High school ballplayers stay sharp in summer

JANN HENDRY/Acorn Newspapers STEALING SECOND—Westlake High infielder Paul Cipriani, left, applies the tag on Camarillo base runner Michael Martinez during a summer league game last week at Camarillo High. Royal High third baseman Billy Conard views summer baseball as an opportunity to establish himself as a team leader for the Highlanders.

Dalton Saberhagen, a pitcher for the Calabasas Coyotes, is focused on winning each and every game his squad plays, thus helping to craft a positive culture around the CHS program for the 2010 regular season.

And for head coaches such as Zach Miller of Westlake, Camarillo's Richard Jaquez, Dan Maye from Royal and Calabasas' Ed Edsall, the offseason is a perfect time to evaluate their teams' incoming talent, be it at the freshman, junior varsity or varsity level.

"For us, the majority of our tryouts for next year's varsity team are happening right now in the summer," Maye said. "We want to see who might be on the varsity and who might be the starters."

Thirty-two high schools are participating in this year's Valley Invitational Baseball League, which includes area teams representing Moorpark, Newbury Park, Agoura, Royal, Camarillo, Thousand Oaks, Simi Valley, Calabasas and Westlake.

"Baseball has become yeararound," Miller said. "The rules now allow us to play all year, and guys don't have to go to club teams or summer camps to stay active. It also allows us to keep the kids playing together as much as possible."

The VIBL has been in existence since 2000, and the league continues to grow with each passing season.

Play began June 6 and the action wraps up in late July. In addition to hundreds of summer league contests, the VIBL also conducts a pair of All-Star games that will be played Saturday afternoon at Birmingham High beginning at 3:30 p.m.

There's also a singleelimination postseason tournament at the conclusion of the season.

According to multiple coaches, the VIBL is an extremely structured league that operates in a similar fashion and by a similar set of rules to the high school regular season.

Varsity head coaches are required to run the teams, and most squads play between two and four seven-inning games per week by utilizing a mix of returning varsity members and youngsters from the lower levels.

Although many schools are devoid of star players who might be competing with travel teams or taking part in Junior Olympics tryouts, most rosters remain stocked with up-and-coming talent.

"We're missing a lot of returning guys right now," said Edsall of Calabasas before his team's game at Royal last Friday.

"But that means the other guys without varsity experience are getting good opportunities to prove themselves."

For some coaches, winning VIBL games is important because it can serve as a benchmark for future success.

"If you are in the top 10 of this league at the end of the summer, then you're usually one of the top teams the following (regular season)," Maye said.

"There hasn't been too many times where I've seen a team finish in the 20s and then come back and win a league title the next season."

Because he has 14 players expected to return to the Scorpion varsity roster next spring, Jaquez, the Camarillo coach, doesn't concern himself too much with wins and losses during the summer.

"We don't practice at all," Jaquez said, "but we do tell the kids that they are always being evaluated."

For the players, summer ball boils down to seizing opportunities and staying sharp.

Conard, the senior-to-be at Royal, has made it a top priority to be at every one of the Highlanders' games despite the fact he's more than likely to have a starting job in the spring.

"I can't get too cocky and think, 'Oh, I'm a starter. I don't have to perform because I'm a designated starting player.' Because things can change at any time," Conard said.

"We need a team leader, and I'm ready to step up. This is my No. 1 commitment right now— Royal baseball and getting ready for next season."

The workload for pitchers is toned down a notch in the summer—most teams operate under self-imposed pitch counts—but for a guy like Saberhagen of Calabasas, a reliever-turned-possible-starter, the intensity level never wanes when he takes the field.

"For us, it's a team thing, and we want to win this league more than anything," Saberhagen said.

"Day in and day out, we're working our butts off to make that happen."