DiMaggio club sets sights on World Series

Napa squad falls in Connelly tournament semifinal

Font Size:
Default font size
Larger font size

buy this photo San Carlos batter Devin Bradley lays down a bunt in front of Raneri & Long/Mark Coleman Insurance catcher Jake Dunkle as Tony Cooper comes in to score the third run of Sunday’s Keith Connelly 4th of July Invitational Tournament semifinal at Cleve Borman Field in Yountville.  Andy Wilcox/Register

loading Loading…
  • Napa squad falls in Connelly tournament semifinal
  • Napa squad falls in Connelly tournament semifinal

Raneri & Long/Mark Coleman Insurance of Napa got knocked out of the Keith Connelly 4th of July Invitational Tournament Sunday, but remember this: in just a week and a half, manager Spencer Czekalewski will have this same team back at Cleve Borman Field for the Joe DiMaggio League World Series.

In other words, the season’s not over, not by a longshot. There’s more baseball to play, and the Napa Valley entry has some unfinished business to take care of.

“It’s disappointing, but it’s going to get us ready for the (World Series),” said Czekalewski. “You kind of need a game like this. You just go on to the next game, you forget about it, let it go. It’s done and over with.”

Starter Ben Monroe pitched 6 1/3 innings, keeping Napa close all the way, but the offense was practically nonexistent as San Carlos won, 6-0, in a semifinal-round game Sunday at the Veterans Home of California in Yountville.

Napa was held to three hits by Devin Bradley, a Carlmont High School-Belmont graduate, who threw a fastball, curveball and changeup. Napa left six runners on base. Bradley struck out 10, walked three and hit two batters.

“I just went out there and tried to put up as many zeroes as I could and let the guys in here do what they do — hit and get some runs,” said Bradley. “I was feeling pretty good the whole game. My arm felt good.”

Napa, which pulled out a 5-3 thriller Saturday over Daly City to reach the semifinals as the Pool 4 winner, couldn’t get anything to go right in the seventh inning. San Carlos scored five runs in the top of the seventh on just one hit, a run-scoring double. But Napa was charged with two errors.

“We were rolling on defense, but in that last inning we made a few mistakes, and that will lose you a ballgame,” said center fielder Ethan Speizer, a former Vintage star who plans to transfer to Napa Valley College after sitting out a year and attending Solano College. “The other team played errorless ball, and so we needed to match that if we wanted to still have a chance to win it. We did that for six innings. But unfortunately, in the last inning we unraveled a little bit.

“We’re definitely going to remember what that feels like and prevent that from happening again in the future.”

San Carlos scored its first run in the second inning on Cole Strombom’s infield groundout, which plated David DiPaola, who walked and stole second base. But  San Carlos went scoreless against Monroe, a recent Vintage graduate who plans to attend NVC in the fall, for the next four innings.

“Every single pitch was working,” said Monroe, who threw a fastball, slider, curve and changeup. “I was keeping them off balance. They’re a fastball hitting team, so if your offspeed isn’t working, they’re going to hit you hard.”

Monroe showed very good poise, working out of trouble a couple of times. He got a nice hand from the crowd when he left the game in the seventh.

“You always feel pressure, no matter who you’re playing,” he said. “It’s just a matter of how you handle yourself. If your guys aren’t scoring, then you have to keep them in the game.”

Said Czekalewski: “(Monroe) looked outstanding. He was spotting the ball well and he kept them off balance.”

Napa went 3-1 in the holiday tournament and had its 17-game winning streak end. But Raneri & Long/Mark Coleman Insurance (14-2-1 North Bay East, 18-4-1 overall) has already locked up the host-team spot for the World Series, which goes from July 16-21. Napa will play Reno’s second-place team on July 16 at 5 p.m. at Borman Field to open the tournament. In the meantime, Raneri & Long/Mark Coleman Insurance has just four games to go in its regular-season schedule and it leads the North Bay East.

At the start of the season, Raneri & Long/Mark Coleman Insurance was searching to find a team chemistry.

“But as we keep winning games, the chemistry is there,” said Speizer. “Everyone just enjoys playing with each other. That creates good baseball.”

Speizer (1-for-1, hit by pitch, walk), Julian Ceja (1-for-2, stolen base, sacrifice) and Jordan Burns (1-for-3) accounted for Napa’s only hits off Bradley, an all-Peninsula League Bay Division (CIF Central Coast Section) player, who will start the College of San Mateo in the fall.

“It looked like it just fell apart with little mistakes. The errors got to us,” said Czekalewski.

• San Mateo/Foster City Titans 10, Tri-County Gamblers 0

In Sunday’s first game at the Veterans Home, Jack Ritzo, a right-hander, threw a complete game five-hitter, striking out three and hitting two batters. The loss went to Kap Smith, who pitched two innings.

The semifinal game was called with one out in the sixth inning on account of the 10-run mercy rule on Brett Montague’s run-scoring base hit. Montague was 2-for-4 and drove in four runs.

Leadoff hitter Matt Madeiros was 3-for-3 with two RBIs and two runs scored. R.J. Dagano was 2-for-3, scored three runs and had an RBI. Andrew Bleich was 2-for-2 with two RBIs.

Ray McIntyre pitched the last four innings for Tri-County.

• San Carlos 15, San Mateo/Foster City Titans 12

San Carlos scored 11 runs on five hits in the first inning and led 13-1 in the second inning, but had to hold on in Sunday’s championship game. David DiPaola hit a grand slam home run and Devin Bradley hit a two-run homer for San Carlos (26-0 overall) in the first inning.

But in a matchup of two 4-0 teams, San Mateo made a game of it, coming back with a six-run sixth inning on three hits and two walks.

Jarrod Hopper and Zac Edgington each went 1-for-2 with two RBIs for San Carlos, which came out of Pool 3. Nick Sours got the win, pitching 1 2/3 innings of relief, and Garrett Treadwell pitched 1 2/3 innings to get the save.

San Mateo’s offense was led by Dan Spaizman (3-for-5, double, triple, RBI), Mark Medeiros (2-for-4, RBI), Max Meyers (2-for-3, two RBIs), and Andrew Bleich (1-for-4, two RBIs). Domnic Steil took the loss for San Mateo, which played in Pool 2.

• Salsman honored by DiMaggio League

The Joe DiMaggio League honored Tom Salsman Sunday for his over 30 years of sponsorship of State Farm Insurance to the league and for serving as a board member. The ceremony was attended by most of Salsman’s family.

Salsman is currently a board member.

• All-Tournament awards

David DiPaola of San Carlos was named as the tournament’s most valuable player and his teammate, Devin Bradley, was presented with the most valuable pitcher award.

Napa was represented on the all-tournament team by Ethan Speizer and Ben Monroe.

Zack Turner, Kevin Timko, Tony Cooper and Zac Edgington were named all-Tournament for San Carlos, joining Matt Medeiros, Brett Montague, Jack Ritzo and Josh Fredendall of San Mateo.

Other all-Tournament selections include D.J. Sharabi and Joe Murphy, Millbrae; Chris Broadway, Pacifica; Tyler Rose and Griff Lucia, Sonoma Valley; Kevin McAlindon and Anthony Oropeza, San Bruno; Devin Kelly and Mike Lu, South City; Paul Ortega, Daly City; Peter Casey, San Francisco; Kevin Rowell and Max Van Dyke, Tri-County.

Print Email

Sponsored Links

 
Sponsored by:

Marketplace













Connect with Us