KELSEYVILLE >> Kelseyville High School fans face something of a dilemma today as the Knights are home in both baseball and softball for the quarterfinal round of the North Coast Section Division IV playoffs. Both games start at 1 p.m., which wasn’t Kelseyville’s idea.
The NCS decided to play both games at the same time instead of stagger them and as a result fans will be able to watch one or the other in person, but not both unless they’re running a relay between game sites — the softball diamond behind the Knights’ football field or Lloyd Larson Field, which is next to the old Gard Street School.
“I’m not sure why they didn’t play one at 1 (p.m.) and the other at 4 (p.m.),” said Lou Poloni, Kelseyville’s head coach in baseball.
The playoff doubleheader features the No. 2-seeded Knights baseball team (23-1-1) taking on No. 7 Del Norte (14-10) and the No. 3-seeded Knights softball team (16-3) going up against No. 6 Justin-Siena of Napa (8-15), which is a rematch of a non-league game won 6-4 by Kelseyville on March 25 in Kelseyville.
The stakes are pretty simple. Winners live to play another game in the semifinal round either Tuesday or Wednesday of next week and losers turn in their uniforms.
Baseball
“They do a lot of bunting, a lot of hit-and-run,” Poloni said of the scouting report on the Warriors. “They do a lot of small ball things.”
Del Norte pitched its ace, Luke Hardy, in a 7-3 win over Healdsburg on Wednesday in the opening round, so the Warriors will come back with either right-hander Noah Thomas or left-hander Trent Buschi today in Kelseyville. Bruschi, “a big lefty who throws a lot of slow stuff,” according to Poloni, is 4-3 on the season. Thomas, 2-4, is a straightforward over-the-top proposition who throws a fastball between 72-75 mph and mixes in a curve ball, according to Poloni.
Kelseyville will counter with its ace, Logan Barrick, who started at third base in the Knights’ 10-0 first-round win over Lick-Wildmerding on Tuesday as Jonah Lewis pitched a one-hitter. Barrick brings a 12-0 record into the game and needs one more victory to set the county’s single-season record for most wins. He went 12-2 last season to tie the previous high of 12 wins set by another Kelseyville standout, Gary Burns, who went 12-2 in 1998.
The Kelseyville-Del Norte winner draws the the Fort Bragg-St. Joseph Notre Dame winner in next week’s semifinals.
Does Poloni have a preference for the semifinals? Not really.
“Any opportunity to play after tomorrow is good enough,” Poloni said on Friday.“We’ll roll with it.”
If the Knights beat the Warriors, they will host next week’s semifinals regardless of the opponent.
Softball
When Kelseyville and Justin-Siena first met more than two months ago, nearly all of the scoring took place in the first inning.
“They came out and scored twice and we got five runs in the first,” Kelseyville coach Jeff Bour said.
The Knights received a first-round bye and haven’t played since clinching the North Central League I title on May 19 at home against Fort Bragg, but Bour said the bye has been “a good thing” for his players.
“We practiced Monday and I gave them Tuesday off so they could go root for the baseball team (in its win over Lick-Wilmerding),” Bour said. “Sometimes it’s good to give them a day off so they can clear their minds. That way they come back the next day ready to go.”
Kelseyville stole six bases in the first meeting the two teams and Bour said he hopes to maximize the Knights’ advantage speed on the basepaths again today. He certainly likes where his offense is coming into this game. Kelseyville has been hitting the ball up and down its order, and with power, the last few weeks.
“We’re stoked,” he said of his team’s mental state entering today’s game. “We can’t wait to play.”
The Kelseyville-Justin-Siena winner advances to the semifinals either Tuesday or Wednesday against the winner of a Friday quarterfinal game between Lower Lake and Del Norte.
“We’re rooting for Lower Lake to get it done. If we don’t get through, we hope they do,” Bour said.
