Napa Valley Register, May 22, 2006
Mistakes prove costly, Napa High eliminated by Yuba
SACRAMENTO — The Napa High School baseball season ended on Saturday night following a 7-2 loss to Yuba City on the campus of American River College in the first round of the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Division I playoffs. Defensive errors and base running mistakes led to the Indians’ demise. Metro League champion Yuba City capitalized on four costly Napa errors.
“We had a number of uncharacteristic mistakes,” head coach Toddy Pridy said. “We had base running mistakes and we didn’t take the smart at bats that we had been over the last couple of weeks.”
Indians starting pitcher Matt Derr competed for the Indians, but had to pitch through a deficit from early on in the contest. The Honkers got on the board in their half of the first inning when Shane Kunkle led off with a walk. Kunkle moved to second on a bunt off the bat of Brock Stassi and a fielding error put Stassi at first. Max Stassi laid down a sacrifice bunt to move runners to second and third and with one out, Brian Garcia hit a sharp ground ball to Indians’ shortstop Chad Albrecht, who got the out at first. The RBI for Garcia was the first run of the game and Napa would have to play catch up for the rest of the contest.
“Matt Derr pitched well for us. He had great command and battled, as he did all year. He was definitely up for the challenge,” Pridy said.
Napa bats started to come alive in the top of the third when Nelson Saldivar (2-for-3, two singles) stroked a base hit down the third base line for a single. John Boyett’s ground ball moved Saldivar to second and with two outs, lead off hitter Ryan Kostecka (2-for-4, double, run, RBI) hit a scorching ground ball to the right side. Honkers’ first baseman Brian Garcia made a diving stop but an errant throw to first brought Saldivar home. Mike Santora (1-for-3) stepped into the box and with a 1-1 count, had an infield hit to move Kostecka to second. Indians three-hitter, Ted LeMasters (1-for-3, single, RBI) got his chance to do some damage with a 2-0 count but Napa’s offensive strike was stifled when Kostecka was caught stealing third for the final out.
Yuba City saw its chance to put a few more runs on the board in its half of the third inning when lead off hitter Kunkle reached on an error. Brock Stassi hit a chopper to the left side that yielded another Napa error. With runners at the corners, Max Stassi hit a sacrifice fly to right field that scored Kunkle and an errant relay throw moved Brock Stassi to second. Yuba City pulled ahead 2-1. An errant pickoff move moved Brock Stassi to third and Alan Hudson’s sacrifice fly scored Brock Stassi to put the Honkers up 3-1 going into the fourth.
Max Stassi, a freshman for the Honkers, added to his season high numbers when he doubled to the left field fence to bring in two runs in the bottom of the fifth. Yuba City went up 5-1.
“His numbers are pretty impressive,” Pridy said of Stassi. “I think both teams recognized the abilities of their opponents. It was evident by the lack of stolen base attempts that both coaches recognized the ability of the catchers on the field.”
The Indians started to get their offense going again in the sixth when Boyett led off with a walk. Kostecka doubled to left field, moving Boyett to third. Santora hit into a fielder’s choice and Honkers’ third baseman Robby Ward chose to get Boyett at home for the first out of the inning. LeMasters had a base hit to left field to score Kostecka and move Santora to second, but that wall the Indians could muster.
Yuba City plated a couple more runs in the last innings of play and Napa couldn’t catch up.
Napa, which will be losing five seniors (Derr, Saldivar, David Hagan, Nick Galli and Jordan Martini), had come off a five-game winning streak that included a victory over Will C. Wood and a big win over cross-town rival Vintage.
“We had great contributions from our seniors this year,” Pridy said. “We have two all-league selections in Derr and Martini, David Hagan contributed on the mound and while Saldivar and Galli had bouts with illness and injury, they still came back and contributed. I hope they will look back at this season as a positive experience.”
“We want to build on this,” Pridy said. “Now the players have seen the lights and the stage. I think it’s completely reasonable to expect us to reach this position again next season.”
The Indians finish the season with a 15-11 overall record and were the first Napa High club to reach the playoffs since 1998.
Yuba City will take on Elk Grove tonight at American River College at 7 p.m.
