KELSEYVILLE >> Slower thrower, harder thrower. The Kelseyville Knights don’t particularly care at this point of the season and took turns pounding both of the arms used against them by the Justin-Siena Braves in the quarterfinal round of the North Coast Section Division IV softball playoffs on Saturday in Kelseyville.
The proof was in the final score, which had the Knights 10-running the Braves 12-2 in six innings. Next up for third-seeded Kelseyville (17-3) is a long road trip Tuesday to Crescent City where No. 2 seed Del Norte (18-10) awaits. The winner advances to the Division IV championship game either Friday or Saturday against the winner of a Wednesday semifinal between No. 9 seed Piedmont and No. 4 St. Mary’s. Piedmont stunned No. 1 seed Fortuna 1-0 in the quarterfinals.
“I’m more worried about the long drive up there,” Kelseyville coach Jeff Bour said when asked about his thoughts on playing Del Norte in the semifinals. “I need to get them relaxed and refocused once we get up there.”
Kelseyville is leaving 8 a.m. Tuesday for Crescent City and first pitch isn’t until 5 p.m. The Knights will spend the night and return home Wednesday, according to Bour.
“I still feel confident about it,” Bour said when asked about the Knights’ chances against a young Del Norte team (eight of its 13 players are freshmen or sophomores) that ended Lower Lake’s season with a 7-2 victory in the quarterfinals on Friday. “I like our chances.”
Justin-Siena tried to throw off the timing of Kelseyville’s powerful offense by starting a pitcher with not much velocity and plenty of movement on her pitches.
The strategy worked for two innings as the Braves and Knights each scored a run in the first inning and went scoreless in the second. Justin-Siena briefly moved ahead 2-1 in the top of the third when winning pitcher Allison Bryant struck out the final batter to leave the bases loaded. A key play on defense by shortstop Riley Goff helped limit the damage as Goff fielded a ball deflected by third baseman Tymeka Green and beat a Justin-Siena runner to third base for the forceout.
Kelseyville’s bats thundered to life in the bottom half of the inning as Taylor Paulich got things started with a single. Paige Bour’s one-out double tied the game at 2 but only until Goff doubled home Bour to put the Knights ahead to stay. Bib Hamner’s RBI single scored Goff to make it 4-2. Kelseyville then loaded the bases with two outs for Grace Davidson, who greeted a harder throwing Justin-Siena relief pitcher with a two-run single back up the middle to make it 6-2.
“To my thinking that was obviously one of the keys to the game,” Bour said of Davidson’s big hit.
Kelseyville broke the game wide open with another five-run rally in the bottom of the fifth before ending it with a run in the sixth, at which point the 10-run rule came into effect.
Davidson sparked the Knights with three hits and four RBIs. Hamner added two more hits, including one of Kelseyville’s four doubles on the day.
“Our girls were loose and rested coming into the game after a week off,” Bour said.
So loose in fact that the Knights didn’t strike out once while pounding out 11 hits. They also didn’t commit a single error in the field.
Bryant scattered six hits, struck out two and walked two. After running into a bit of trouble in the top of the third, she allowed just two baserunners over the final three innings.
“Aly pitched really well,” Bour said.
The Knights also beats Justin-Siena 4-2 in a non-league game earlier this season in Kelseyville.
