Headfirst-Bercovich uses key rally in second to beat Community Projects of Napa Cubs in second day of pool play at Bill Buckner Memorial 4th of July tournament

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By Kyle Foster

Kfost91197@gmail.com

Twitter/X: @NapaKyle @NapaSportsNews

Yountville-There are times when your best effort just isn’t enough. This is part of sports. 

On Friday afternoon at Cleve Borman Field, this was the case as Headfirst-Bercovich beat Community Projects of Napa Cubs, 6-1, on the second day of pool play at the 48th annual Bill Buckner Memorial 4th of July tournament. 

Bercovich opened up the scoring with a four-spot in the top of the second. It all began when Brandt Nunemacher and Tanner Bingham singled, which was followed by a walk to Landon Olberg to load the bases. A sacrifice fly to center by Brenden Weiss brought in Nunemacher, and then Thai scored on an errant throw to third that went down the line, and on that play Olberg got to second. Walks to Vince Maiorana and Ryan Gonzalez loaded the bases. On a pickoff play at first, the ball was overthrown into right field by the fence, and that allowed Bingham and Maiorana to score. 

Headfirst also scored twice more in the seventh to put the game away. Aaron LaRosa reached on an infield single and got to second on a wild pitch. A single by Marco Cecchin brought in LaRosa. After a single by Nunemacher put runners on the corners, Cecchin scored on a double steal, where Nunemacher was out in a rundown.   

As for the Community Projects of Napa Cubs (4-8), they scored their only run in the second inning. Nathanial Loverico walked and then got to third on an error on a pickoff play at first where the ball got away. He then scored on a wild pitch.    

“We have some work to do offensively; we’ve had just a couple of hits so far in this tournament, and so we have to be extremely efficient on the base paths,” Community Project of Napa Cubs head coach Bryan Richmond said. “We have to take extra bases when the opportunity presents itself. We did that today. We executed a delayed steal on them, picked up some extra bases on overthrows, and we maximized our opportunities on the base path, but we got to swing the bat better, and the last one, if we’re going to get a victory out here.”

Thought it didn’t show up on the scoreboard, the Cubs did have plenty of chances to score in the game. They stranded six men on base and were 0-for-4 hitting with runners in scoring position.  

Another reason Community Projects was able to have a chance with the offense was the fact that they swiped 3 bags in the game. This is a must when trying to manufacture runs. 

“We make a living,” Richmond continued. “Normally, we want to make a living bunting the ball even more than we did. We got one down today and executed it, moved the guy up, but playing some small balls absolutely in the cards for us, and something we’re gonna continue doing going forward.” 

Those getting hits for the Cubs in the game were Loverico (1-for-2, walk, run, 2 stolen bases), and Esteban Montanez (1-for-1). 

Taking a tough loss on the mound for Community Projects was Jack Herlax. He was a workhorse in the game by going 6 ⅔ innings, where he struck out 4 and walked 4. He allowed 8 hits and 6 earned runs. 

“Jack’s a great competitor; he’s an upperclassman now in high school; he’s done this for a long time,” Richmond said. “We’ve been talking to him about filling it up in the zone, even when he’s facing quality hitters, and he went out, battled all day for us. I don’t think his strike percentage was that high, but he was missing bats a whole bunch, and he was great for us today. Kept us in it.” 

Herlax initially settled into a groove in the game, where he was able to get a lot of outs by pitching backwards and using his nasty breaking ball. 

“He often likes to pitch backwards, meaning that he will go first pitch breaking ball a lot, and he showed that today he’s comfortable throwing that pitch as much as anything,” Richmond added. “So it was working for him today, and we needed it.” 

The result of this game is key for Sunday’s semifinals. With the win, Headfirst-Bercovich has at least clinched a spot in the semifinals. They will go for the Pool 1 win on Saturday at 4:30 pm when they face the Napa Valley Baseball Clubs 19U. As for the Cubs, they will face Willits Legion to round out the tournament at 2 pm.      

Other action earlier in the day saw San Bruno VFW beat St. Helena Red Devils 8-0 and California Rays beat Orland Outlaws 12-0. San Bruno and California Rays will meet at 9 am for the Pool 2 title on Saturday. Both will play on Sunday. Orland and St. Helena will then play at 11:30 am. 

Admission to the event is $7. You can get a tournament pass for $20. The speed limit on the Veteran’s Home property is 15 MPH.