Expect a thrilling title chase on the diamond

We're at the midway point of the Marmonte League baseball season and it's beginning to look like the Wild West out there.

Seven teams have a legitimate shot at the championship, with only Calabasas on the outside looking in.

Early-season favorites Royal and Simi Valley lead the pack with 5-2 league marks. The Highlanders defeated their crosstown rival, 6-1, at Simi Valley on April 8.

Westlake and Newbury Park sit a game back at 4-3 in the Marmonte. Agoura, Moorpark and Thousand Oaks have all posted 3-4 league records. Calabasas is 1-6.

The league-wide logjam all but assures a fantastic finish during the next calendar month.

"If you drop one game to somebody," said Royal head coach Dan Maye, "it's going to hurt."

Agoura head coach Dennis Reitz, in his first year leading the Chargers, has already adopted a longstanding Marmonte moniker.

"It doesn't matter who—on any given day, anybody can win," Reitz said.

"Success is about preparation. It's about going out there and having some fun playing the game, and not getting caught up in all the little mental things players can get caught up in," he said.

For example, worrying about scores from other games is a big no-no with most league coaches, especially when push comes to shove in May.

"The Marmonte League, from top to bottom, is probably the best anywhere," Moorpark head coach Scott Fullerton said. "It's a war. You can't take anybody lightly.

"But we can't worry about any of that. We tell our kids every day to make sure they stay focused on what they're doing, even if there are cellphones ringing everywhere with people updating scores from everywhere else."

The bottom line remains simple: Players must produce between the lines on game days.

A look around the league proves there are plenty of leading men capable of guiding their team to the Marmonte crown.

At Royal, pitchers Bryan Berglund and Cody Buckel have been workhorses on a staff that boasted a combined ERA of 2.06 entering spring break.

In their first 51 2/3 innings, Berglund and Buckel allowed a combined 10 earned runs while fanning 70 batters.

On offense, the Highlanders are hitting at a .327 clip. Senior catcher Jeff Winters, the team's cleanup batter, began the week with a .424 average.

Royal's unsung hero, according to Maye, has been Billy Conard, who's played all over the infield and pitched.

Defending Division I champion Simi Valley was rolling along in league play until a pair of recent losses to Westlake and Royal closed the gap.

Seniors Jonathan Meyer, Brent Keys, Drew Sandler and Chris Talley remain the heart and soul of the Pioneers, who stand at 13-4 overall.

Simi Valley has played in several one-run games, including nail-biting wins over Newbury Park (4-3), Thousand Oaks (2-1) and Moorpark (3-2), as well as a 6-4 victory against Agoura.

At Newbury Park, shortstop Jack Marder is making a solid case for league MVP consideration, as is his Panther teammate, Michael Dennis.

Marder, the program's all-time hits leader, has a .439 average and five home runs.

Dennis, who plays both corner infield spots and pitches, is batting .578 with a team-leading 16 RBI. Jordan Brower, Newbury Park's top hurler, is also swinging a mean stick with a .449 average and 15 RBI.

"Early on, we proved that we could beat good teams like Notre Dame and Royal," Panther head coach Chuck Barrington said.

"We're very young, and early in the year I didn't know if we could get to the playoffs. But we're on a roll now, although we do have the occasional slip-up."

If the Panthers' No. 2 starting pitcher, Jimmy Sherfy, can continue to improve, NPHS feels like they have a chance to finish strong.

Westlake remains a tough read.

The Warriors allowed 126 runs in their first 16 games, including 39 runs during back-to-back losses to Camarillo and Agoura.

But Westlake's staff has since picked up the pace, and the team reeled off four wins in a row prior to spring break.

Offensively, the Warriors have received big-time contributions from Christian Yelich, whose .489 average and 19 runs scored lead the squad, and Nelson Spruce, a .413 hitter.

Tim Wise, batting .375, has stepped up in the clutch for WHS.

At Agoura, Coach Reitz has injected life into a program that hasn't been to the playoffs since reaching the section title game in 2006.

Winners of four of five games entering this week's San Luis Obispo Tournament, the Chargers are giving opposing pitchers fits by hitting a combined .302.

Sam Yarin and Garrett Aries are batting .429 and .425, respectively, for AHS. Ali Hamed and Richard Stock have each hit a pair of home runs and are threats to go deep at any time.

The Charger pitching staff has battled multiple injuries—there's a good chance hard-throwing Stock won't even see the mound this season—but through the rough stretches Zach Mercer has emerged as the team's ace.

"He has a nice, live arm," Reitz said.

Thousand Oaks has been on the wrong side of too many one-run games—seven such losses to date.

Lancer sophomore Avondre Bollar has been stellar at the plate with a .467 average and three home runs. For a young guy, he has immense power.

Walker Shaw, Mitchell Korey and Danny Leon serve as premier hitters for TOHS.

Thousand Oaks, which fielded the league's deepest pitching staffs in recent seasons, has leaned heavily on Cody Thomson, and he's delivered with a 1.43 ERA and 34 strikeouts in 29 1/3 innings. Mac Way sports an impressive 3.30 ERA in nearly the same amount of innings.

Moorpark won six of seven games to begin the year but has been hit or miss in recent weeks.

The one constant for MHS has been Landon Hunt, who leads the team with a .448 average and 1.05 ERA. He's another legitimate MVP candidate.

Ryan Watt and Luke Swenson are a pair of Moorpark pitchers who have shown the ability to mow down opposing hitters.

Calabasas beat Moorpark earlier this season and lost a one-run heartbreaker against Chatsworth.

The Marmonte typically gets four teams into the postseason, but could be eligible to land a fifth spot because of alterations to the playoff format, giving teams such as Calabasas reason to believe during the second half.

Marmonte standings