Napa Valley Register, May 21, 2007
Indians strand 13 base runners in first-round playoff exit
CARMICHAEL — The Napa High baseball team saw its season come to a close with an 8-2 loss to Elk Grove in the first round of the Sac-Joaquin Section Division I playoffs on Saturday night.
Elk Grove (18-10 overall), which put up two runs in the first inning and six in the second, held Napa (17-10) to just four hits in the game at American River College. The Thundering Herd advanced to play Davis — a 5-1 winner Saturday over Folsom — at 7 p.m. today at ARC.
With most of the action coming in the first and second innings, the Indians had to play catch-up after the first inning got off to a controversial start.
With runners at first and second and one out, Elk Grove’s Jake Rodriguez hit a sharp base hit to right field to plate Miguel Rubio for the first run of the game while moving David Freitas to second.
Josh McMahon followed with a fly ball that Indians center fielder Ryan Kostecka appeared to have caught. Kostecka threw back to first base, thinking he had also caught Rodriguez for the double play, only to find the umpire crew declaring no catch. Freitas came into score on the play, putting Elk Grove up 2-0.
Napa led off the bottom of the first with a Kostecka walk, followed by a base hit from Mike Santora, but the pair were left stranded. That set the tone for the rest of the night, as the Indians left 13 base runners stranded.
“We didn’t cash in on opportunities,” Napa skipper Todd Pridy said. “We had heard that if we could force them (Elk Grove) to play defense that they could make mistakes, but we couldn’t put the ball in play.”
The Thundering Herd proceeded to unload in their half of the second.
Troy Watson led off with a triple to left-center off the arm of Indians starter Jason Westerberg. Watson later scored on a wild pitch and Patrick O’Rourke worked the count full and took first on a base on balls. On a 1-1 count to Joel Hull, O’Rourke took off for second but was caught stealing by catcher Ted LeMasters, who threw down to Chad Albrecht for the tag. Westerberg went on to strike out Hull for the second out of the inning.
Leadoff hitter Rubio took first after being hit by a pitch and Justin Charles walked to bring up Freitas, who singled to left field to bring in Rubio, putting Elk Grove up 4-0. Rodriguez walked and McMahon singled to center field to score Charles and Freitas.
Pridy brought in Ryan Brown to get Napa the final out of the inning, but not before two more Elk Grove runs had come in. Brown fared well for the Indians, pitching 2-2⁄3 innings and giving up only three hits, but the damage had been done.
“We were ready. We were prepared. We knew we just needed to produce that night and we couldn’t. It was very frustrating,” Pridy said.
The Indians tried to get their offense going in the bottom of the second inning after Brandon Savin (1-for-3) led off with a base on balls. Albrecht grounded out to third base, moving Savin over to second, and John Boyett walked. Kostecka stepped in the box and the first pitch was a passed ball, moving Savin and Boyett into scoring position. But Watson shut down the rally by striking out Kostecka for the third out.
Napa didn’t have another hit until the fourth inning, when LeMasters got an RBI base hit to right field that knocked in Boyett after he had reached on a walk. The Indians struggled for runs the remainder of the game, putting up only one more in the bottom of the seventh after Robbie Steen walked. Jason Hagan came in to pinch-run for Steen and later scored on a hard-hit double off the bat of Nick Placone.
“It was a very good season. I’m very proud of the team, but we didn’t put forth our best effort. I told them after the game that this is probably going to sting for a while,” Pridy said.
The first Indians baseball club to win the Monticello Empire League since 1977 will graduate seven seniors — Kostecka, Hagan, LeMasters, Brown, Placone, Albrecht and Westerberg.
