NAPA, CA - All the way across the board in sports the Napa-Vacaville rivalry has been special. Those two teams played for the final time in a baseball game at Napa High’s Mount Field Tuesday which saw the hosts get a 3-2 win.
“Definitely because it’s a great rivalry,” Vacaville coach Stu Clary said of his Bulldogs (10-5 overall, 5-1 Monticello Empire League) playing their last game at Napa High. “I think the football rivalry dates back to 1833 -- I enjoy our what I think is a very respectful rivalry with Napa High -- I think the kids are very similar in a lot of ways that go to the two schools, it’s always a well coached and talented team -- yeah I’m going to miss it, for sure, definitely.”
“I know that the two programs have a great deal of respect for each other, and I have no doubt that someway we’ll find each other in the preseason in the years to come,” Napa coach Todd Pridy explained of the rivalry with Vacaville. “For so long Vacaville’s kinda like looking in a mirror, they just seem like the same type of kinds, the same tough mentality, good work ethic -- so yeah Vacaville’s always been a team that you know exactly what you get when you play them, and it’s never going to be easy, and that’s what makes today all the more special, and the next two even more difficult.”
The first run of the game was scored by the Indians (9-8, 3-3 MEL). Jason Pridy walked, and went to second on a Caden Cortese groundout before scoring on an error by Vacaville first baseman Michael Brown.
Napa scored its final runs of the day in the bottom of the third. After Colton Maher walked, and stole second on a wild pitch he scored when Nathan Jessell hit a two-run homerun over the left field fence.
“There wasn’t a whole lot to show for it in the hits column, but I loved our at-bats today,” Pridy added on the good battles at the plate his team had. “They ran deep counts, they made that starter work from Colton Maher’s first AB -- I think he saw seven, or eight, maybe nine pitches, Jason Pridy goes right next, and I think sees seven -- that’s not how a pitcher wants to start the day, and our guys were putting together good at-bats, and we score our run by putting the ball in play with two strikes, forcing the defense to play a little bit -- otherwise you’re looking at two 0-2 home runs, which is weird and unexpected, if it was unexpected for coach Clary as it was for me, when you’re in command you wanna be careful with the ball a little bit, and both guys ended up giving up a 0-2 home run, but our guy was outstanding today and our catcher was good and the game that was called was great and the defense did. The defense didn’t have to make a whole lot of tough plays, we kicked one, misjudged another, but otherwise we were solid, and you can’t beat that.”
The Bulldogs got on the board in the top of the fourth. After reaching on a Trent Maher error Hunter Dorraugh moved to second on a TJ Smith single, and to third on a Lenny Chadwick sacrifice bunt before scoring on a George Christison sacrifice fly.
Vacaville made the game interesting in the top of the seventh when Devereaux Harrison hit a solo home run, but after the round tripper nothing came for the Bulldogs.
“I needed to throw strikes, I was getting behind in the count, which was forcing me to throw fastballs in fastball counts, and thankfully for me they were just missing during the sixth inning, so I made sure I got ahead in the seventh, and then I made one mistake with my fastball, and they made me pay for it, so I made sure I was a lot sharper after that,” Raymond said of how he went on after the home run in the seventh.
Andrew Raymond got the win for Napa. He struck out six, while walking two over a full seven innings of work. The senior gave up both runs; however, only one of them was an earned run.
“First of all yeah, he went up there with command of three pitches, and I think it took him a little bit to find that third one, the change up, but when he did he was able to do what coach (Jason) Chatham was asking him to do, and make Caden’s job back there look easy, and it never is, but when you get a catcher that you barely notice during the game, and you’ve got a pitcher hitting spots -- those are the days that end up in a result like this where it’s a tight ballgame, and there’s virtually no margin for error, and it got a little tight there at the end, but god Andrew gave up the home run, bowed his neck, and I think he just decided this was his game, and he went and finished it -- it was a hell of a job,” Pridy said of Raymonds effort.
“Raymond carved, we tip our caps to him, Clary said of the opposition’s effort on the mound. “He just had us off-balance the whole time, he’s got that late breaking stuff, that guy can pitch, that was pitching right there, that’s not rearing back and throwing, he’s not throwing it very hard, but what he’s doing is he’s throwing strikes, and he’s making quality pitches in the zone, and again we tip our caps to him.”
“It was just me, my pitching coach, and catcher all just working together great,” Raymond said of his outing. “My catcher blocked everything I threw, you couldn’t even tell he was back there, so that was great, but all my pitches were working for strikes because last outing my offspeed wasn’t there, so I made sure to work on that over the weekend, and it showed up today, and I was pretty happy with my stuff today.”
Austin Lamb got the loss for Vacaville. Over four innings of work he walked four and got two strikeouts.
The two teams will finish their three games in three days series Wednesday and Thursday in Vacaville; both game will start at 4 p.m.
