In league opener, Justin-Siena gets no-hit effort from Messenger, tons of offense led by Meyers to beat Sonoma Valley
By Kyle Foster, photo courtesy of Eric Thompson (Shamboozled.com)
Twitter/X: @NapaKyle @NapaSportsNews
Most things will take care of themselves in baseball when you pitch well and hit well. These are a few things that need to be taken care of in a game.
In Tuesday afternoon’s Vine Valley Athletic League opener, this is what Justin-Siena did as they beat Sonoma Valley, 10-0, in a five-inning mercy-rule shortened game at Braves Ballpark.
The Braves (9-3, 1-0 VVAL) took control of the game right away with a four-spot in the bottom of the first. It all began when Drew Sangiacomo reached on a fielder’s choice that was followed by a Jake Fletcher single and Noah Giovannelli walk to load the bases. A walk to Xiano Ortega brought in Sangiacomo. Then, a walk to Henry Meyers brought in Fletcher. Giovannelli came in when Nelson walked. Braeden Butler’s fielder’s choice brought in Ortega.
In the second, Justin-Siena added four more to get an 8-0 lead. Sangiacomo was hit by a pitch and got to second on a single by Fletcher before scoring on a single by Ortega. Fletcher and Ortega then came in when Henry Meyers cranked a three-run homer to left field that cleared the fence with ease. This was his first homer of the season and just the team’s third overall.
“Me and my coach have been talking about this,” Meyers explained. “Try and hit a ball hard, not really try to elevate, not trying to slam it down. Just flat and things happen.”
Meyers ended the day as the top hitter for the Braves. He finished the day with a nice 2-for-2 effort to go along with a walk, run scored, and 4 RBIs. This is also some great production from the sixth spot in the lineup.
“Henry has been putting the right work in of really, for the last calendar 15 months, trying to harness the raw power he has,” Justin-Siena head coach Jeremy Tayson explained. “We’ve seen it in flashes. But now we’re starting to see it in bunches, and for him to come through in that moment, two-out rally to cap a four-run inning that’s just great baseball.”
Justin-Siena ended the game in the fifth when Butler walked and a triple to right-center by Tommy Malloy brought him in. The game ended when Sangiacomo hit a sacrifice fly to center to bring in Malloy.
Others contributing to the hosts’ offensive attack in the game were Fletcher (2-for-3, 2 runs scored), Malloy (2-for-4, double, triple, run, RBI), Ortega (1-for-2, walk, stolen base, 2 runs, 2 RBIs), and Butler (1-for-3, run, RBI).
Getting the win on the bump for the Braves was Griffin Messenger. He was dominant as he allowed just two base runners all day. The junior right-hander struck out 7 and walked 1 while hurling a no-hitter over 5 innings of work.
“He did a really good job of settling in,” Tayson said of Messenger, who was dominant after walking the first batter of the game. I think he walked the first guy and fell behind on the second, and finishes that thing with a five-inning no-hitter. So really, I think it’s him locking in a little more mentally. He comes in prepared. He’s got a little Max Scherzer in him that way. So for him to settle in and just get a feel for his pitches and he’s throwing everything for his strike in any count. That can be tough.”
Messenger did this in a very efficient way as he only threw 51 pitches for a little more than 10 pitches an inning. He was able to do this by instantly getting ahead in the count on the way to moving his record on the season to 4-0.
“Really, I just tried to stay aggressive with the first pitch, and I just needed to trust my defense,” Messenger said of his outing. “They had my back, and, like always, they had my back. I knew I could trust my pitches and I can trust my defense.”
The defense came through in the fifth when Jack Stambaugh was hit by a pitch and Dylan Hudspeth hit a frozen rope down the third base line that was caught by Spencer Nelson, who fired it over to Noah Giovannelli at first to get a double play and erase any chances of offense.
Justin-Siena will visit Sonoma Valley to end the season series on Thursday at 4 pm at Arnold Field.
In the other VVAL games over in Petaluma, Casa Grande beat Napa High 12-2 and Petaluma beat Vintage 10-8.
