KELSEYVILLE — Three days after delivering a game-winning pinch-hit single in a 3-2 victory over Clear Lake, Kelseyville High School”s Blake Sedrick pitched six strong inning to register the win in a 4-1 non-league varsity baseball victory over the St. Helena Saints on Tuesday afternoon at Lloyd Larson Field.
Sedrick combined with reliever Dustin Thaxton, who picked up the save, on a five-hitter. Sedrick allowed St. Helena”s five hits, struck out three and walked one. He took a shutout into the top of the seventh.
“Blake threw really well,” Kelseyville coach Lou Poloni said. “When he missed, he missed down in the strike zone.”
Kelseyville grabbed a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second when Zack Bailey reached on error, stole second and third and scored on another error.
The Knights didn”t score again until the fifth when they plated three runs after two were out. Mike Davis” RBI single made it 2-0, Chris Aguon followed with a RBI single to make it 3-0, and Max Huff doubled home another run for a 4-0 lead.
“We”re getting the pitching and playing pretty good defense,” Poloni said. “And we”re swinging the bat better. We hit some hard shots today.”
Kelseyville climbed back over the .500 mark at 5-4. The Knights return to action Friday in Upper Lake.
In other baseball action Tuesday:
Lower Lake 4, Upper Lake 2
At Upper Lake, Johnny Meza pitched a two-hitter and didn”t allow an earned run as the Lower Lake Trojans beat the Upper Lake Cougars in non-league action.
Meza allowed two runs in the bottom of the first inning. Lower Lake (2-4) closed to 2-1 in the top of the third and pushed ahead to stay with two runs in the top of the fourth. Jason Winans” RBI grounder knotted the score at 2 and Tony Fonseca”s suicide squeeze bunt brought home Luis Martinez with what proved to be the winning run.
“It was perfectly executed,” Lower Lake coach Joe Mattos said of the squeeze play.
Lower Lake added an insurance run in the fifth on Josh Benfante”s RBI single.
Meza struck out six and walked four. He was backed by a defense that committed a single error.
“Best defensive game we”ve played this year,” Mattos said. “It”s nice to see our hard work paying off.”
Fonseca, the Trojans” third baseman, made a couple of highlight-reel plays in the field, according to Upper Lake coach Jim Green.
“He made two nice plays going to his left in one inning or we would have gotten some runs,” Green said.
Mattos agreed. “He played lights out at third base.”
“His kids are on the right track,” Green said of Mattos” players. “They are disciplined at the plate and they play good defense.”
Each team had only one error.
“A good game, a clean game,” Green said.
Luis Castillo, who relieved Billy Armstrong to start the fourth inning, took the loss.
Brandon Bills and Jared Wade had Upper Lake”s only hits.
Cloverdale 9, Middletown 3
At Middletown, Cloverdale scored early and often while cruising to a non-league victory over the Middletown Mustangs (4-4), who have dropped three straight after a four-game winning streak.
Cloverdale scored four times in the top of the first inning and added five runs in the third for a 9-0 lead.
“They got to us early, we made a bunch of mistakes,” Middletown coach Mitch Tucker said of the Mustangs” six errors on the day.
Middletown picked up single runs in the fourth, sixth and seventh innings.
Losing pitcher Kyle Brown lasted just 2 1/3 innings, allowing eight runs, six of which were earned, on nine hits. Conner Chick pitched 4 2/3 effective innings in relief, allowing just one run.
“Chick did a really nice job,” Tucker said. “He”s got some good velocity and he kept the ball down.”
Eric Schenck went 2-for-3 and scored twice for Middletown.
Clear Lake 10, Willits 4
At Lakeport, the Clear Lake Cardinals squared their season record at 4-4 with a non-league win against the Willits Wolverines.
In an e-mail received by the Record-Bee late Tuesday morning, Clear Lake head coach Paul Larrea said he would no longer be phoning in results to the newspaper but would instead post them on the MaxPreps website.
Softball
Cloverdale 14, Middletown 0
At Middletown, the Cloverdale Eagles, defending North Coast Section champions, scored 11 times in the top of the first inning and went on to beat the Middletown Mustangs in five innings in non-league action.
Losing pitcher Kaitlyn Swank faced 11 batters in the first inning and retired only one before being relieved by Victoria Alessandra, who worked the final 4 2/3 innings.
“Even though it was 70 degrees, we got run over by a snowball in that first inning,” Middletown coach Bob Cummesky said. “She (Swank) has been pitching pretty well of late, but she just didn”t have it today. I tried to let her work through it, but it didn”t happen.”
Alessandra limited the Eagles to three runs the rest of the way.
Middletown (2-6) did have six hits, including two by third baseman Cheyanne Horvath (2-for-3), who also played well in the field.
“She was just awesome,” Cummesky said of the sophomore. “She made six great plays.”
Middletown hosts Calistoga on Thursday.
Lower Lake 13, Upper Lake 7
At Upper Lake, the Lower Lake Trojans erased a 7-1 deficit after two innings and roared back to beat the Upper Lake Cougars in non-league action.
Lower Lake rallied with seven runs in the top of the sixth to go ahead 11-7. Katelyn Spooner”s two-run single in the seventh rounded out the scoring.
Winning pitcher Amanda Graf worked 5 2/3 innings before giving way to Kristen Garcia, who made her season debut with 1 1/3 shutout innings. Graf struck out six and walked five while Garcia struck out one and walked none. Katherine Edmonds took the loss, striking out four and walking 11 in six innings.
Katelynn Spooner went 2-for-4 with a double and three RBIs to lead Lower Lake (2-4) and Isabelle Azbill and Nicole Spooner added two hits apiece.
Edmonds went 2-for-4 with a double and a RBI and Vanessa Hanson went 2-for-4 with a RBI for Upper Lake (2-4).
St. Helena 11, Kelseyville 1
At Kelseyville, the St. Helena Saints beat the Kelseyville Knights in a non-league game called after six innings because of the 10-run rule.
Kelseyville (0-3) scored in the bottom of the third to make it a 5-1 game.
Losing pitcher Sabrina Lyon went the distance, striking out four and walking four. She also had one of the Knights” three hits. Victoria Zendejas and Kyra Rudnick had the others.
“We”re just not getting hits yet,” Kelseyville coach Taryn O”Donnell said of her young squad, which has only one senior and four juniors. “Otherwise I thought we played really well.
“We”re getting better,” O”Donnell added. “It”s definitely a work in progress.”
Tennis
Middletown 3, Clear Lake 2
At Lakeport, Middletown beat Clear Lake 3-2 in Coastal Mountain Conference tennis action as Cody Astley, who just took up the sport last summer, came through with a big 6-2, 6-2 victory in second singles, his first high school win.
“He”s just one of those natural athletes,” Middletown coach Vic Wroobel said. “He”s really coming along.”
Middletown also won in third singles where Maddie Kucer rallied to beat Clhoe Rojas in a three-set marathon, 2-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-3; and in first doubles where Nika Gibbs and Jeremy Turner prevailed 6-4, 7-6 (7-3).
Clear Lake”s victories came courtesy of Andreina Guedez”s 6-0, 6-0 win in first singles and Darcy McCarrick”s and Tamara Rojas” 6-0, 0-6, 6-3 win in second doubles.
Middletown is 3-1 and Clear Lake 2-2.
Golf
Napa 203, Kelseyville inc.
At Napa, Zach Sims fired an even-par 36 for nine holes to lead Napa High School to a non-conference win over the Kelseyville Knights at Chardonnay Golf and Country Club.
Kelseyville”s team was incomplete (fewer than five players) because of illness and an excused absence.
Corey Huber led the Knights with a 42 that included a birdie. Liz Berry carded a 47 and Ryan Schmidt finished with 50.
“It was a nice day in the Napa Valley,” Kelseyville coach John Berry said. “Chardonnay is a beautiful course.”
Kelseyville hosts a Coastal Mountain Conference South match Thursday at Adams Springs Golf Course beginning at 2 p.m.
