Vintage gets offense going early, paired with great effort on the mound to beat Sonoma Valley in VVAL opener

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By Kyle Foster

Kfost91197@gmail.com

Twitter/X: @NapaKyle @NapaSportsNews

Good pitching and lots of good hitting lead to a win most of the time. That’s just how baseball works. 

On Tuesday afternoon at Crusher Field, this is what Vintage did as they beat Sonoma Valley, 10-1, in the opening game of Vine Valley Athletic League play. 

The Crushers (5-4, 1-0 VVAL) started the scoring early. They jumped on the board with a run in the first when Blake Porter singled and stole second. On the steal, he made it to third when the throw went into center field. Porter scored on a sacrifice fly to right field by Sam Mautner.

“Well, we work that every day, hitting this, it’s situational hitting,” Vintage head coach Billy Smith explained of the manufactured run early to grab the lead. “So, I mean, they’re thinking the game, and that’s a plus for us as a team and winning games, and it’s also for them being better ball players.” 

Vintage added three more runs in the second to extend the lead. The rally began when Bo Lode singled and swiped second. That was followed by Abe Shweiky walking and Porter reaching on an error to load the bases. A sacrifice fly to left by Riley Marek brought in Lode and moved Shweiky to third. Then, Mautner came up and roped a double into left field to bring in Shweiky and Porter.

In the fourth, the Crushers added to the lead when they added three more. Parker Dahl walked and stole second before getting to third on the steal when the throw went into the outfield. A single by Shweiky brought in Dahl. Then, Porter tripled into left field to bring in Shweiky. A single by Peter Hurd then brought in Porter. 

Finally, Vintage scored three more in the sixth to nearly end the game. Hurd reached on an error and got to second on the play before scoring on a triple to right field by Stevano Snider. A double by Sawyer Carmichael into the right-center gap brought in Snider. Dahl reached on an error, moving Carmichael to third. After getting to third, Carmichael scored on a wild pitch. 

One thing that the Crushers did well in the contest was stealing bases. After all, they stole four bases in the game to help open up the offense.

“Our kids wanted to go,” Smith said of the swiped bags. “We had the right guys to be on base. And we’ve been working hard on it in practice, and just let them go. We’ve been saying, create chaos on the bases.” 

Those leading the Vintage batting in the game were Porter (3-for-4, triple, stolen base, 2 runs scored), Hurd (3-for-4, RBI, run), Mautner (1-for-2, double, walk, 3 RBIs), Marek (1-for-3, triple, run, 2 RBIs), Dahl (1-for-3, run, stolen base, walk), Lode (1-for-4, stolen base, run), Shweiky (2-for-2, RBI, stolen base, walk, 2 runs), and Snider (1-for-1, triple, run, RBI).      

Getting the win on the bump was Wyatt Rohrs. The junior right-hander worked a complete game. He struck out 4 and allowed 6 hits and 1 earned run. He was nice and efficient doing this on 73 pitches. Rohrs carries a nice 0.61 ERA so far this season. 

“I was just trying to focus on pitch to contact,” Rohrs explained of his efficient effort. “I’m trying to get my defense out there. I believe in them, and I have strong confidence in them, so I know I can pound the zone without being scared of my team behind me, and so that’s what I just focused on, trying to pound the zone and get some contact.” 

The 4 strikeouts all came in the back half of the game. This is when he found his curveball on the way to his 3rd win of the season. 

“I think early I was focused on my fastball placement,” Rohrs said of the strikeouts later in the game. “Then, as the game went on, I started getting more confidence with my off-speeds, my curve balls, and once my curve ball locked in, kind of just gave me more confidence than that, and the players started swinging, getting out in front.” 

The two teams will finish the series on Thursday at 7 pm in Sonoma at Arnold Field. 

In other VVAL action on Tuesday, Justin-Siena beat Casa Grande 5-3, and Petaluma beat Napa 5-3.