KELSEYVILLE — 1981. That was the last time Kelseyville High School won a North Coast Section championship in baseball.
Thirty years later, the Knights are a win away from earning a shot at another section title ? not the old Class A crown that existed in 1981, but the Division IV championship that replaced the Class A structure two years ago.
Only three Lake County baseball teams have won section championships of any kind dating back to the start of the NCS playoffs in 1975. Lower Lake was the first in 1980, Kelseyville won a year later, and Clear Lake has won each of the last three, most recently in 1998 (after also winning in 1983 and 1993).
It”s been a long drought, yet the Knights are making the best run by a county team in this century. The North Central League I North champions have won back-to-back games to get this far, beginning with a 4-3 victory over Fort Bragg on May 24 in the opening round, followed by a 3-2 win over No. 2 seed Healdsburg in the quarterfinals on Friday. Next up is No. 6 seed McKinleyville (17-8) in the semifinals on Wednesday at 5 p.m. at Lloyd Larson Field in Kelseyville, where the seventh-seeded Knights (17-7) enjoyed the homefield advantage each of their first two games.
The winner of that game will meet the winner of today”s semifinal between No. 1 seed Marin Catholic (21-4) and No. 5 St. Mary”s (14-11) in the Division IV championship game either Friday or Saturday at a site and time to be determined.
As far as scenarios go, the best one for the Knights would be a St. Mary”s victory today and, of course, a Kelseyville win on Wednesday, which would put the championship game location closer to Kelseyville or perhaps at Kelseyville.
Kelseyville and Marin Catholic are the only league champions in the playoff field, which gives them priority for hosting games.
Both the Knights and McKinleyville will take to the field Wednesday knowing who awaits them in the finals.
In addition to having nearly identical overall records, the Knights and Panthers played four common opponents during the regular season. Each team split a doubleheader with Fortuna, each team lost to Healdsburg (though the Knights won the playoff meeting with the Greyhounds), each team faced Arcata — Kelseyville split a doubleheader with Arcata while McKinleyville went 2-1 against the Tigers in the regular season before beating them 8-5 on Friday in the quarterfinal round of the playoffs. The two teams also faced El Molino — Kelseyville winning its only meeting and McKinleyville sweeping a doubleheader.
Besides beating No. 3 seed Arcata on Friday, McKinleyville defeated Lick-Wilmerding 11-4 in a first-round game on May 24.
