Behind monster first inning and solid pitching, Justin-Siena rolls past Healdsburg to win third straight home opener
By Kyle Foster
Follow on Twitter/X: @NapaKyle @NapaSportsNews
Crooked numbers are always satisfying. When the offense gets going, it’s like a train to where it’s hard to stop because hitting is continuous.
On Saturday afternoon at Braves Diamond, the Justin-Siena baseball team got its offense going in a grand fashion as it rolled past Healdsburg, 18-0, in their first home game of the season.
Justin-Siena (1-1) put any doubts of this game being close thanks to a massive first inning where they scored 13 times on 6 hits. In that inning, they sent a whopping 17 batters to the plate. They scored 4 runs in the inning off either a wild pitch or an error. The Braves also had three doubles in the inning, with one being from Jake Fletcher who drove a double to straightaway center field that brought in Everet Johnson who had walked prior. Then, Henry Meyers sent a double to right field to bring home Fletcher. Finally, a double by Sam Denkin brought in Fletcher who was hit by a pitch in his second at-bat, and Luke Guisto who had singled.
“(It) seems like they were poised and prepared to make some things happen,” Justin-Siena manager Jeremy Tayson said of the huge first inning. “There’s also a lot of confident in in the next man (up). So I just thought they were excited to have moments and to make things happen.”
It was a focus for Justin-Siena to play a more complete game from start to finish after dropping a close 4-2 game on Friday.
“We all kind of said after the game that yesterday was a wake-up call,” Giusto explained. “We went into the game overestimating ourselves, under-estimating the opponent, and we weren’t mad about the loss, but we were just we just knew we had to work on came out and used our bats. Today, it paid off.”
In the second, the Braves added another run when Noah Giovannelli walked and stole second and then scored on a single by Meyers.
They assured the game would be a short one with another four runs in the third. After walking, Giovannelli and Johnson scored on a throwing error on a play to second base by the shortstop hit by Fletcher. Another double to right field by Meyers brought in Fletcher a short time later.
“We’re just capitalizing on everything,” Giusto said of the offense. “We were executing what we practice on baserunning. We kind of just locked in and all like, had like a very similar approach to it to this game and we didn’t step off the throttle. We didn’t give up.”
The Greyhounds (0-1) had very few chances to score in the game. In the third, they had runners at second and third with two outs and couldn’t get a run home.
Leading the day at the plate was Denkin (2-for-3 double, stolen base, 2 runs scored, 2 RBIs), Meyers (2-for-4 double, run, 2 RBIs), Giusto (1-for-2 RBI, 2 runs), Johnson (1-for-2 RBI, 3 runs), and Giovannelli (1-for-1 3 walks, 4 runs).
Also having a good day was the pitching staff. Getting the win in the game was Giusto. The senior right-handed pitcher worked 2 innings, struck out 5, and walked 2. He also threw 37 pitches.
He could be very effective by using the slurve that he threw to front door righties. This was his most effective pitch after he had a bit of a hard time commanding the fastball early on. He threw 36 pitches.
“It’s kind of like a slurve,” Giusto said of his nasty breaking ball. “You know, I just trusted it threw it, didn’t try to aim it, and didn’t like try to short arm it. I’ve been practicing that pitch for a while now.”
Also pitching for Justin-Siena in the game was Sumner Eakins. He worked another 2 innings, where he struck out 1 and walked 1. He was credited with a hold.
Pitching the last frame for the Braves was Joaquin Villegas. In the last inning of the game, he struck out one. It took 10 pitches to end the inning.
This also extends a key streak where they have won their last three home openers. They have also won 6 of 7 of their first home games dating back to 2017.
The game was also the first they’ve been on their field in a while due to the rainy conditions that there have been to start the season.
Justin-Siena will be back in action on Tuesday at 3:30 pm when they host Redwood Christian-San Lorenzo.
