Justin-Siena starts fast with runs in the first, puts game away late with rally in seventh to beat Napa in series opener
By Kyle Foster
Twitter/X: @NapaKyle @NapaSportsNews
When you’re on the road, scoring first is a good way to get momentum to your dugout and also gain control of a game.
In Tuesday’s Vine Valley Athletic League series opener at Mount Field, this is what Justin-Siena did as they went on to beat Napa High 9-1.
Justin-Siena (15-4, 6-1 VVAL) began the game by putting up a pair of runs in the first. It all began when Drew Sangiacomo singled and swiped second. He then came in on Giovannelli’s double down the right field line. A single by Xiano Ortega brought in Giovannelli.
“When you’re on the road or just in general, you want to score first, find an opportunity to extend that lead, and if they score, answer back,” Justin-Siena head coach Jeremy Tayson pointed out. “That’s how we like to break things up inning by inning. So to get a good early lead, a crooked number with good pitching set up for us. Obviously that’s advantageous.”
The Braves added another in the third when Tommy Malloy singled and advanced to third on a bad pickoff attempt that went into right field. A single by Jake Fletcher plated Malloy.
In the fifth, Justin-Siena added two more to go up 5-1. It all began when Charlie Im and Malloy singled to put runners on first and third before Malloy swiped second to put a pair of runners in scoring position. A sacrifice fly to right field by Sangiacomo brought in Im. Then, a single by Fletcher brought Malloy home.
As any good team does, the Braves put the game away with a four-spot in the seventh. Malloy walked, and Sangiacomo singled. Another Fletcher single brought in Malloy and moved Sangiacomo to third, and the throw advanced Fletcher to second. Following a Giovannelli walk to load the sacks, Ortega walked to bring in Sangiacomo. When Andrew Douglas grounded into a double play, Fletcher scored. Braeden Butler reached on an error to bring in Giovannelli.
In the game, Giovannelli went 1-for-2 with a walk, double, RBI, and two runs scored.
“He prepared himself,” Tayson said of Giovannelli’s nice game. “He stayed late after practice yesterday and set up the machine to hit off some left-handed stuff. So he prepared himself, and obviously they got a good swing off there in the first inning to get us on the board.”
It also helps that his bat has come to life over the last few weeks in league play after a bit of a slow start. He’s done this by swinging at more pitches in the zone and has gotten results from it.
“That’s been something I’ve been trying to work on,” Giovannelli said of his changes to swing at strikes. “I’ve been chasing a lot of pitches this year, so these last few games, just trying to simplify the approach. Look fastball, and got ahead and count too well and got my pitch middle in and turned on it.”
Others helping with the Justin-Siena offensive attack in the game were Sangiacomo (2-for-3, stolen base, RBI, 2 runs), Malloy (2-for-3, stolen base, 3 runs), Fletcher (2-for-4, double, run, 2 RBIs), Butler (2-for-4, double, RBI), Ortega (1-for-3, walk, 2 RBIs), and Im (1-for-3, run).
Napa (6-15, 1-8 VVAL) was able to push their lone run across in the third when Drew Herbert reached on an error and got to third when Collin Taylor reached on an error. A single by Niko Titolo brought in Herbert.
Besides this, the Grizzlies had other chances to score but couldn’t capitalize. They were able to get these chances thanks to some small ball.
“The thing I like about small ball is it’s a lot like running the option in football. It guarantees some degree of offense,” Chatham pointed out. “Sometimes you have guys where you’re 6’5’’, and you’re banging the ball off the wall. If you look at our roster, we don’t have a lot of guys like that, which is fine. It doesn’t mean that you can’t compete. It just means that the way that you compete might look different.”
This game was also just 3-1 for the majority of the time, which is why Chatham was happy with the effort his squad put forth.
“Our guys came out with a lot of focus and a lot of energy today,” the coach explained. “They felt like they could win this game, and I think that that’s, that’s where it all starts, is your mindset. They felt like they could win.”
Getting the win on the bump for Justin-Siena was Griffin Messenger. The junior righty worked 6 strong innings where he struck out 5 and walked 1. Messenger also allowed 1 unearned run to score on 4 hits while throwing 90 pitches to get his 5th winning decision of the season.
“Buckle down is well said,” Tayson explained of Messenger’s outing. When the going get tough, the tough get going. So he really toughed out the early innings there, and was able to really settle in on the back end there and stabilize the game for us in such a way that we were able to break it open.”
Taking the loss for Napa was Frankie Robinson. He worked 6 innings as well, permitting 5 runs to score, 2 of which were earned. He struck out 5 and gave up 5 hits in the game and battled all day against a tough lineup.
“Frankie was very good today,” Chatham added. “There was a couple of mental mistakes that he made, but physically, he didn’t make many mistakes at all. He was in the zone. He moved it. He’s a very uncomfortable at bat, and his velocity picked up today. He probably was two or three miles an hour, firmer than normally, than what he is. So he looked good out there on the mound today, really proud of the way that he competed.”
The teams will conclude the season series on Thursday at 4:30 pm at Justin-Siena.
In the other VVAL games on Tuesday, Sonoma Valley beat American Canyon 11-7, and Casa Grande beat Petaluma 4-1.
