Napa Valley Baseball Club 19s remains unbeaten in Fourth of July Invitational following pummeling of River City
By Kyle Foster
Twitter: @NapaKyle @NapaSportsNews
YOUNTVILLE-After starting the Napa Valley Fourth of July Invitational with a blowout win, it seemed as though the Napa Valley Baseball Club 19-and-under team would be tested in their second game.
Instead, the defending runner ups beat the River City Outlaws 13-0, again in a game that went five innings.
“It’s huge,” Napa Valley Baseball Club third baseman Davide Migotto said of the recent offensive onslaught. “It backs up the pitching, shuts down their offense, and just brings momentum into every game we go to.”
The win improves Napa’s record to 2-0 in the tournament, with one game left to play in pool play.
For Napa Valley Baseball Club (14-15-1), it was much of the same from the day before. They once again scored seven runs in the bottom of the third. The inning was highlighted when Migotto had a pair of doubles in back-to-back at-bats.
“I just like to have confidence against every pitcher I go up against,” Migotto explained of his good day at the plate. “First at-bat they had a guy going to college, and got in our heads. But, second time through we knew we could beat him.”
Then, in the bottom of the fourth NVBC was able to put up another six runs. The highlight of the inning was when Migotto had a triple to give Napa a 12-run advantage. Migotto ended the day going 3-for-4 with two doubles, a triple, five RBIs, and two runs.
Other top hitters for Napa were Nick Schuttish (2-for-4, two singles, RBI, run) and Logan Nothmann (3-for-3, three singles, two runs).
“For us it’s just approach, finding a pitch we can handle,” Migotto added. “We get three chances to find a pitch we like, and if he throws it a little away take it, wait for one we can handle, and don’t miss that one.”
For the second consecutive game Napa Valley Baseball Club got a complete game effort from their starter, who this time was Dylan Rody. Over five innings he struck out four and walked no one. The soon-to-be junior at Vintage allowed only five hits on the day as well.
“He just goes out there every single time with a lot of confidence, and he just throws strikes and he lets his defense work,” Napa Valley Baseball Club coach Reed Oster said of the outing by Rody. “The first couple innings there was a lot of ground balls. Everybody made plays. I think we only made on error, which was pretty good. Obviously, you want zero, but we’ll roll with that. That works for me.”
“Unbelievable,” Migotto said of his teammates solid start. “He’s a younger guy, and he doesn’t even have his license yet. But, he’s just shutting down older people that I know are going to college, and he’s just making them look like they’re in Little League right now.”
Both teams will be back in action on Saturday at 2:15 p.m. in the final day of pool play. River City will face the San Francisco Cardinals at Justin-Siena, while NVBC will host San Bruno V.F.W at Cleve Borman Field in Yountville.
