Amador JV Baseball Team Beat the Castro Valley Trojans

The Dons defeated the Castro Valley Trojans 7 - 1 on Monday, April 2 in a non league game.  The Dons had excellent pitching, explosive hitting and great defense.  Donald Camello pitched five solid innings giving up the one run, on five hits and one walk.  Will Picket and Tyler Staniford pitched one scoreless inning each to close out the game. 

The offense was lead by Steven Nice, Max Molz, Jack Moroney, Alex Zwingle and Kyle Lawrence.   Steven Nice had two doubles and three RBI, while Max Molz also had two doubles, a walk, one RBI and score two runs. Jack Moroney had two singles and scored two runs, Alex Zwingle walked twice, was hit by a pitch and scored two runs, and Kyle Lawrence had a single and a RBI.

The Dons had many sparkling plays on defense.  First baseman Sean Thomas ran down a pop up in foul territory in the first inning. 

In the second inning, Castro Valley had already scored one run and had a man on second ready to score again.  The batter singled to right field, but right fielder Alex Zwingle charged the ball hard and threw a frozen rope to catcher Jacob Kinney.  The runner would have been nailed at the plate, so he tried to retreat back to third base, but Kinney ran him down for the third out. 

In the bottom of the third inning, shortstop Jack Moroney charged a slow ground ball and threw on the run to just get the runner at first base.  In the same inning centerfielder Max Molz made a diving catch in shallow centerfield to end the inning.

In the fourth inning the Dons pulled their first of two double plays.  With Trojan runners on second and third and one out, the batter hit a one hoper to third baseman Kyle Lawrence, who checked the runner at third and threw to first baseman Sean Thomas to get the batter.  The runner at third tried to sneak home on the play and Thomas threw to catcher Jacob Kinney who tagged out the runner, for an unorthodox 5 – 3 – 2 double play.

In the bottom of the sixth inning the Dons recorded their second double play.  With a Trojan runner on third base and one out, the batter hit a fly ball to right fielder Alex Zwingle.  Zwingle caught the ball for the second out.  The runner at third tagged up on the play and Zwingle made a perfect throw to catcher Jacob Kinney who tagged out the runner at home to complete the double play.

In the bottom of the seventh inning, Kyle Lawrence snagged a hot smash in the hole between third and shortstop, and threw a laser to first baseman Donald Camello for the out.

To recap the scoring:

The Trojans opened the scoring in the bottom of the second inning to take a 1 – 0 lead.

In the top of the third inning Alex Zwingle led off with a walk. Max Molz also walked and Jack Moroney singled to center to load the bases. Steven Nice then double down the left field line driving in Zwingle and Molz and Amador took the lead 2 – 1.  Sean Thomas then hit a sacrifice fly to center field driving in Moroney to make the score 3 – 1, Amador.

In the top of the fourth inning the Dons scored four runs more to break the game open.  Alex Zwingle drew another walk, this time with two outs. Zwingle advanced to second on a passed ball, and then Kyle Lawrence singled to right field to drive in Zwingle.  Max Molz then hit a double deep over the right fielder’s head driving in Lawrence who scored all the way from first base.  Jack Moroney then singled, sending Molz to third base.  Molz scored on a failed pickoff attempt by the Trojans catcher. Steven Nice then hit a 300 foot double off the left field fence driving in Moroney and the Dons had a 7 – 1 lead.

The Dons improved their overall record to 7 – 4 (0 – 3). The Dons next game is Wednesday, April 4 at Cal High School at 4pm. Come out and support the JV baseball team.

Next Game

The Cal Grizzlies JV Baseball team defeated the Amador Valley Dons 4 - 3 in 9 innings on Wednesday, April 4 in EBAL action.  Although the Dons out hit and out pitched the Grizzlies, it was their defense that did them in as four Don errors gave the Grizzlies three of their four runs.

The Grizzlies scored three times in the bottom of the first on two hits, a walk and two Don errors to take a 3 – 0 lead.

In the top of the second inning, Jacob Kinney drew a lead of walk. Will Pickett followed with a single to right field. Parker Newman then singled to left center field driving in Kinney and the Dons were on the board.  Jake McIntosh then singled to left field to drive in Pickett.  Max Molz forced Pickett at second on a fielder’s choice, but Newman scored and the game tied at 3. That would be the end of the scoring until the dreadful bottom of the ninth inning.

After the opening inning, Dons pitcher Jordan Ott pitched a gem of a game shutting down the Grizzlies through the seventh inning.  Max Molz relived Ott in the eighth inning.  Molz retied the three batters in the eighth and the first two batters in the ninth.  With two outs the Grizzlies leadoff batter hit a ground ball to shortstop that went under the Dons glove for an error.  The Grizzlies base runner then stole second base, and scored on an error by the Dons third basemen to send the Dons home with another heartbreaking loss.

The Dons did have several terrific plays on defense between the second and ninth inning.  In the second inning first baseman Sean Thomas caught a sinking line drive that was sure to be a single.  In the same inning pitcher Jordan Ott had to bounce off the mound to field an excellent bunt attempt and threw a rocket to first base to just get the runner by a half a step.

In the bottom of the third inning catcher Jacob Kinney threw out a Grizzlies runner attempting to steal second base with a great throw to second baseman Will Picket.  And them Picket followed with an excellent play on a bloop pop up over the pitcher’s mound that he short hopped and threw the runner out at first base.

In the bottom of the fourth inning third baseman Steven Nice charged hard on a great bunt attempt and threw out the runner at first base with a laser throw.  In the same inning, shortstop Stephan Chipman robbed a Grizzlies hitter of a sure hit up the middle and then threw him out at first base.

In the bottom of the fifth inning, center fielder Max Molz caught a fly ball in deep center field right in front of the fence.  And pitcher Jordan Ott foiled the Grizzlies small ball attempt with another cat like reflex on a perfect bunt between the pitcher’s mound and first base by snagging the ball and tossing quickly to first base to beat the runner.

In the bottom of the sixth inning, second baseman Will Picket made another great play on a hard hit ground ball, first baseman Sean Thomas caught a tough one hop in the hole and took the play himself, and pitcher Jordan Ott snared a hot shot up the middle robbing the Grizzlies of a sure hit and then threw the runner out at first.

In the bottom of the seventh inning the Dons turned a beautiful double play.  With a runner on first base, Steve Nice caught a hot shot ground ball at third, fired the ball to second basemen Will Pickett who turned and threw to first basemen Sean Thomas for a 5 – 4 – 3 double play.  Parker Newman caught a high fly ball to deep center field for the third out.

With the loss the Dons dropped to 0 – 4 in league play, and 7 – 5 overall.  The Dons next game is Wednesday, April 11 at Dougherty Valley High School at 4pm for the Dougherty Valley Easter Baseball Tournament. Come out and support the JV baseball team.