High baseball team has completed its celebration and head coach Matt La Belle begins the rebuilding process for the \'05 season, he will have to think about how to replace 10 seniors.
\     But on Saturday at Dodger Stadium as the Pioneers surprised him with a jug of water dumped over his back, next season was hardly among his thoughts.
\     \"Those kids have worked so hard all year long and all off-season and everything else to get ready to be in this position,\" La Belle said. \"Hard work pays off. It did for them. I could not be any happier for our guys.\"
\     Senior first baseman Mario Colletto is one of the players who contributed to the Pioneers\’ success, including a pair of hits and being hit by the pitcher on his 2-for-3 plus an RBI day.
\     \"It was a great way to end my senior year,\" he said. \"I couldn\’t ask for anything better than this. I thought it was going to be a tough game, and it was hard to get over all the people here (to watch) and the stadium itself.\"
\     Senior center fielder Laydell Shelton, who singled with an RBI and sacrificed in his 1-for-3 plate appearances, was still beaming as he cleared his equipment from the dugout.
\     \"This is the most excitement we\’ve ever had,\" he said. \"We knew when we were freshmen that we had a good team coming in. We\’ve all been friends together, and we just knew it was going to happen.\"
\     Senior designated hitter Steven Schultz, who was 1-for-3 on a double against El Dorado, was caught up in the post-game excitement.
\     \"This is insane,\" he said. \"The last three games have been absolutely nerve-wracking just watching them.\"
\     Senior second baseman Troy Warn was no longer taken by the size of the stadium by the time the game was over. It was the game itself that had him in a state of exhilaration.
\     \"I can\’t believe this just happened,\" he said. \"I don\’t know. I\’m just shocked. I knew we could make it this far, but nobody would have thought it would have been like this.\"
\     As the players and coaches gathered wearing their Pioneers Baseball \"Ya Gotta Believe!\" T-shirts, La Belle, whose team also won the Daily News Tournament this season, talked and thanked the players and the parents for coming out all season–then looked around at the largeness of the stadium and reflected again on the game just won.
\     \"Just to see the happiness in their eyes and you look at our side of the stands (behind Simi Valley\’s third base dugout) compared to the other side (behind El Dorado\’s first base dugout),\" La Belle said. \"Our fans are amazing. We brought the world.\"\
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\ Gaughen\’s late-game heroics lift Simi into finals
\
By Kyle Jorrey
Simi Valley Acorn Sports Writer\
\
\ PANDEMONIUM-Travis Martin, left, and Nick Giarraputo of Simi Valley High get ready to high-five Dylan Gaughen after he hit a grand-slam home run to win the game for the Pioneers during Tuesday\'s CIF semifinal against Corona-Santiago. Simi won 8-7 and will play in the final tomorrow at Dodger Stadium.\
\     There\’s something about the on- deck circle in baseball that makes it one of sport\’s most intriguing places. In plain view behind the batter, the batter\’s circle causes pitchers to alter their decisions on the mound and drama-thirsty fans to consider what kind of offense might be just around the corner.
\     With Simi Valley\’s Troy Warn at the plate in the bottom of the sixth inning, his team down three runs and runners on first and second, fans of the host Simi Valley Pioneers couldn\’t help but glance ahead to the on-deck circle and the player whom Santiago pitcher Taylor King would be facing next: senior slugger Dylan Gaughen.
\     After all, Gaughen’s bat had been Simi Valley\’s best weapon in the postseason, and after watching the Pioneers\’ unforgettable 14-inning win over West Torrance four days earlier, the fans weren\’t thinking base hit at this point they were thinking home run.
\     \"If only he could get up with the bases loaded, imagine what he could do,\" was the thought on everyone\’s mind.
\ ON THE FLY-Troy Warn of Simi High makes a flying catch during Tuesday\'s CIF semi-final game with Corona Santiago. Simi won 8-7 and will play in the championship game tomorrow at Dodger Stadium.\     Following the script, Warn reached first when left fielder Evan Bryan beat a force play at third by a hair. Gaughen stepped out of the on deck circle and up to the plate and set the stage for the fireworks to come.
\     On the very first pitch, Gaughen knocked a curveball off the Simi Valley scoreboard in left field for a grand slam that gave his team an 8-7 victory and triggered a frenzy among the countless fans who could have sworn they saw it coming.
\     In the top of seventh, Gaughen, also the team\’s pitcher, returned to retire the final three batters in order to put his team in Saturday\’s CIF Division II championship game at Dodger Stadium.
\     \"I knew we were down by three and that the home run would give us the one-run lead,\" Gaughen said. \"I wasn\’t particularly trying to hit a home run, but I got the right pitch and did with it what I could.\"
\     Like many, first-year Simi head coach Matt La Belle said he had a gut feeling when Gaughen, who had yet to record a hit in his first three at-bats, stepped to the plate.
\     \"I\’d be crazy if I said I knew it, but I knew it,\" La Belle said laughing. \"It\’s always nice to have a chance with your \'guy\' up at the plate and that\’s what we got. . . . I wouldn\’t want anybody else up there besides him, and he showed once again he\’s a leader.\"
\     After surviving in a marathon against West Torrance on Friday, the Pioneers knew they would have to recover quickly and bring their best against Santiago, the Mountain View League\’s No. 1 seed, and things started well.
\     Simi struck first in the bottom of the second when designated hitter Steven Schultze knocked in senior Leydell Shelton from second base with a hard base hit up the CENTER. Bryan, also on base, scored two plays later when Santiago starter Jacob Medina threw a wild pitch. But the Sharks came right back in the top of the third by recording a leadoff double and a single off Simi starter Mike Roe. Two sacrifice hits would lead to two runs, knotting the game at 2-2.
\     The Pioneers and the Sharks each scored two runs in the next two innings and the game went to the top of the fifth tied, 4-4.
\     With Roe showing signs of fatigue after his second starting appearance in four days, La Belle wasted no time in bringing in Gaughen from right field to pitch. Against West Torrance, the senior had thrown 7 1/3 shutout innings and recorded 14 strikeouts.
\     \"I tried to battle as hard as I could with what I had,\" Gaughen said. \"I hadn\’t thrown seven innings in three years, but I wanted the ball, and I wanted a chance to close them out.\"
\     But rather than quiver at the sight of Gaughen\’s lightening quick fastball, the Santiago hitters battled hard and managed to pick up base hits to the opposite side of the field, often with the count full. Aided by a couple of walks, the Sharks put up three runs off Gaughen in two innings, giving themselves a 7-4 lead and setting up Gaughen\’s heroics in the sixth.
\     When asked if the Pioneers began to think that their magical playoff run might be coming to an end down three runs, their team captain said no.
\     \"I don\’t think one person thought that,\" Gaughen said. \"Our team, all 20 guys, every one of them wants to go as far as they can. Everyone has a heart like no other, and we\’re going to battle through until the end of every game.\"
\     Awaiting the Pioneers in Dodger Stadium will be El Dorado (22-9) of Placentia. The Golden Hawks have won 12 in a row and earned a birth in the finals with a 3-2 victory over Hart.
\     Just one year after Simi finished in the cellar of the Marmonte League, the Pioneers are returning to the title game for the first time since 1993.
\     \"I don\’t think you could rewrite the script any better, from last place to the CIF championship game,\" Gaughen said.
\     Responding to all the excitement, Simi Valley locals have started to rally behind this team of destiny.
\     \"It\’s awesome, I drive around town and people everywhere know what we did,\" La Belle said. \"It\’s a great thing, and I know our kids love it.\"
\     According to La Belle, the Pioneers will most likely go with their ace, Roe, to start the championship game. The first pitch is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. tomorrow.
\     La Belle hopes the experience the Pioneers gained playing in the Daily News Tournament earlier in the year at USC will help prepare Simi for the pressure of playing at a major league ballpark.
\     \"It\’s definitely going to help us be a little more at ease when we get there,\" the head coach said. \"We had an awesome crowd today, but normally you\’re playing in front of 50 people and all of a sudden you\’re playing in front of 60,000 seats, it\’s an eye opener.\"
\     With so many stories already forged in just two weeks, Simi Valley is left with just one more important chapter to write.\
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\ Jenkins\' career, West Torrance\'s season come to an end with loss
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By Bob Holtzman
DAILY BREEZE\
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\ West Torrance center fielder Matt Roquemore leaps to make a spectacular catch and rob Dylan Gaughen of a two-run home run in the fifth inning to preserve a 4-4 tie with Simi Valley. West Torrance later lost the CIF Division II quaterfinal, 5-4 in 14 innings.\
\     The last moments of sunlight on Friday evening yielded more of a finish than the West Torrance baseball team -- especially its coach, Harry Jenkins, had hoped it would deliver.
\     Despite 19 league titles in 33 years of coaching and despite two CIF final appearances in 26 CIF playoff seasons, Jenkins\' hopes for a CIF title ended before an overflow crowd on Friday at West.
\     Simi Valley defeated West, 5-4, in 14 innings to advance to the CIF Division II semifinals. The loss not only ended another great season for West Torrance but also a remarkable career for Jenkins. Jenkins retires with a 651-286-3 record.
\     \"Sometimes, things in life don\'t turn out like you wanted,\" Jenkins said. \"I thought about (retiring) all day today. I hadn\'t done that before the first two playoff games. I knew today would be a tough game. I wanted to make sure I enjoyed it and coached the best I could.
\     \"I did.\"
\     West (22-10) and Simi Valley (25-7) stretched the first three innings nearly 90 minutes, each team scoring four runs. West scored four in the second inning, three on Simi Valley mistakes, another on a John Swanson RBI single. Simi Valley scored on a two-run home run by Bryan Anderson in the second inning and two more in the third inning on a sacrifice fly and a bases-loaded walk.
\     After 10 scoreless innings of close calls, great pitching and spectacular defense, Simi Valley scored the winning run in the top of the 14th inning.
\     West pitcher Ryan Kropf walked Dylan Gaughen with one out, then walked Bryan Anderson with two outs. First baseman Mario Colletto hit the first pitch offered to right field to score Gaughen. Simi Valley finished off West Torrance with a ground-ball double play in the bottom of the 14th inning.
\     \"Our guys don\'t give up,\" Simi Valley coach Matt La Belle said. \"I felt bad for West. I hate for (Jenkins) to lose like that.\"
\     Simi Valley\'s pitching staff held West to just six hits and struck out the Warriors 22 times. Gaughen had 14 of the strikeouts in 7 innings. The 6-foot-2, right-handed senior had pitched just 12 innings this season due to arthroscopic surgery on his shoulder in November. He nearly won the game in the fifth inning. He unloaded on a John Dunn pitch before West center fielder Matt Roquemore leaped and snatched the ball on the other side of the outfield wall.
\     \"When he hit it, I just started running,\" Roquemore said. \"I didn\'t look for the fence. My left fielder James Hass yelled, \'Fence,\' and I just went up for it and got it. That kept us going. This is a tough game to lose. We played two games worth.\"
\     West took momentum with the play, moving a runner to third base with one out in the bottom of the fifth, but Gaughen worked out of trouble.
\     \"Both teams had tons of chances to win the game,\" Jenkins said. \"This was the longest playoff game I\'ve ever been in. And it\'s one of the more frustrating because we had so many chances to win.\"
\     West stranded 15 baserunners -- seven in scoring position. The Warriors struck out four times with the bases loaded -- scoring just one run in a bases-loaded situation.
\     West\'s pitching staff held its own against a much deeper, more powerful Pioneers\' staff. Starter Phil Hons went 2 innings to start and then came back and went another 2 innings after Dan Torres and John Dunn worked some relief innings. Dunn threw three innings of no-hit baseball -- with some help from Roquemore -- before being pulled after working a CIF-maximum 10 innings this week. The senior had four strikeouts and two walks with one hit batter but couldn\'t earn a decision after entering and leaving the game in a 4-4 tie. West walked 11 batters in the game.
\     \"This is the hardest thing I\'ve had happen in baseball,\" Dunn said, fighting back tears. \"It\'s just not real. We worked so hard for this and I\'m so sad it\'s over.\"
\     Dunn wasn\'t the only one.
\     \"It hasn\'t hit me yet, maybe it will hit me in a day or so,\" Jenkins said about retiring. \"This was the end of a really fun career. I have no regrets.\"
\     \"Maybe it was too much fun.\"
\     Maybe indeed.\
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\ Big bats carry Simi Valley into CIF quarterfinals
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By Kyle Jorrey
Simi Valley Acorn Sports Writer\
\
\ WAY TO GO-Evan Bryan, right, of Simi Valley high-fives teammate Troy Warn after hitting a three-run home run in the second inning of Tuesday\'s CIF playoff game. Simi won big, 16-2.\
\     If hitting a baseball were truly an art form, as some say, then Tuesday\’s performance by Simi Valley in their second round CIF playoff game was a work worthy of Van Gogh.
\     Facing off against the Sea View league\’s top seed, the Alisa Niguel Wolverines, Simi Valley lit up five different opposing pitchers for a season-high 16 runs, including three home runs and six extra base hits. The biggest output came in the bottom of the second, when the Pioneers sent 11 batters to the plate, collecting eight runs on four hits (two home runs) and one error.
\     Aided by the output of his team\’s top two hitters, senior Dylan Gaughan (2-for-4, double, 3 RBI) and junior Brian Anderson (2-for-4, triple, HR, 2 RBI), starting pitcher Mike Roe improved his season record to a near-perfect 10-1 after allowing only two runs in his six innings of solid work. Gaughan, who just recently returned to the pitcher\’s mound after shoulder surgery, came in for relief in the seventh and promptly struck out two of the three batters he faced to retire the side and collect the save.
\     Next up for Simi Valley is a quarterfinal matchup with West Torrance (22-8), which defeated Buena 8-3 in the second round. Simi Valley lost a coin flip and must travel to play in Torrance.
\     After helping his team knock out a higher seed for the second time in five days Simi defeated No. 1 seed Atascadero on Friday, 6-3 Gaughan said the Pioneers confidence is flying high.
\     \"We\’re thinking we can pretty much hang with anyone right now,\" the senior said. \"I think some teams think because we\’re a three-seed they can take us lightly, but we’re showing we can play with anybody.\"
\     For Simi Valley head coach Matt La Belle, who saw his team put up 16 runs earlier this season, it was more a matter of good Pioneer hitting rather than poor Alisa Niguel pitching.
\     \"Their first kid threw the ball really well, we just have some guys who can swing it,\" La Belle said. \"The last couple games we haven\’t seen anyone with any velocity, and that\’s what we are used to in our league, and we came out and banged. I mean our guys swung it, bottom line.\"
\     In what turned out to be the deciding second inning, the Pioneers struck first on a bases-loaded double by Gaughan that plated two runs and left runners on second and third.
\     On the next play, junior Ben Orlaff laid down a picture-perfect sacrifice bunt that scored not one, but two Pioneer runs.
\     The next batter, Anderson, knocked out the game\’s first home run, a solo shot, followed by senior Evan Byran two batters later, who clubbed a three-run shot of his own. By the time the damage was done, Simi sat comfortably ahead, 10-0.
\     \"It\’s contagious,\" Gaughan said about the big inning. \"Once you see somebody else get a big hit you know you can hit the same guy and it just keeps on going.\"
\     With all of the day’s fireworks at the plate, fans might have missed another dominate performance by Roe, who collected his 10th win of the year.
\     \"He did a fantastic job, he\’s done that all year,\" La Belle said. \"Every time we put him up on the mound, we\’re a very good baseball team.\"
\     With a game today against West Torrance at 3:15 p.m., the Pioneers hope their bats can carry them a step closer to a championship contest at Dodger Stadium.
\     \"I don\’t know if we\’re going to get 16 runs, but we\’re sure going to put up as many as we can,\" Gaughan said. \"Our confidence is high right now we\’re just riding the wave to see how far it will take us.\"\
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\ Simi downs Downey in wild card round of CIF playoffs
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By Steve Ames
Special to The Acorn\
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\     Simi Valley High (22-7 overall, 9-5 Marmonte League) is in the CIF Division II baseball playoffs after soundily defeating Downey 11-1 in a wild card game played Tuesday.
\     The Newbury Park Panthers (11-16, 4-10), the team they blanked 7-0 last week to end the Marmonte League season, unfortunately, is not.
\     Up next for Simi Valley is a matchup away from home against the Atascadero Greyhounds, the Pac 5 League\’s No. 1 team, today at 3:15 p.m.
\     \"We haven’t been there (the playoffs) since \’95, not since Coach Scyphers was here,\" Simi Valley Head Coach Matt La Belle said. \"Mike (Scyphers) is obviously a great coach and has all of our school records for everything, so I\’m honored to be getting his tradition back.\"
\     As for the Panthers, first-year head coach Scott Drootin said as he began the season he could see the players had a lot to learn.
\     \"They were way behind,\" Drootin said. \"We\’re one of the few teams that at least improved the second half, and that\’s all I can ask for. They worked really hard and they\’re starting to get it. Unfortunately for the seniors, they\’re not going to be here, but this team in the next couple of years is going to be pretty good.\"
\     Newbury Park lost seven of seven games during the first half, but Drootin said that it was not for a lack of effort.
\     \"Our kids gave me 100 percent and I really enjoyed coaching these guys,\" he said. \"I\’m looking forward to the future with them.\"
\     Last week, Simi Valley beat Newbury Park, scoring two runs in the first, fourth and fifth inning and one more in the seventh inning. Senior first baseman Mario Colletto was 3-for-4 with one RBI, senior center fielder Leydell Shelton went 2-for-4 with one RBI and senior left fielder Evan Bryan was 1-for-4 with two RBI.
\     Senior pitcher Mike Roe limited the Panthers to three hits and got the win, and Le Belle was delighted to have it come against Newbury Park.
\     \"He\’s our guy. Mike (Roe) did a great job, came on and set the tone early,\" La Belle said. \"We scored a couple of runs early and we did a good job of hitting the ball up the CENTER and to the opposite field.\"
\     La Belle said that Simi Valley has had in two of the past three years games that would decide whether the Pioneers would go to the playoffs that have been played at Newbury Park. This year, he said he was happy things turned out in Simi\’s favor.
\     \"Really weird things have happened,\" he said. \"We gave up three runs in the bottom of the seventh two years ago to get knocked out and give Newbury Park the championship.\" The Simi Valley coach said he was also pleased with Colletto\’s game against Newbury Park.
\     \"Mario (Colletto) had a great game plus he made great diving catch down the line when they could have got going,\" La Belle said. \"He\’s played pretty well defensively for us all year. He\’s solid. He\’s up there in our team leaders for our runs, RBI and plays good defense.\"
\     As for La Belle, he hopes it\’s several weeks before his returning Pioneers need to start thinking about the 2005 season.
\     \"We\’re excited to go (to the playoffs),\" he said. \"We hope we can get pretty deep into the playoffs. Our guys are just great friends and they get along and our teamwork is just unbelievable.\"
\     \"You look around and everybody is rooting for the other guy not to fail,\" he added. \"Everyone still wants to fight for a chance to get it done. And they\’re happy for the guys who aren\’t getting it done. This leads to success.\"\
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