BASEBALL TEAM DIGS NEW FIELD; SIMI HIGH REFURBISHES HOME YARD.

Byline: Sonia Giordani Daily News Staff Writer

Trading in their bats and gloves for rakes and shovels, Simi Valley High School baseball players helped transform their infield Monday from one of the most dangerous into one of the finest in their league.

Helping to level the hills and valleys of their infamous infield, more than 20 players gathered to install the new sod and to spread a fresh layer of ruddy brick dust.

``This was the worst infield in the league - bar none,'' said Tom Derrico, Simi Valley's coach. ``Our guys were getting bruised and battered because the baseball would take a bad hop.''

Earlier this month, Derrico's team helped remove the medley of grass and weeds that had sprouted up around the baseball diamond to prepare for the new turf.

``We found at least five different kinds of grass, plus dandelions,'' Derrico said. ``It looked pretty - but it's not so good for baseball.''

Scrapes and bruises may be part of the game, but the Simi field was turning ground balls - which can travel at more than 90 mph - into terrorizing plays, said Mike O'Neal, a 17-year-old middle infielder.

``We'd take baseballs in our arms and chests and even throats,'' said O'Neal, adding that bumpy baseballs from an unlevel field can cause many an error. ``A bad hop might cause a ball to bounce off of you, and then you'll try to rush a play and miss.''

For several years, the baseball team has hoped for a full-scale renovation of its 30-year-old field and looked for help from the Simi Valley Baseball Boosters, the team's principal fund-raising organization.

``We desperately needed a field,'' said boosters President Glenn Voorhees. ``But with our shoestring budget, we could only afford Band-Aid repairs.''

This year, however, the boosters decided to go through with the project.

Local landscape suppliers offered donations - everything from the new brick dust for the base paths to new sprinkler heads to help maintain the new infield - which cut costs from $20,000 to between $8,000 and $10,000.

Additionally, Voorhees said, several boosters offered to finance a $5,000 loan, which the organization and the team will pay off through car washes, candy sales and Christmas tree sales.

Headed by landscape contractor Bob Mooney, the project's reduced budget depended not only on the contributions of local suppliers but also on the volunteer labor put in by the players.

Although four professional laborers actually laid out the sod, Mooney said the young players actually did all of the most substantial hard labor themselves - from removing the original grass to carrying in the new sod.

For the players, the experience of building a field has perhaps helped build new unity in the team.

``This is a team thing. Our goal is to work as a team and to keep the feeling that we're looking out for each other like a team,'' said Scott Vermette, a 16-year-old varsity pitcher.

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2 Photos

Photo: (1--color ran in SIMI edition only) Simi Valley High's Chris Ferguson, left, and Mike O'Neal load up on sod for the ballfield.

(2--ran in SIMI only--color) Bobby Stockwell pats down a strip of sod.

Evan Yee/Daily News