Schnaible’s walkoff single pushes NVBC past San Bruno, and into semifinals of Napa Fourth of July Invitational
By Kyle Foster
Twitter: @NapaKyle @NapaSportsNews
YOUNTVILLE-After breezing through their first two games of the Napa Valley Fourth of July Invitational, it seemed as though the Napa Valley Baseball Club 19-and-under team would do much of the same in it’s pool play finale.
That’s where all the logic goes out the window. They were able to finish the pool play portion of the tournament 3-0, but it didn’t come easy.
“It just feels great because then we get to come out for the championship, and maybe win it in our home stadium,” Napa Valley Baseball Club left fielder Owen Schnaible said. “So, it feels good.”
In the bottom of the seventh Schnaible’s walkoff single down the right field line brought home Alex Dehzad who had walked to begin the rally, and give NVBC a 8-7 win.
“I was just thinking he was going to pipe me a fastball first pitch to get ahead in the count,” Schnaible said of his walkoff single. “So, I decided to take it, and it paid off.”
Napa (15-15-1) began the scoring in the ballgame when Jake Whipple walked and later scored when Aiden Stork grounded into a fielder’s choice.
The host scored once again in the second when Charlie Seitz walked and later scored on a Whipple single.
The game started to go sideways for NVBC when San Bruno scored three runs in back-to-back innings in the third and fourth.
After going down four Napa fought back to tie it in the fourth inning. It all started when Logan Nothmann reached on a bunt single before later scoring on a Schnaible sacrifice fly. After doubling, Zach Joson later scored on a Whipple single. Schnaible scored on a Davide Migotto sacrifice fly. Whipple scored the game-tying run when Reid McCaffrey got caught in a pickle in between first and second base.
“It’s happened all year, all summer long,” Napa Valley Baseball Club coach Reed Oster said of the team’s fight and ability to comeback. “We were down nine at one point a couple weeks ago, and we came back to win that game. We were down five this last week, and we came back and won it. It’s kind of been our thing. When we get down, they don’t don’t fall asleep, they keep grinding because they know they can come back and win it.”
“It was just a grindy game,” Schnaible said of the comeback victory. “Every team was battling. There were errors, and then we just fought through the adversity and just kept going.”
In the top of the sixth San Bruno pushed a run across, but Napa was able to tie it up again when McCaffrey singled and later scored on a Nick Schuttish single.
Stacy Nelson got the win for Napa in relief. Over three innings he allowed only one run to score, all while striking out three.
With the win, NVBC advances to the semifinals on Sunday at 10 a.m against the Santa Rosa Rebels. In the 1 p.m. game the Pacifica Gamecocks will face the San Francisco Hawks, and at 3:30 p.m. the winners will meet in the championship game. All games on Sunday will be played at Cleve Borman Field in Yountville.
