By Stompers Staff
The Sonoma Stompers beat the Menlo Park Legends this Friday night as Sonoma native Max Handron walked it off with a line drive single. The win secured a playoff bid for the Stompers, and they will be the three seed in the CCL North, meaning they will travel to either San Luis Obispo or Walnut Creek on Monday. This will be the first postseason for the Stomps since joining the CCL. Tonight, the fifth and ninth innings were the difference as the Sonoma offense had yet another strong showing.
Tyler Looney got the start and pitched the first 4.2 innings. The four earned that came off him were identical situations in the third and fifth innings when the Legends first baseman hit a pair of two RBI doubles in the right center gap. The Stompers offense quickly turned it around however, in the bottom half of the fifth.
Tyler Holley started it with a solo bomb to left center, which got Sonoma on the board. The Stomps then loaded the bases for Trent Abel with an error, a walk and a single. Abel then doubled to score two. Two batters later, DJ Scott singled to add two more for Sonoma. Reliever Carson Glavich was unable to get out of a jam in the eighth and the Legends regained the lead with a fielder’s choice and wild pitch.
Just like the fifth, Holley led off down in the ninth. He walked and after a Rudy Gonzalez fielder’s choice, as well as a Chase Taylor walk, Sonoma delivered with one out. Alijah Ramos singled with a ball up the middle to score Gonzalez from third to tie the game. Abel then singled to load the bases for Handron. After fouling one away, Handron then smacked a line drive into right, easily scoring Taylor to cement the win and playoff berth. The newcomer infielder was then chased into the outfield by his team.
The new additions of Handron, Taylor, Scott and Joseph Cardinale have been huge for Sonoma, and will provide Zack Pace with crucial pieces for Monday’s playoff game. Pace made comments about each of them titling the lefty Handron as “Mr. Sonoma” who is a “quality hitter from a big conference” (Handron just finished his college career at Division 1 Cal Berkeley this year). Taylor is another lefty hitter who Pace said does a lot of “the little things right” providing good speed and defense. Pace is “really excited” to have all these newcomers, also mentioning that both Scott and Cardinale are “toolsy” players that have and will contribute.
The offense led the way tonight, with the ever consistent pair of Ramos and Abel both having two hits and combining for three RBIs. Holley added an RBI with his mentioned homerun Taylor had an interesting night, getting walked three times and hit by a pitch, scoring twice for Sonoma. On the other side of the ball, Brady Carvalho got the win, shutting out the Legends in the ninth with two strikeouts.
Despite the playoff berth, Pace states that the approach does not change, mentioning that with two wins his ballclub could earn 30 wins on the season, which is quite the accomplishment. This mindset will be forefront tomorrow, as the Stompers will face the Legends again for “Bark in the Park” night! Make sure to bring out your pups at 6:05 for some Saturday night baseball. This is one of the last chances to catch the Stomps this summer, so don’t miss it! Our live broadcast will be up on our YouTube as well.