Napa Valley uses ambush attack at plate in sixth, gets strong pitching to beat Solano in final game of season

By Kyle Foster

kfost91197@gmail.com

Twitter/X: @NapaKyle @NapaSportsNews

It’s always nice to end the season on a strong note. It makes going into the offseason easier and is even better when the bats wake up in doing so. 

In Friday afternoon’s regular season finale, this is what Napa Valley did as they beat Solano, 4-1, in a Bay Valley Conference game played at Storm Field. 

All of the scoring in the game came in the sixth inning. It began when Solano (17-22 overall, 9-12 BVC) scored the game’s first run. That first run came when 2023 Napa High graduate Cameron Taylor roped a solo home run to left field to put the Falcons up 1-0. This was his 5th homer of the season and 30th RBI. He ended the game by going 1-for-3 with a walk also thrown in. 

“He threw me four curve balls in a row, and that count, I don’t remember exactly what the count was when I think it was 3-2, so I knew he was going to challenge me with a fastball, at least, most likely,” Taylor said of his at-bat where he hit a homer. “And he threw it, left it low, and I just threw head pretty much.” 

Taylor also homered during Tuesday’s game at Napa. Last season, he also added a pair of round-trippers in his hometown. Some would call him a Storm killer. 

“I think my biggest thing was my preparation during the summer and the fall,” Taylor added. “Our third baseman last year, Connor Ross, who graduated from Napa High with me as well, and is now at CBU, is my best friend, and does everything with me. And I spent a lot of time with him in the cage and in the field, putting in a bunch of work. And honestly, it’s just preparation meets opportunity, and that to me, is what luck is.” 

Also having a nice game at the plate for Solano was 2023 Justin-Siena graduate and second baseman Trevor L’Esperance, who ended the day by going 2-for-3 with a double and was hit by a pitch. 

After that, Napa Valley (10-29, 9-12 BVC) had their offense come to life with a four-spot. The Storm also brought the thunder with their offense to begin. Myles Gray came up to the plate and tied it up with a solo shot to left field, which was his 3rd home run of the season and 21st RBI. In the next at-bat, Owen Nelson came to the plate and again homered to left field for his 3rd homer and 20th RBI of the season. 

Gray ended the game by going 1-for-4 with a home run, an RBI, and a run scored, and Nelson was 1-for-4 with a homer, an RBI, and a run. 

However, the Storm added a pair of runs even after the long balls when Caleb Morant singled and got to third on a single by Jaden Hunter. A single by Ethan Boatman brought in Morant and moved Hunter to third. Then, a single by Wyatt Smith brought in Hunter. 

Napa Valley was able to get the offense going by changing its approach. In the sixth, they were swinging at the first pitch. 

“He was running up his pitch count a bit, so he got a little more reliant on his fastball, and the boys changed their approach from seeing a few pitches to ambushing,” Mayer explained of the change of philosophy at the plate in the sixth. And that’s exactly what happened: first pitch, bomb, second pitch, bomb. So it was a good kind of change of pace for us, because we generally get deep into the games, and we start to get a little bit more cautious. And thankfully, today, they threw that out the window and hopped all over him.” 

Others helping out the Storm batting attack in the game were Marcellus Cueva (4-for-5, stolen base), Hunter (2-for-4, run), Boatman (2-for-4, RBI), Smith (1-for-5, RBI), Shosei Tatsuno (1-for-4, triple), and Morant (1-for-4, run).    

Getting the win on the bump for Napa Valley was Blake Goen, who was simply fantastic as he struck out 8 and walked just 2. The freshman from Tokay also gave up 5 hits and 1 earned run while throwing a whopping 140 pitches in the game. He also was throwing plenty of first-pitch strikes to get ahead in counts, which was key.

“I started off the beginning of the season really rocky, and as we went forward, our coach, Derek Mayer, made a challenge with us to throw 70% of first pitch strikes,” Goen pointed out.  So that’s just my goal every game to throw 70% first pitch strikes.” 

He was able to do this by using his defense. This is something he believes in doing since he doesn’t have the velocity to blow it past guys. 

“That’s always one of my key focuses,” Goen explained of using the guys behind him. “I know I don’t throw the hardest, I know I don’t have the nastiest stuff. So, I mean, I use what I’m given to my best use. So I know I have a solid defense behind me, so I let them work, and the Ks come as I keep going.” 

Goen has also been nails on the mound the last few weeks. There have also been plenty of games lost by pulling the pitcher too early, which is how he got such a long leash on the way to getting his 3rd winning decision of the season. 

“He again hit his stride in about the third inning,” Mayer said. “He was locating his fastball, change up early, and then all of a sudden his slider came, and that’s when things started to get difficult for them because they had three pitches to combat, and his mechanics looked good, his velo stayed good, and he was carving them up and and in my experience, it’s one of those things, pitch count aside, he was still getting outs, and I’ve been in games like this, where you make the change and all of a sudden it’s a new new arm, and the other team sparks a rally, and next thing you know, things go sideways on us.” 

With the win, Napa Valley ended the season on a strong note. They also celebrated their seven sophomores before the game as part of Sophomore Day. Those honored for their time in the program were Sam Anderson, Connor Ray, Yugo Sakagawa, Kyle Worden, Hunter, Nelson, Morant, and Cueva. 

Yet this was still a weird year for the program because they didn’t have a player on the roster from Napa County. This is something Mayer wants to change next season. 

“That’s that is one thing I would love to change,” Mayer said. “I think the general premise is that most of the high school fields here are pretty nice. So when they look at our college field, they kind of see a reflection of what their high school field was, and I think that’s kind of a big deterrent.  Plus, I think a lot of Napa guys like to kind of get out of the town anyway, to maybe move out of the house, maybe 20 minutes away. But that’s totally okay. That’s the experience, right? There’s definitely not a lack of talent in this town, for sure. It is my goal, it’s the coaching staff’s goal to bring in more local guys, for sure. I think we’re going to have a lot more, relatively speaking, this next year coming in.”