NAPA >> The Kelseyville Knights and Middletown Mustangs bowed out of the North Coast Section Division IV playoffs on Wednesday during first-round games, Kelseyville falling to No. 2 seed Justin-Siena 9-2 at Napa, and Middletown dropping a 10-0 decision in five innings to Moreau Catholic at Hayward.
Both Lake County squads qualified as at-large teams with Kelseyville (11-14) the No. 15 seed in the 16-team baseball bracket and Middletown (11-12) the No. 11 seed in the 14-team softball bracket.
Kelseyville tied for third in the final North Central League I baseball standings this season while Middletown was fourth in the NCL I softball standings.
Kelseyville
The Knights were deadlocked with Justin-Siena 2-2 through three innings before the Marin County Athletic League team found its groove at the plate against losing pitcher Noah Lyndall. The Braves scored twice in the fourth to go up 4-2, extended that lead to 6-2 in the fifth and then broke things open with a three-run sixth.
“It didn’t have the feel of a blowout until about the sixth inning,” Kelseyville coach Lou Poloni said. “We didn’t play bad. I thought we swang the bat right there with them and our defense did a good job.”
The Braves jumped ahead 2-0 without aid of a hit in the bottom of the first, making the most of three Lyndall walks and a Knights error to grab the lead. Kelseyville tied the score in the top of the second on back-to-back two-out RBI singles by Nick Pfann and Brandon Huber (2-for-3).
The Knights put runners in scoring position in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings but couldn’t come up with the hit that they needed.
While Kelseyville graduates seven players, Poloni said he is optimistic about next season.
“We have a lot of our core guys coming back,” he added.
One of those guys is Lyndall, who went the distance on the mound.
Justin-Siena (14-10) moves on to the quarterfinals Saturday against Cloverdale, a 1-0 winner over El Molino in opening-round action Wednesday.
Middletown
Middletown couldn’t generate any offense in its opening-round playoff loss to Moreau Catholic of Hayward. Moreau Catholic, the No. 6 seed, improves to 14-10 with the victory and will play No. 3 seed Fortuna in the quarterfinals on Friday in Fortuna.
Middletown senior pitcher Renee Edwards entered play needing nine strikeouts to tie and 10 to break the single-season Lake County record of 249 set in 2007 by Clear Lake’s Brittany Rumfelt. Unfortunately, game results were not reported to the Record-Bee by its 10 p.m. print deadline Wednesday night.
