ST. HELENA — Missed chances and porous defense were too much for the Kelseyville Knights to overcome Thursday in their North Central League I varsity baseball opener at St. Helena.
The Saints prevailed 8-3 behind the complete-game effort of Jonathon Wignall, who allowed eight hits but walked only one. He also struck out six.
“They”re a good team, they”ve got a lot of speed,” Kelseyville coach Lou Poloni said of the Saints. “I figured they would be one of the teams to beat this year. I think we can beat them but we didn”t play like it today.”
Trailing 4-2 going to the top of the sixth, the Knights (0-1, 1-2) loaded the bases with no outs against Wignall, who ended up allowing just Zach Krohn”s RBI fielder”s choice groundout.
“We had a chance for a big inning,” Poloni said.
St. Helena (1-0, 5-2) then broke the game open with four runs in the bottom of the sixth.
“We kind of fell apart a little bit in the sixth,” Poloni said with an eye toward his defense, which committed four errors.
St. Helena parlayed three of Kelseyville”s fielding miscues into a three-run first inning, wiping out the 2-0 lead the Knights jumped out to in the top half.
“That changed the complexion of the game,” Poloni said of the bottom of the first.
A St. Helena throwing error on a double steal by the Knights in the top of the first made it 1-0 and a run-scoring balk moments later made it 2-0.
Dustin Thaxton took the loss for Kelseyville, working 5 1/3 innings and allowing all eight St. Helena runs.
John Mark Reagan and Aaron Gonzales had two hits apiece for the Knights.
In other baseball action Thursday:
Lower Lake 10, Calistoga 0
At Calistoga, bouncing back from their first loss of the season on Tuesday against El Molino, the Lower Lake Trojans rode the arm and bat of Luis Martinez to a five-inning shutout victory over the Calistoga Wildcats.
Martinez tossed a one-hitter, struck out eight and walked one on the mound for the Trojans (4-1). At the plate he went 3-for-3 with a triple, three runs and a RBI.
Calistoga”s only hit was a one-out single in the bottom of the third. Martinez induced a 6-4-3 double play moments later to end the inning.
“He threw great, he hit his spots,” Lower Lake coach John Miller said. “He mixed it up very well.”
Four Lower Lake batters combined for 13 of the team”s 16 hits. Besides Martinez, Jonny Meza went 4-for-4, Zef Roofener went 3-for-4 with two RBI, and Jon Duncan went 3-for-4 with two RBI.
Softball
Lower Lake 18, Calistoga 8
At Calistoga, the Lower Lake Trojans sent 13 batters to the plate during a nine-run fifth inning, rallying from an 8-4 deficit to beat the Calistoga Wildcats in non-league action.
Winning pitcher Shelbie Harris, working in relief of starter Amanda Graf, pitched the final 5 1/3 innings. She also had a two-out RBI double in the top of the fourth that briefly tied the game at 4. Calistoga pushed ahead with four runs in the bottom of the inning before the Trojans rallied in front in the fifth.
“She threw strikes and kept us in the game,” Lower Lake coach Chris Emberson said of Harris. “She also had that big two-out double in the fourth.”
Harris ended up 2-for-2 at the plate with three RBI. She also scored three times. Isabelle Azbill went 2-for-4 with a double and three RBIs,h.
Lower Lake is 5-3.
Tennis
Kelseyville 5, Clear Lake 0
At Kelseyville, the Kelseyville tennis team improved to 2-0 on the season with a shutout victory against Clear Lake. All five matches were decided in the minimum two sets.
In No. 1 singles, Moses Kuzu beat Raul Rendon 6-0, 6-0; in No. 2 singles it was Nils Mostin over Kenny Henninger 6-3, 6-0; and in No. 3 singles it was freshman Claire Vargas notching her first high school win with a 7-6 (7-4), 6-4 victory over Tamara Rojas.
In No. 1 doubles, Kyle Schmidt and Max Lehman were 6-2, 6-3 winners over Brian Gatton and Nathan Harper. Ashley Taylor and last-second replacement Justin Lombardo beat Faith Hornby and Serena Kacharos 6-4, 6-1 in No. 2 doubles.
“We”re looking pretty good,” Kelseyville coach Jeff McLaren said. “First, second and third singles are set and I”ve got my first doubles team back. Fifteen kids came out, lots of girls and boys. I”ve got some fillers this year (such as Lombardo, who replaced Daniel Lucas), so we”ve got people coming up.”
Golf
At Petaluma, St. Vincent won by 33 shots over its closest pursuer, Middletown, in the Coastal Mountain Conference South season opener at Rooster Run. St. Vincent finished with a score of 333 (combined low four rounds out of five golfers), Middletown had 366, Kelseyville 370 and St. Helena 390. Rincon Valley Christian was incomplete.
“It was a three-club wind, extremely windy,” Kelseyville coach John Berry said of the playing conditions.
“St. Vincent de Paul is definitely the class of the league,” Berry said.
Evan Knight led the Mustangs with the day”s low round, a 4-over-par 76. Rincon Valley”s Kasey Cazet was next at 80. Kelseyville”s Wyatt Ferrell and Corey Huber had the next lowest rounds at 85 and 87, respectively, and Anthony Tacla led Middletown with 88.
Ferrell had three birdies during his round and Huber one.
Kelseyville plays in the San Leandro Tournament on Monday at Tony Lema Golf Club. The next CMC South match is Wednesday at Meadowood Resort in St. Helena.
