Soft-Toss Rule Violation Postpones HS Baseball Game

NEWBURY PARK — The Marmonte League first-place showdown between the Newbury Park and Thousand Oaks baseball teams was not played as scheduled on Friday after Thousand Oaks principal Lou Lichtl informed the umpires and Newbury Park athletic administrators that Newbury Park violated the pregame batting practice rule by throwing the wrong form of soft toss.

"We brought it up to the umpires and the Newbury Park people," Lichtl said. "It's a league rule and a CIF rule. It's an unfortunate situation. But the rules have to be followed."

Lichtl confirmed Thousand Oaks has video evidence, too.

It is not certain if Thousand Oaks can count the victory on its record just yet.

Newbury Park coach Curtis Scott didn't concede anything.

"The allegations are under review," Scott said. "That's all I can say right now."

Thousand Oaks coach Jack Wilson was willing to play the game under protest. Lichtl indicated Newbury Park did not think it would be wise to play at all.

"We thought we could play the game and then let the protest and process play itself out," Wilson said. "It was a surprise not being able to play. We were ready to go. I was informed by my athletic director and then the administrators took it from there."

Licthl added: "They took front toss batting practice. It can only be from the side. The rules are clear. There is only 24 hours allowed to file a protest. It was decided it wouldn't be a good idea to play the game. We wanted to bring it up right away and be up front about it, not play the game and then bring up the issue.

"We left with the game not being played and a forfeit win in our favor. It's now Newbury Park's protest to bring up."

Thousand Oaks came in red hot and didn't get the chance to win its eighth in a row on the field. Newbury Park had lost two in a row, including a 5-2 setback Wednesday against Thousand Oaks.

The teams are scheduled to meet on May 10, the last game of the regular season for both teams.

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