Simi Valley Again Wins Grudge Match With Royal

Royal High must be wondering what it will take to beat Simi Valley, its cross-town rival that has become more of a cross-town nemesis on the baseball diamond.

Of the Highlanders’ past 24 games against Simi Valley before Wednesday, they had lost 21. That included two victories last season when Simi Valley struggled to finish with a winning record and Royal was on its way to a playoff berth.

Royal took a 9-0 record to Simi Valley’s field on Wednesday, but the Highlanders were tagged with an 8-6 loss in a Marmonte League game.

As if that wasn’t enough, Royal had to endure the damage inflicted by Steve Bernstein--the Highlanders’ starting right fielder last season who transferred to Simi Valley. Bernstein had two hits, two runs batted in and a stolen base.

“I’m glad it’s over,” Royal Coach Dan Maye said.

“I’m tired of hearing about this game all the time. You go to the store and you hear 10-year-old kids saying, ‘My brother is going to hit a home run off your pitcher.’ And I say ‘Oh, yeah? Who’s your brother?’ ”

That must have been Aaron Fischer, whose fourth home run gave Simi Valley a 4-0 lead in the second inning. Tyler Nelson added a triple and a double and drove in three runs. And Brian Vasey (4-0), a senior right-hander who went the distance, did not allow an earned run in lowering his earned-run average to 0.52.

The Pioneers (11-2, 3-0 in league play) improved to 22-4 against Royal (9-1, 1-1) since Simi Valley Coach Mike Scyphers took over in 1979, including a 30-0 thrashing in 1986.

Simi Valley wasted no time on this occasion, scoring three runs in the first inning on Nelson’s two-run triple and Bernstein’s sacrifice fly.

“That was a big key,” Scyphers said. “We rolled a three, which enabled us to do all kinds of stuff, like hit-and-run and steal.”

Simi Valley stole eight bases in eight attempts, setting up two critical runs and extending its season total to 43 in 47 attempts. Six players stole at least one base, and James Manzi stole three.

Defensively, Manzi used his speed to snare a sinking liner that ended a three-run Royal rally in the sixth that had pulled the Highlanders within two at 7-5. In the fifth, speedy left fielder Daryl Hernandez (two for two) raced up and made a diving catch that ended an inning in which Richard Naranjo’s two-run home run threatened to rejuvenate Royal, which entered the inning trailing, 6-0.

“We made some nice plays, and we didn’t make some nice plays,” Scyphers said.

The latter occurred in the final two innings. Simi Valley’s young middle infielders, sophomore shortstop Ryan Briggs and freshman second baseman Ryan Hankins, botched a pair of routine plays that led to four unearned runs and provided Royal with some sense of dignity.

But not much.

“The game was not as close as the scoreboard indicated,” Maye said.

“I think because of the tradition of the series, our guys get out here and can’t handle it, for whatever reason. And I don’t know what’s going to change it.”