The Napa Valley Baseball Club’s 17-and-under team went 4-0 in its Napa Valley Classic tournament last weekend at Cleve Borman Field in Yountville.
Napa Valley opened with a 5-2 win over Sonoma Stack on Friday. Sonoma scored twice in the top of the second inning for a 2-0 lead. Stack had three singles, an error, a double and a walk during the inning, leaving the bases loaded.
Napa Valley responded in the bottom of the fourth with all of its runs. Dario Freschi was hit by a pitch, Ian Fernandez (1 for 2, walk) singled and Jeffrey Page walked and all three scored. Carson McCaffrey (1 for 2, hit by pitch) singled and stole second base but was tagged out at third base on a fielder’s choice off the bat of Mason Medina (1 for 2, double). Noah Lustig walked, and he and Medina both scored on a single by James Burgess (2 for 2, walk).
Page pitched the first six innings and gave up 8 hits and 2 walks while striking out 4. Miles Tenscher pitched the seventh, allowing one hit and striking out one.
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On Saturday, NVBC won a back-and-forth affair with Cal Rays, 7-4. Napa Valley scored two in the first inning and one in the fourth to go up 3-0. The Rays then got on the board in the bottom of the fourth and even took the lead, 4-3, before NVBC answered with a four-spot in the fifth.
Burgess was 1 for 2 with a run scored, Fernandez was 2 for 3 with a double and 2 runs scored, Freschi had a sacrifice fly RBI, Page went 2 for 3, Medina was 2 for 3, Johnny Alcayaga had a sacrifice fly RBI, McCaffrey went 1 for 2, Tenscher was 1 for 2 and was hit by a pitch and scored, Kai Gulliksen drew a walk and scored, and Avina was hit by a pitch and scored.
In Sunday morning’s semifinal, Fernandez threw a complete game shutout. In the 4-0 win over A.E., he faced only 2 batters over the minimum. He allowed 3 hits — one of those batters was doubled off — and no walks while striking out 8. He faced only three batters in the seventh and struck out all three to end the game.
“Fernandez was dealing and looked marvelous,” NVBC manager Skip Freschi said.
Burgess (1 for 2, walk) opened the bottom of the first inning with a single and scored two outs later on a double by Page (1 for 3). Page scored on an error off the bat of Medina for a 2-0 lead.
In the fourth, Graham Chapouris (1 for 2, walk) hit a one-out double and scored on a two-out single by Tenscher (2 for 2, walk).
In the sixth, Medina (1 for 3) singled but was picked off at first base. Chapouris walked and scored on a hit by Johnny Alcayaga (1 for 3) to make it 4-0.
In Sunday’s championship game, a rematch with Sonoma Stack, NVBC won 4-2 behind a complete game from Tenscher.
“Miles competed and pitched outstanding,” Coach Freschi said.
Napa Valley never trailed, scoring two runs in the first inning for a 2-0 lead and two in the fourth for a 4-1 lead. Stack scored one in the third and one in the sixth.
Napa Valley got its hits from Freschi (1 for 2, walk, run scored), Medina (2 for 3, run scored), Chapouris (1 for 3), Johnny Alcayaga (1 for 3, double, run scored) and Gulliksen (1 for 1, walk).
Napa Valley travels to Petaluma for its last tournament of the season, the Athletic Edge Extravaganza at Casa Grande High School. It will play at 5 p.m. Friday, at 3 p.m. Saturday, and at a time to be determined on Sunday.
Andy Wilcox
Sports Editor
Andy Wilcox is a sportswriter-photographer for the Napa Valley Register. He's had similar roles in Walnut Creek, Grass Valley, Auburn, Tracy and Patterson. He grew up in Ohio. His wife, Laura, is a pastry chef. He also enjoys playing guitar and piano.
