By Stompers Staff
The Sonoma Stompers returned to action with a tough 2-1 loss to the San Francisco Seagulls, in a game where hits and runs were hard to come by. Sonoma pitching was solid for most of the game, except for the sixth inning, where two Seagulls runs turned out to be enough for the win. Destin Allen-Fox continues to be a bright spot, starting this game and throwing four scoreless innings, where he struck out three and only gave up one hit.
Although the pitching staff held San Francisco to only two runs, the Stomper offense only managed to score one run on five hits. Sonoma batters struck out a total of fifteen times, and had trouble getting on base all night. Max Handron was the only Stomper to get on base twice, with a single in the fourth and a walk in the first. He ended up scoring in that fourth inning, after moving to third on some pitching miscues and getting knocked in by an Omar Gastelum single.
The Stomps did threaten in the eighth after Trent Abel’s single moved Alijah Ramos to third, but nothing came of it. Ramos and outfielder Darvin Scott were the only others to have hits on the night. Sonoma hitting has been an achilles heel at points throughout the season, as Sonoma has a CCL North low .216 team batting average.
On the flip side, pitching has been a consistent force. This is important as playoffs approach, as if new energy can be sparked into the bats, Sonoma can be a dangerous team. The loss moves the Stomps to 5.5 games back of the Walnut Creek Crawdads in first and 1.5 games back of the San Luis Obispo Blues in second. The Seagulls sit in fourth behind the Stompers, 2.5 games back.
Sonoma will look to get the bats going in another CCL away game tomorrow, facing the Alameda Merchants. First pitch is set for 6:00 pm at Alameda College, so make sure to tune into our live radio broadcast as the Stomps make their final push towards the postseason. The broadcast can be found at this link: https://sonoma-stompers.mixlr.com/.