FORESTVILLE >> True, Kelseyville played El Molino a lot tougher on Thursday in the semifinals of the El Molino Tournament than it did back on Feb. 28 when the Knights lost 13-3 to the Lions in a non-league game at Forestville.
While that was some consolation for Kelseyville coach Lou Poloni, it wasn’t enough. Striking out 11 times and loading the bases with no outs in the bottom of the seventh and not scoring will sour your mood in a hurry.
“We struck out way too many times,” Poloni said. “And we still left a lot of guys on base.”
It was 7-5 going to the bottom of the seventh — Kelseyville served as the home team on Thursday — and each of the first three Knights to bat in the inning reached safely to load them up. The budding rally then fizzled with back-to-back strikeouts and a grounder to third base.
Kelseyville scored three times in the bottom of the first and led 4-1 after three innings. El Molino tied the game with three runs in the fourth and pushed ahead with two runs in the fifth against losing pitcher Andrew Vonwal, who struggled with his control and ended up walking five in four-plus innings.
“He walked five and that’s not his game,” Poloni said. “He’s a strike thrower.”
Kelseyville closed to 6-5 with a run in the bottom of the sixth but El Molino got that run back in the top of the seventh.
Logan Barrick went 1-for-3 with a double and two RBIs and Kyle Ellis also had a double as the Knights finished with five hits overall.
Kelseyville wraps up the tournament with a game Saturday. The opponent and time of the game has yet to be determined.
