Last year, Analy High ran up a perfect 0-10 record in league baseball—losing all 10 of its games in the North Bay – Oak division.
What a difference a year, and a division, make. Now the Tigers are sitting pretty atop the Redwood division, undefeated, with a 9-0 record as the spring season nears its close. The Redwood division is made up of smaller schools in the North Bay region, and therein lies the difference.
Until a week ago their strongest competition was from the Healdsburg Greyhounds, at second place in the league standings. Analy had walked all over Healdsburg at their first meeting on March 26, winning 15-1 in the six-inning contest with a 10-run fourth inning to pull out of reach.
But Healdsburg went back to Sebastopol with a five-game winning streak and a much-improved attitude. “Noah Wong pitched 5 strong innings again filling in for Mauro-Manos,” recalled coach Mark Domenichelli. “Isaiah Robles led the team going 2 for 3 with an RBI, and Nova Perrill had another great game also going 2 for 4.”
In the seventh inning the team finally came alive. “We battled back down 7 – 1 in the 7th, scoring 4 runs in the bottom of the inning,” Domenichelli said. Healdsburg managed to load the bases in that final inning, but with the winning run standing on first, relief pitcher Kyle Russell got the strike-out and the save.
“Kids played a great game. We just never could match Analy run for run through the first 6 innings,” Domenichelli said. “In the seventh the boys gave it all they had, but we happened to come up a little short in the end.”
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“Two of the best squared off Friday night with Eric Nielsen and Wes Bush going head-to-head at Rec Park under the lights,” said an enthusiastic coach of the second game against Analy last week.
“Analy got out to an early 2-0 lead in the third, but after that Nielsen got stingy and didn’t allow another run, going 8 innings and striking out 5 in the no-decision,” he said. That keeps the senior pitcher at 6-0 on the season. “We scored two in the fifth on two double steals to tie the game, but could never amount anything after that against Bush.”
For the Tigers, starter Wes Bush was commanding, striking out 14 in his 8.1 innings of work. High school baseball usually plays just seven innings; anything beyond that is overtime.
It was a low-scoring and tense game all night, not just for seven or eight, but for nine full innings. “In my 26 years [of baseball] I have never witnessed a league game with that much excitement,” coach Domenichelli said. “It was two great teams going at it for 9 innings, and it started from the first pitch of the game.”
Tied 2-2, neither team scored in the eight, then what Domenichelli called “a seeing-eye bunt” from Connor Ipsen gave the Tigers three earned runs to take the lead, 5-2.
Healdsburg loaded the bases in their half of the ninth with one out, then Damon Smith grounded into a double-play to end the game.
“Greatest loss of my career,” Domenichelli said. “The players gave it everything they had. The crowd was electric and it was like playing at Yankee Stadium. It was just unfortunate that someone had to lose.”
This week Healdsburg plays two games against another division foe, St. Vincent de Paul—the Wednesday, April 23, game in Petaluma, and a Friday game at Rec Park at 6pm.
Saturday sees a non-league meeting with Willits at Healdsburg High, also at 6pm. Two games against Santa Rosa follow on April 40 and May 2.
