From Register Staff

Napa Valley Special Olympics recently returned from the Northern California Special Olympics Summer Games in Berkeley, where 40 athletes and coaches participated in track and field events, volleyball, bocce and swimming.

Orville Fisher, Dave Ryan, Serenity Ryan and Dario Aguilar coached the track and field stars, who picked up 12 gold medals.

Michael Bei took gold in the 400-meter walk and a participation ribbon in the shotput; George Hylton received gold in the 800 dash, silver in the 400 dash and gold in the shotput; Ricardo Dominguez took golds in the 800 dash and 400 dash and a fourth in the shotput; Casey Mason earned a gold in the 800 walk and silvers in the 400 walk and shotput; Eddie Johnson racked up three gold medals in the 800 and 400 dash and shotput; Kelly Hargis nabbed a podium finish in the 800 (gold) and 400 (silver) dash and the shotput (bronze); Steve Eggers took two golds (800 and 400 walk) and a bronze (shotput), while the 4x100 relay squad of Hargis, Mason, Bei and Hylton took silver.

Volleyball coaches Anita Fritzinger, Courtney Simmons and Jason Garfield led the bump-set-and-spikers to a fourth-place finish.

Ivan Madrigal, Ryan Edwards, Josh Milton, Brian Smith, Chase Toboni and Patrick Wilburn all participated.

The two-person bocce teams earned gold, silver, bronze and fourth-place finishes. Twila Van Damme and Kim Price took first, Ceci Corderio and Andrea Kaufman were second, Irene Martinez and Mary Koford took third and Debbie Kerson and Amy Lee were fourth.

The four-person teams of Kerson, Lee, Corderio and Kaufman, along with Van Damme, Martinez, Price and Koford, took second. The bocce team was coached by Nancy Goodin and Art Van Damme.

The swimmers took home four gold medals: Maurice Reinhart (25 meter back and 50 free), Toby Provolt (25 free) and Crystal Brennen (25 back).

Silver were picked up by Provolt in the 25 back and 25 breast and a bronze was given to Brennen in the 25 free. They were coached by Matt Francis and Suzy Jordan.

Little League Baseball

• Benicia 18, Napa National 2

• Napa National 4, Tri-Valley 3

• Napa National 7, Benicia 5

• Fairfield Pacific 8, Napa National 3

After being routed by Benicia on Saturday at Benicia Community Park in the first round of the District 53 tournament, Napa beat Tri-Valley on Sunday, avenged its loss to Benicia on Monday, then fell to Fairfield Pacific on Tuesday.

Napa’s defense fell apart in the first inning when three errors led to five Fairfield runs.

Randy Keen belted a solo home run to get Napa on the board in the bottom half of the second. Napa scored another run in the third as Alex Fernandez singled, Alex Russ reached safely and Tim Nunn singled to load the bases. Taylor Martin sacrificed a fly to plate Fernandez to come within 5-3.

Nunn’s double scored Fernandez in the fifth but Napa couldn’t muster up any more offense.

Nick Richardson pitched five innings and allowed eight runs (three earned) off seven hits and one walk. Nunn was 2-for-3 with a double, Logan Marquez was 2-for-2 and Brett Obranovich singled.

“The errors hurt us today early on,” manager Dan Nunn said. “We lost focus a bit in the first. I was proud of the kids on how they put that behind them and got back on track. Randy’s home run got us going, gave us a lift that we were looking for. I thought Nick pitched an outstanding game today. As a pitcher you have to stay mentally tough, and I thought Nick did that today. He showed a lot of poise today.”

Fernandez led the offensive charge on Monday with a 3-for-3 performance, including a home run. Nunn and Marquez were both 2-for-3 while Austin Diskin added a hit, a run and two RBIs.

Fernandez allowed five runs off six hits and a walk with seven strikeouts in five innings. Nunn threw two shutout innings and allowed two hits and two walks with four strikeouts.

Down 2-0, Marquez singled and Fernandez followed with a homer to center to tie the game.

In the fifth, Benicia scored three runs to go up 5-2, but Napa started a huge rally of its own. Marquez and Fernandez singled and Russ sacrificed both runners up before Nunn singled to score Fernandez to make it 5-3.

Obranovich drew a walk and with runners on second and third, and Diskin doubled to tie it up at 5-5.

Richardson then drew a walk to load the bases and set the stage for Napa to take the lead. A Benicia error scored Obranovich and Diskin to make it 7-5 Napa.

“We played well today,” Dan Nunn said. “It was a back-and-forth game to the end. Alex Fernandez started the game and really had great command of his pitches. He was very effective today. Tim Nunn was very effective and had good velocity and pitched Napa out of jams.

“The kids played their heart out this game. We have battled Benicia over the last three years and they are a great team. Our hats go off to them. For our kids to come back from a loss to them Saturday and come in today and battle out there shows what kind of character these kids have. I was proud of the kids today. They just kept focused and played hard. We executed well today.”

On Sunday against Tri-Valley, Napa’s Brandon Montanelli was 2-for-2 with a hit and Zach Talbot, Marquez, Obranovich, Russ and Fernandez each chipped in one hit.

Tri-Valley jumped out to an early one-run lead and tacked on two more in the fourth. Napa’s bats woke up and put two of its own runs on the board.

In the sixth inning, Napa scored the tying and go-ahead runs with two outs. Talbot started one of Napa National’s best comebacks with a single.

Down to their last strike and facing elimination, Montanelli smashed a ground-rule double to right and Marquez singled to score Talbot to tie the game at 3-3.

With runners on the corners, Fernandez singled to right to win the game for Napa, 4-3.

“That game changed things for us,” manager Dan Nunn said. “It gave us a boost that I think we needed. Our pitching was solid today. Brett pitched well and kept the ball down and got them to chase it. Nick came in in the fourth and kept them off balance and had great change of speeds and location with his pitches.”

Obranovich threw three innings and allowed one run off four hits and two walks. Montanelli pitched one inning of relief and let two runners score before being relieved by Richardson, who completed the game with two strikeouts.

In Saturday’s loss, Russ and Diskin both hit solo home runs and Fernandez, Obranovich, Tim Nunn and Sam Bair each added a hit. Bair, Fernandez, Montanelli, Diskin and Russ each pitched one inning.

“This is a great group of kids that know how to play the game and want to continue to learn,” Dan Nunn said. “We had great team chemistry early on, which I think is important. There are kids on this team that have traveled and played ball with each other for the past three to four years. I wish them luck in the future.”