Livermore rallies over final two frames to stun Justin-Siena in CIF North Coast Section quarterfinals

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By Kyle Foster

Kfost91197@gmail.com

Twitter/X: @NapaKyle @NapaSportsNews

Sometimes a season can end in an unexplainable way. This is quite shocking. But it is sports at the same time, and that’s why we love the game.  

On Saturday afternoon, this is what happened as No. 11 seed Livermore stunned No. 3 seed Justin-Siena, 8-6, in come-from-behind fashion in the CIF North Coast Section Division 4 quarterfinals.

The Cowboys (8-16) took the lead in the seventh when they put up four runs to steal it. The game was tied when Braden Ford hit a 2-run homer to straightaway center field to knot things up at 6. 

After that, they took the lead when Nico Rodriguez singled and scored on a double by Ajay Sahi. They got their add-on run on a single by Jack Wilhite to bring in Sahi. 

In the sixth, the Cowboys got two runs back as well. This made it just a two-run game heading to the seventh.

However, Livermore began the game with the lead. Ford hit a two-run homer to left field, with Griffin Lee getting on ahead of him.

In the game, Ford was 2-for-4 with 2 home runs, 2 runs scored, and 4 RBIs. 

As for Justin-Siena (15-12), they found themselves down in the first frame. But they bounced back with a pair of runs to tie it up. The rally began when Braeden Butler singled and scored on a double to right field by Xiano Ortega. A single by Alex Winske brought in Ortega. 

“It really showed that we were going to leave it all out there, which I really thought we did today,” Justin-Siena head coach Jeremy Tayson said. “We played till the very end, and obviously some things didn’t go our way, but you know, Xiano picked up a key RBI, which has been eluding him recently, and the same thing with Alex Winske, who continues to be red hot, gave us that spark to tie things up.” 

The Braves took the lead in the third with a run when Max DeLuca doubled to left field and scored on a triple by Ortega that went to the left-center gap. 

In the fourth, Justin-Siena scored again when Connor Zuehlsdorff reached on a fielder’s choice and was run for by Justin Gay. A single by Butler moved Gay to third before he scored on a wild pitch.  

Finally, Justin-Siena scored twice more in the sixth when Griffin Messenger singled and was run for by Riley Chambers, who got to second on a wild pitch. A pitch hit Dylan Arnold to put runners on the corners for Peter Trovitch. Trovitch reached on a single that brought in Chambers, but the ball rolled to the wall in right field, which allowed Arnold to score and Trovitch to get to third. 

“Just plugging away,” Tayson pointed out. Guys, especially down in the order. I think Peter had a big two-out something in there, Max had another something in there, just really, really good baseball on their part. Everyone’s engaged and wanted to win.” 

Leading the Braves’ offense in the game was Ortega. In the final game of his high school career, he was 2-for-3 with a double, triple, run, and 2 RBIs.  

“He’s been putting in time, man,” Tayson explained. “He comes in early, he stays late, he gets in the weight room, does everything that you should be doing. And I would be remiss if I didn’t talk about how good a defense he played today. He made some great plays around the bag, some tough picks, and all of those things. It was very impressive.”  

Others helping the offense were Butler (3-for-4, run), Charlie Im (2-for-3, walk),  DeLuca (1-for-2, walk, double, run), Messenger (1-for-3, walk), Winske (1-for-4, RBI), and Trovitch (1-for-4).  

Pitching and taking a no-decision in the game for Justin-Siena was Zuehlsdorff. In the final start of his junior season, he worked 5 innings and allowed just 5 hits. He struck out 5 and walked 2 while giving up a pair of earned runs on 79 pitches.   

This ends the season for the Braves. They will now shift all focus to finals and graduation. Meanwhile, Livermore moves on to face Albany in next week’s semifinals.