KELSEYVILLE — Greg Giusti”s final game as head coach of the Kelseyville High School softball team saw the host Knights drop a 2-1 decision to the Fort Bragg Timberwolves in North Central League I North action on Friday.
Fort Bragg (7-0) clinched the North championship with the victory. Kelseyville (5-3, 6-17) will finish no worse than tied for second place.
Giusti has coached seven seasons at Kelseyville. Although his daughter, Lauren, a star player for the Knights, graduated in 2007, he didn”t want to leave.
“I love it,” Giusti said of coaching. “I absolutely love it, but I”ve got this thing called a job that absolutely eats me up.”
Giusti is a natural resources adviser for the University of California and is spearheading Lake County”s effort to keep the quagga mussel out of Clear Lake and surrounding lakes.
“We built a program while I was here and got some things going,” said Giusti, who is hoping that his assistant coach, Taryn O”Donnell, will get the job. “It”s not up to me, but I hope she does.”
Kelseyville grabbed a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning on Sabrina Lyon”s RBI single. The score remained unchanged until the top of the fifth when Fort Bragg pushed across its two runs, the final one scoring on winning pitcher Cassidy Lowe”s RBI single.
Other than the first inning, Kelseyville”s best scoring opportunity came in the third when Ashley Mueller (2-for-3) led off with a double, but the Knights couldn”t advance her as Lowe escaped trouble with two strikeouts and a comebacker.
Mueller also doubled with one out in the first and later scored.
“We gave some people a run,” Giusti said of the North race. “We just didn”t get it done in one-run games this year (0-5).”
