Napa Valley Baseball Club 19U gets stellar pitching effort to beat San Bruno again, win Bill Buckner Memorial 4th of July Tournament
By Kyle Foster
Follow on Twitter/X: @NapaKyle @NapaSportsNews
Yountville-They sure made it look easy. But winning a tournament with a perfect record is hard to do.
On Sunday afternoon at Cleve Borman Field, this is what the Napa Valley Baseball Club 19-and-under team did as they beat San Bruno V.F.W, 6-1, to win the Bill Buckner Memorial 4th of July Invitational tournament.
Unlike their game against San Bruno on Friday, this game was pretty much NVBC’s from the start.
The Napa Valley Baseball Club 19s (19-9-1) took control of the game with a five spot in the second inning. After Graham Chapouris was hit by a pitch and moved to second on a bunt and scored on a Will Tokar double. After John Alcayaga walked and was run for by Lucas Henry, Tokar scored on a single by Blake Porter. On that same play, Henry and Tokar moved up a base on the throw. A single by Dario Freschi brought in Henry and Tokar. The inning then ended when Noah Giovannelli roped a double to right field to bring in Freschi.
“They scored early, but we never panic with our guys,” Napa Valley Baseball Club 19U head coach Bob Freschi said of how his team scored right away after giving up a run early. “They know they’re gonna get baserunners on now come up with a big hit, and all of a sudden it’s gonna be a lead change just like that, and that’s exactly what happened.”
NVBC scored its final run of the game in the fifth when John Bullock singled and got to second on a single by James Burgess. A Ben Sebastiani single brought in Bullock.
Leading the NVBC offensive attack in the game were Porter (1-for-4 run, RBI), Giovannelli (1-for-3 double, RBI), Freschi (1-for-3 walk, run, 2 RBIs), Bullock (1-for-3 run), Tokar (1-for-3 walk, double, run, RBI), Sebastiani (1-for-3 RBI), Burgess (1-for-2), Alcayaga (1-for-2 walk, double, run).
San Bruno V.F.W. scored its lone run of the game in the first inning when Joe Tressitte reached on a single and got to second on an error. He moved to third on a groundout before scoring on a sacrifice fly to left field by Ryan Burton.
Leading the San Bruno offense in the game was Tresitte (1-for-3 run) and DJ Sanchez (1-for-3).
Getting the win in the game was Charlie Alcayaga. The righty worked a complete game and allowed a pair of hits. He struck out 3 and allowed one unearned run while throwing 85 pitches.
“He got in a nice little rhythm,” Freschi said of his hurler. “He worked ahead. He kept them off balance. He was sneaky fast with his fastball, and he just did a superb job and just awesome job and he pitched on Thursday, four innings.”
Throughout the day, Alcayaga used his defense. After allowing a hit to the first batter he faced, he retired the next 18 batters in order. He did this by using his defense to keep his pitch count down and make each half-inning go extremely quickly to get his guys batting again.
“They couldn’t touch a fastball,” Alcayaga said of his game plan to mow down the lineup. “They really couldn’t. They just watched the low ones and swung under the high ones. Then once I get them swinging a high fastball is I can just throw a slider, and then it’s done pretty much.”
This effort combined with his 4 strong innings of one-run ball on the opening day of the tournament was good enough to earn him the Most Valuable Pitcher award in the event.
Another thing that was different for Alcayaga was the fact that the first time he played in the 4th of July Tournament he was on the 17U team that lost to their 19U brethren in the 2022 tournament.
On top of all of this, his twin brother, Johnny Alcayaga, was named the Most Valuable Player of the event meaning both big awards will be shared.
“It’s cool but I’m pretty much used to sharing everything with him,” Charlie said of sharing the awards with his brother. “So you kind of get used to it quick. Spotlights not ever, always on you. But it was fun. It’s cool. It’s something we’ll never forget.”
With the tournament win, the NVBC 19s have now won back-to-back tournaments having won the Around the Horn Tournament two weeks ago as well. This is also the second time in three years that the tournament has gone to Napa Valley Baseball Club’s 19U team.
NVBC 19s 11, South San Francisco Trojans 8
Before getting to the title game, the Napa Valley Baseball Club 19s had to win their semifinal game.
This game ended in the bottom of the sixth due to time, meaning all the runs scored at the point didn’t happen and the final score was 11-8.
In this game, they began by scoring early and often, and stealing a ton of bases. In the first, they scored three times. Porter walked and moved to second on a wild pitch, and third on a wild pitch and Freschi walked and stole second, and got to third on that same wild pitch that brought home Porter. A Giovannelli single brought in Freschi. Then, Giovannelli stole second and got to third on a wild pitch before scoring on a Bullock single.
Burgess reached on a fielder’s choice and then swiped both second and third before coming into score on a single by Chapouris in the second.
They all but put the game away with a five spot in the third. It began when Sebastiani walked and Bullock singled and was run for by Lucas Henry. Nigel Clay’s double to left field brought in Sebastiani and Henry. A single by Kai Gulliksen and a walk to Burgess loaded the bases for Porter to walk and bring in Clay. The last two runs scored when Freschi hit into a fielder’s choice and there was an errant throw to first base trying for a double play to bring in Gulliksen and Burgess.
They scored twice more in the fourth. Bullock singled and was once again run for by Henry who scored on a triple to left field by Gulliksen. Then a wild pitch brought in Gulliksen.
South San Francisco scored a run in the third and fourth and three in the fifth and sixth.
The NVBC 19U will be back in action on Wednesday night at 6:30 pm when they visit the Fairfield Expos at Laurel Creek Park.
