Three teams, one dream
CIF-SS Division I baseball playoffs start today
By Stephen Dorman sdorman@theacorn.com

BILL SPARKES/Acorn File Photos PANTHERS FLYIN' HIGH-Above, Newbury Park's Tim Williams gets airborne during a pickoff attempt against Arcadia earlier in the season. Below, Panther first baseman Andrew Lambo awaits the throw. NPHS, the Marmonte League champions, open the playoffs today at home against Edison. Game time is 3:15 p.m.

None of it matters now.

The stats don't matter. The home runs don't matter. The seedings, the ERA's, the hype, the press clippings-it won't make any bit of difference at this point.

Beginning today, all three of the Marmonte League teams that qualified for the CIF-SS Division I playoffs have new leases on life. (Calabasas also earned a postseason bid but lost to Saugus, 9-3, in the wild-card round Tuesday).

Although they were runaway league champions, Newbury Park has the same opportunity as Agoura and Thousand Oaks.

In the playoffs, it's of little importance that the Panthers won 20 regular-season games and captured the Marmonte League title by a four-game margin.

Nor is it significant that Agoura, once ranked No. 1 in the nation, played .500 ball over its final 12 games. Thousand Oaks barely scored as many runs this season (171) as it gave up (160).

Compiling a five-game winning streak at this point could put all of those regular-season accomplishment-or disappointments- quickly out of site and out of mind.

But it won't be easy.

"Everybody in this division is tough," Newbury Park head coach Scott Drootin said. "To win Division I, you've got five games, and all five games are individual wars."

Call it a lack of respect for the Marmonte League, but Newbury Park is the only team that received a first-round home game. The Panthers will host Edison, the third-place team from the Sunset League, at 3:15 p.m.

"Edison's an outstanding team from an outstanding league," Drootin said. "Do we want that draw? Probably not. But if you look down the list, who else do I want to play? There is nobody else."

NPHS junior Andrew Lambo, the Southern Section leader with 13 home runs, will likely get the starting nod on the mound against Edison. Lambo was 8-1 this season with a 1.52 ERA and 72 strikeouts in 55 innings of work.

Agoura, the Marmonte's No. 2 seed, travels to Los Alamitos to take on a Griffin squad that posted a 19-7 record. AHS was 17-8 overall.

The Chargers suffered two major injuries to its pitching staff in mid April when senior Jason Stoffel (6-2, 1.40 ERA, 58 Ks) and junior Robert Stock (4-2, 2.95 ERA, 57 Ks) both went down with shoulder ailments.

AHS head coach Scott Deck said Stoffel will be back on the mound for the playoff opener. Stock will be available in a relief role, he said.

"A lot of people may have written us off because they might not have known our whole situation," Deck said. "It's one of those things where we know what we have. Now we're trying to play our best baseball at the right time. That's what it's all about."

In a battle of Lancers vs. Lancers, Thousand Oaks makes the trek to Lakewood for its firstround game. Lakewood posted a 25-5-1 record, captured the Moore League championship and won nine of its final 10 games.

TOHS finished the regular season 16-12 overall but may be riding an emotional high after knocking rival Westlake out of the playoffs in the regular-season finale.

The field of 32 teams will be whittled down to 16 for Tuesday's second round. The Di

vision I championship game will take place Sat., June 3 at Angel Stadium in Anaheim.