UKIAH >> East manager Lou Poloni said it was easy penning a batting order for his squad on Sunday as it took on the West in the eighth annual NCL All-Star Baseball Game at Mendocino College in Ukiah.
“I just didn’t put any positions down next to their names,” Poloni said with a laugh. “I said, ‘You guys figure it out.’”
They did that and more while rolling to a 10-5 victory.
Sponsored by the Cloverdale American Legion, the All-Star contest brings together senior players from high schools throughout the North Coast. The East squad featured players from Kelseyville, Middletown, Clear Lake and Sonoma Academy while the West roster included players from Cloverdale, St. Helena, Willits and Anderson Valley. There were some no-shows — Upper Lake in the East and Fort Bragg in the West.
Poloni said his dilemma was pretty straightforward.
“I had 10 outfielders and four first-basemen types,” he said.
Fortunately the East also had Middletown catcher Brett Pike, who caught all nine innings in nearly triple-digit heat. Poloni said his makeshift infield included a left-handed shortstop — Sam Pyzer of Middletown – and one of the biggest second basemen ever to play for a Poloni-coached team — Tyler Manning (6 feet, 220 pounds) of Clear Lake, a first baseman for the Cardinals during the 2016 season.
What Poloni had plenty of was pitching. Noah Lyndall of Kelseyville, 8-1 for the Knights during their recently completed 20-3 campaign, started for the East and worked three scoreless innings for the victory. He left the game with a 5-0 lead and turned the ball over to Dylan De La Montanya of Sonoma Academy.
“I didn’t know anything about the kid but he’s legitimate,” Poloni said of the hard-throwing De La Montanya. “He gets the ball up there in the high 80s.”
Like Lyndall, De La Montanya worked three innings, allowing four hits and two runs, only one of which was earned. He struck out four and walked two. By the time De La Montanya gave the ball to Middletown’s Stephen Amos, who worked the next two innings, the East had a commanding 9-2 lead.
“It was a loose dugout,” Poloni said of the interaction between the East players. “It was one big party. The Middletown and Clear Lake guys were great. Everyone got along from the moment they met.”
The East put the game away early with Lyndall putting up zeroes on the mound. It was 3-0 after one inning and 5-0 through two. The West got as close as 5-2 in the top of the fourth but the East answered with two runs in the bottom half to go up 7-2 before putting the game away with a two-run sixth.
Manning went 2-for-3 with two RBIs for the East while teammate Travis Williams of Middletown went 2-for-2. Nick Pfann of Kelseyville had the team’s only extra-base hit, a double, while also driving in a run. De La Montanya also drove in two runs.
Kelseyville’s Sambhava Baird certainly hit the longest ball that was caught, according to Poloni.
“He hit a couple of really scary balls,” Poloni said. “One of them went about 375 feet to center field before it was caught.”
Poloni gave special kudos to Pike for hanging in there all nine innings behind the plate given the hot weather.
“Noah could have caught but he (Pike) said he was fine,” Poloni said. “I was really impressed with him. He plays all nine innings and he also threw out three runners.”
