Story written by Stompers intern Hudson Stipp
On a Saturday night in Healdsburg the Sonoma Stompers faced off against the Healdsburg Prune Packers, in a late season CCL North matchup. The Packers came out on top, 7-2 in front of a packed house at Recreation Park.
The Prune Packers came out firing as they put up one in the first, one in the second, two in the third, and two in the fourth. These runs came from big hits thanks to a Jake Holcroft triple, a Joe Brown home run, and a Jared Sundstrom two run home run.
Runs for the Packers also came across because of their hitters getting ahead in counts and capitalizing. Orlando Leon, the Stompers starter, got roughed up in this one giving up these runs and failing to end innings.
However the Stompers stayed determined as they only gave up one more run the rest of the game due in large part to the excellent relief pitching of Hawk Hill. He came into a tough situation and gave the Stompers 3.2 scoreless innings.
In addition, the Stompers added some sparks on offense with a Mikey Bell home run in the top of the fifth and great vision and discipline from Stomper batters to scratch across a second run. The Stompers did a good job of running up the Packer pitcher’s pitch counts which sent them out of the game early.
However defensive play hurt the Stompers as their three errors were a major part in their struggles, and led to the Packers gaining a 7-2 lead and never looking back.
After the loss, the Stompers look to bounce back tomorrow in a home contest against the Menlo Park Legends, as the regular season winds down with only seven contests left to go.