CLOVERDALE — In a game that looked like a runaway through seven innings, the North held off the South 10-9 in the inaugural North Central League I North-South All-Star Baseball Game on Saturday at City Park in Cloverdale.
The North team featured players from Kelseyville, Middletown, Willits and Fort Bragg high schools, while the South roster featured players from Clear Lake, Upper Lake, St. Vincent, Cloverdale and St. Helena high schools. Only seniors are invited to play.
The South All-Stars trailed 10-4 going to the bottom of the eighth inning but rallied for four runs to make it a 10-8 game. They mounted another threat in the ninth as Clear Lake”s Noel McCormack singled with one out and scored on Matt Rohrs” RBI double to cut the North lead to 10-9. Mitch Delfino of Cloverdale, already 2-for-3 with a double and a home run, was intentionally walked at that point. Both runners moved up on a wild pitch.
With the potential tying run at third and the potential go-ahead run at second, the North went to the bullpen for Fort Bragg”s Eli Duran, who worked out of the jam by retiring the next two hitters, including a game-ending strikeout of Clear Lake”s Corey Dillon. Duran saved the game for winning pitcher Devin Nordin of Middletown, who worked 4 1/3 innings of shutout relief.
St. Vincent”s Rohrs, the second of four South pitchers, took the loss after the North scored four times in the top of the fifth to go ahead 6-4.
The North took a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning against Delfino, who is headed to Cal-Berkeley on a baseball scholarship. Justin Lilly of Kelseyville singled home the first run of the game and Johnny Harmyk”s sacrifice fly later in the inning made it 2-0.
The South pushed in front with four runs in the bottom of the third against North starter Lilly. Rohrs singled in the first run of the inning to make it 2-1 and Delfino followed with a towering three-run home to left field for a 4-2 South lead.
It remained 4-2 until the top of the fifth when the North went ahead to stay with a four-run rally against Rohrs. The North sent 10 batters to the plate. Fort Bragg”s Alex Johnston singled home the first run, Middletown”s Zach Strickler singled home the next run to tie the score at 4, and Fort Bragg”s Duran capped the rally with a two-run double to make it 6-4.
The North added four more runs in the top of the seventh against Clear Lake pitcher Christian Coddington, who was hurt by two South errors, to go up 10-4. Key hits in the inning included a single by Fort Bragg”s Jose Huerta and a RBI single by Middletown”s Harmyk.
The South got those four runs back in the bottom of the eighth. Defino drew a bases-loaded walk, St. Vincent”s Michael Carillo was hit by a pitch to force in another run, and Dillon doubled home two runs to make it 10-8.
The game wasn”t without controversy. In the bottom of the seventh, Delfino hit what appeared to be his second home run of the game, a deep drive into the trees that hang over the center field fence. However, the home plate umpire ruled the ball didn”t hit the trees and kept Delfino at second with a ground-rule double.
And in the bottom of the third, with Nordin on in relief of Lilly and the South threatening with a runner at second and two outs, St. Vincent”s Andrew Meiswinkel grounded a ball to shortstop that was booted. However, interference was called on the base runner, who the umpires ruled had interfered with the shortstop. He was called out for the third out of the inning.
Duran and Harmyk each had two hits for the North, which had 10 in all. Delfino, Dillon, Rohrs, McCormack and Meiswinkel had two hits apiece for the South, which had a total of 12.
All-Star organizers are hoping to bring the game back next year.
