Massey’s clutch performance leads Napa past Sonoma in extra inning thriller, to stay alive for the VVAL tournament
By Kyle Foster
Twitter: @NapaKyle @NapaSportsNews
In case you didn’t know, April 27th is Noah Massey Day. Don’t worry, I’m just finding this out too. However, it’s now enshrined as that by the Napa High baseball program.
No matter how you slice it, Massey was the reason Napa beat Sonoma Valley, 8-7, in an 11-inning thriller in a Vine Valley Athletic League game played at Mount Field on Thursday afternoon.
With the game knotted up in the bottom of the eleventh, Massey came up with the bases loaded and two outs and ripped a single into right field that brought in Camden Aldous who had singled to get on and then moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Logan Draper before finally reaching third on a walk by Mason Bartlett that loaded the bases. More importantly, had Massey not ended the game with a single it would have ended due to darkness in a tie. Every minute of daylight was used in this 4-hour-plus ballgame.
“So I’ll be honest, the first thing when I was going up to the plate was like ‘dang, it’s getting dark outside. If nothing happens here, we might get a tie,’” Massey said of his game-winning at-bat. “And I hate tied, that’s just the worst. I was looking all fastballs because if he throws it in the dirt and spikes it, the ball is gone. I know he’d probably be too scared to do that. So I was just looking fastball.”
On top of all that, Massey also got the win on the bump for the Grizzlies. The senior right-handed pitcher worked 4 ⅔ innings where he struck out 2 and walked just 1. He gave everyone shades of former San Francisco Giants pitcher Yusmiero Petit who was also flawless in extra innings in NLDS Game 2 in 2014. Massey also picked up his second winning decision of the season with the performance as well while throwing 62 pitches.
“It was first-pitch strikes,” Massey said of his outing on the mound and why he was so effective. “For the first three or four innings, I threw a first-pitch strike to every single hitter and that’s been something I’ve struggled with this season is getting behind in counts and having to work myself back. My slider, I was getting it in the zone and it was just all working today and I was calm up there.”
Napa (6-10 overall, 4-6 VVAL) took their first lead of the game in the second when they scored a pair of runs to go up 2-1. Drew Herbert began the rally with a leadoff and then moved to second on a single by Aldous. A Carson Goodrich bunt single that saw the throw to first go down the first base line which brought in Herbert and advanced Aldous to third. When Cameron Taylor reached on a dropped fly ball to center, Aldous came in.
In the third, the Grizzlies broke the game wide open when they scored four times to go up 6-1. Herbert again walked and then advanced to second on a wild pitch, which was followed by Aldous reaching on an error that brought in Herbert. Later, a single by Cameron Taylor brought in Aldous. Goodrich and Bartlett also walked in the inning and came in when Graham Chapouris singled.
“We knew that we needed to put pressure on them,” Napa head coach and skipper Jason Chatham said of the second inning. “We knew that if we made them play catch that good things could happen and we did try to run a little bit, we did try to steal some bases. That was a big part of our game today is coming and we wanted to be aggressive.”
Napa’s gained its second lead of the game in the fifth when Cameron Taylor yanked his second homer of the season over the left field fence. The ball went over the 320-foot sign and was a line drive. The senior got all of it. If you’re going to hit a homer at Mount Field, it’s likely going to have to go to left field as well.
“It gave us some energy,” Chatham said of Taylor’s solo shot in the fifth. “And I think what it did is it took a little bit of pressure off of Cam. I think camps pressing a little bit at the plate. He wants to dominate every single pitch of every single event and that’s what makes him the guy that he is. And sometimes when you when you make a few outs in a row, you start to compound that pressure.”
Leading the Grizzlies’ offensive attack in the game was Aldous (3-for-6 3 runs scored), Goodrich (1-for-2 run), Taylor (2-for-5 home run, walk, run, 2 RBIs), Chapouris (2-for-5, 2 stolen bases, 2 RBIs), Massey (1-for-7 RBI), and Herbert with an astounding stat line of 4 walks and 2 runs scored.
Sonoma Valley (8-13, 1-9 VVAL) scored the opening run of the game to go up 1-0 in the second when Andrew Bongfogli reached on an error and then got to second on a wild pitch. He got to third on a single by Grant Kiser before coming in on a groundout to third by Anthony De Torres.
The Dragons got to within a run in the fourth when they scored four times. Max Harrison singled and then got to second on a single by Kiser. They both advanced on a wild pitch before a sacrifice fly to left field by Julian Brenek brought in Harrison. After De Torres was hit by a pitch, he stole second and Kiser swiped third and they both came in on a single by Beau Jurasek. Finally, a single by Hudson Giarritta brought in Jurasek after he had moved up to second on a wild pitch.
Sonoma Valley briefly tied the game up in the fifth when Harrison singled and Kiser was hit by a pitch. Harrison proceeded to steal third base before later scoring on a wild pitch.
In the seventh, the Dragons tied the game at 7 when Harrison ripped a double down the left field line and got to third on a Kiser infield single. He later scored on a wild pitch.
Chapouris saved the game in the seventh for Napa after Sonoma Valley had a prime opportunity to score. Jurasek reached by way of an error and Giarritta walked and they both moved up on a wild pitch. Jurasek was nailed at the plate on a suicide squeeze attempt by Nick Sebastiani that moved Giarritta to third. On the next pitch to Sebatstiani, he flew out to Chapuris who made a perfect throw that nailed Giarriatta at the plate to end the inning.
“Graham Chapouris is an incredible center fielder. He didn’t have his best day on the mound,” Chatham said. “We got to get Graham more in the zone. He didn’t look, he just didn’t look comfortable to me today. And that’s why we had the quick hook with him as he did not have the kind of comfort that we’re associating with Graham Chapouris. However, having said that he threw an absolute laser from centerfield to the dish, and in a critical spot there. The play before that they tried to suicide squeeze on us.”
The senior center fielder also worked 1 ⅓ innings where he walked 3 and gave up a hit while allowing an earned run to score. He also threw 38 pitches.
Starting the game for Napa and getting a no-decision was Trent Adams. The junior righty worked 5 frames striking out 1 and walking 1 on 103 pitches. He also gave up 6 runs, 5 of which were earned on 7 hits.
“Our Achilles heel is our defense,” Chatham explained. “ It’s something that we work on a lot in practice, we’re really aware of the fact that that we need to do a better job playing defense, we’re really focused on that and it’s been the part of our game right now that is the least developed. I like what I see for a lot of what we do hitting-wise and pitching-wise, the defensive part that we have to get better. We just got to be better at that playing routine catch. And I think that Trent had one inning where he ended up getting what was the equivalent of six outs because we made them we made him work hard and we made him work extra hard and it affected his pitch count.”
The victory keeps the Grizzlies alive for the fourth and final spot in the VVAL tournament in a few weeks. It also all but eliminates Sonoma Valley. A tie would’ve likely eliminated both.
Both teams will play a non-league game next before jumping back into VVAL play on Tuesday. Sonoma Valley will host Mirimonte of Orinda on Friday at 7 pm at Arnold Field and then visit Justin-Siena on Tuesday at 4:30 pm. Napa will head to Prune Packer Stadium to face Healdsburg on Saturday night at 6 pm before hosting league leader Casa Grande on Tuesday at 4 pm.
On April 6th, Justin-Siena beat Sonoma Valley 1-0 and on April 24th, Casa Grande beat Napa 11-1.
In other VVAL action Thursday afternoon, Justin-Siena beat Petaluma 8-3 and Vintage beat American Canyon 9-2. You can view the updated league standings here.
