Vintage battles back from early deficit by putting ball in play to beat Napa in first Big Game
By Kyle Foster
Twitter/X: @NapaKyle @NapaSportsNews
When you get behind early, the goal is normally to match or win the inning. It’s even better when you win every inning there after.
On Tuesday afternoon at Crusher Field, this is what host Vintage did as they beat Napa High, 11-1, in 6 innings due to the mercy rule to pick up the first Big Game win of the week.
After falling behind 1-0, Vintage (10-10 overall, 4-5 VVAL) immediately scored 3 runs and took the lead that they would never give up. It all began when Porter walked and Freschi reached on an error. John Bullock reached on a fielder’s choice, and on the errant throw to second, Porter scored. The throw also allowed Freschi to reach third before he scored on a wild pitch. Bullock swiped second and then scored on a groundout by Sam Mautner.
The Crushers added another in the second when Porter hit a solo home run to left field, which was his second of the season. This gives him the team lead in homers. During that at-bat, Porter was expecting something offspeed after seeing a fastball to go down 0-1 in the count.
“He gave me a fastball, just missed that, and then it was 0-1,” Porter explained. “So I was expecting an off-speed (pitch), and threw a slider down and in, and I knew it was coming, and I jumped right on and did not miss it.”
In the fourth, Vintage blew the game open with a five-spot to go up 9-1. The rally began when Stevano Snider singled, Parker Dahl was hit by a pitch, and Porter walked to load the bases. A single by Freschi brought in Snider. Then, a single by Bullock brought in Dahl. When Riley Marek was hit by a pitch, Porter scored. A wild pitch plated Freschi. When Hayden Hulquist reached on an error, Marek scored.
Vintage added another in the fifth when Dahl doubled into the right-center gap and got to third on an error. He then scored on a wild pitch.
The game ended in the sixth inning when Marek singled and got to third on a double to right-center by Sawyer Carmichael. Marek scored when he was safe on a fielder’s choice hit by Sam Mautner.
“Well, we just got to make sure to put the ball in play, and the only way they can get us out is if they make the play as well,” Porter said of the offense’s nice game after getting down early. “So if we put the ball in play and just hope that we can get on base and everything, we’re gonna be good. And we got a team that can swing it, and we just got to keep it rolling.”
It also helps that last week’s league bye was used to get right after being in a bit of a skid. Before the win on Tuesday, Vintage had also beaten Las Lomas to end a losing streak and get some momentum going again. The goal is to get to the fourth seed to get into the league tournament in two weeks. By owning the head-to-head over American Canyon, a Vintage win and an AC loss would give them the final spot in the tournament.
“Us and the guys have been preaching that we just need to have as much energy as possible, and just go out there and compete and have fun,” Porter added. “It’s baseball. You’ve got to have fun while you’re playing it.”
Throughout the game, Porter was always on base, going 1-for-1 with a home run, an RBI, and 3 runs scored. Porter also took pitches, which was shown by the 3 walks he had in the game, too.
All of this production came from a simple lineup adjustment that was meant to give senior shortstop Dario Freschi more chances to produce from the second spot.
“Well, he’s just been solid all year, and he makes good contact,” Vintage head coach Billy Smith said of the adjustment to the lineup. “ We’re changing it up for Dario, trying to get some guys on-base for him, and Porter gets on the lot, so they’re gonna hold him on over there, and it creates a bigger hole on that right side. So we’re just trying to get Dario going as well, and Porter’s been that fire starter the whole time, so we just gave it a go.”
Others leading the Crusher offensive attack in the game were Dahl (1-for-2, double, 2 runs), Carmichael (1-for-3, double), Freschi (1-for-3, stolen base, RBI, 2 runs), Bullock (1-for-3, walk, run, RBI), Snider (1-for-3, run), and Marek (1-for-3, RBI, 2 runs).
The Grizzlies (6-17, 1-10 VVAL) scored the game’s opening run when Mason Bartlett walked and stole second and third. He then scored on a sacrifice fly to center field by Drew Herbert.
At this point in the game, Napa had initially had the momentum in their dugout after manufacturing a run early on.
“When you get up 1-0 on the road in Big Game, you’re starting to feel like, ‘Hey, you know, this could be, this could be a great start for us, and you just need to go up and put up a zero in the bottom half of the inning,” Napa High head coach Jason Chatham said of the nice start to the game. “We made three errors in the middle infield that prevented that, and that absolutely set us behind, not only in the game, but it put that in our head that here we go again, that type of mentality with making mistakes, and once you get there, that’s hard to break out of.”
On Bartlett’s steal of second base, he broke the school record for stolen bases in a season. The previous record had been 25. This all comes as Bartlett has been a steady presence at the top of the order since he was a freshman as a four-year varsity starter.
“Bartlett’s had an amazing year for us. He’s had an amazing career as a Napa Grizzly,” Chatham explained. “He broke the stolen base record today, and he was tied coming in, had two stolen bases, and ended up breaking the thing. 27 stolen bases in a year is a massive accomplishment.”
Leading the Napa offense was Camden Aaen, who was 1-for-2 on the day.
John Bullock got the win on the bump for Vintage. The senior right-hander worked all 6 innings, where he allowed just 1 hit. He also walked 4 and struck out 3 while throwing 77 pitches in the game. This win improved his record to 5-1 on the season.
“He just competes and he wants the ball, and that’s that’s why we’re giving him the ball on Tuesdays,” Smith said of the strong outing by Bullock. “We give him the ball, and he goes out and does his best, and he works hard, and he doesn’t want to come out of the game.”
The two teams will meet again on Thursday at Napa High in the final game of the series.
In other VVAL games on Tuesday, Justin-Siena beat Casa Grande 3-0, and American Canyon stunned Petaluma 7-5.