Baseball: Dougherty Valley Falls to Novato in NCS Playoffs

North Coast Section Division III Baseball Playoffs — First Round

No. 9 Novato 3, No. 8 Dougherty Valley 1

Records:  Novato 17-9, Dougherty Valley 14-11

The Star: Novato starting pitcher Matt Mendelsohn pitched six innings, giving up only one run.

The Turning Point:  Novato breaks through for all three of its runs in the fourth inning.

The Quote:  "I'm really proud of our kids and the season we had, especially the seniors who gave everything,"  Dougherty Valley coach Brian Freitas said.

What's Next:  Dougherty Valley's season is finished at 14-11, Novato moves on to the will play at top-seeded Miramonte on Friday. 

————————————————

Dougherty Valley baseball coach Brian Freitas may have insisted his team wasn't satisfied with just making the North Coast Section playoffs, but unfortunately the Wildcats' offense didn't get the message, managing just three hits in a 3-1 opening round loss to Novato.  

After pitching three perfect innings, Wildcats' starter Joey Wilson got into trouble in the fourth. He gave up a lead-off hit to Adrian Collins, then walked Andrew Rose, before Jeff Tanaka's RBI single tied the game at 1-1.  

A passed ball allowed Rose and Tanaka to advance to second and third before a Dougherty error allowed Rose to score, giving Novato a 2-1 lead.  

Dustin Treik moved the runners along with a sacrifice bunt and D.J. Lynam delivered a hit to score pinch-runer Kirk Anderson giving the Hornets a 3-1 advantage and all the offense it would need for the night.  

Novato will go on to face top-seeded Miramonte in the quarterfinals, while Dougherty Valley finishes the season at 14-11

Novato starter Matt Mendelsohn wasn't overpowering, but was effective in throwing six innings, giving up only one run. He gave way to Phil Van Camerick, who came on to pitch a perfect seventh pick up the save for Novato.

Kyle Medeiros reached on an infield hit for Dougherty, scoring Conor Fahey to give the Wildcats a short-lived 1-0 lead.

"Our guy had one bad inning, but it was an unbelievable season," Freitas said. "We really wanted to win, but it's really hard to be down about the season we had."

—————————————

Novato 3, Dougherty Valley 1

Novato 000 300 0 — 3 5 0

Dougherty Valley 001 000 0 — 1 3 2

Novato (ab-r-h) — Collins 3-1-1, D. Rose 2-0-0, Tanaka 3-0-1, Mendelsohn 3-0-1, Treik 3-0-0, Lynam 2-0-1, Barron 3-0-0, Menzel 3-0-0, A. Rose 2-1-1, Anderson 0-1-0, Luchtel 1-0-0.

DV — Ramos 3-0-0, Wilson 2-0-0, Medeiros 3-0-1, Jackson 3-0-0, Pinkston 2-0-0, Roberts 3-0-1, Gee 2-0-0, Silvestre 2-0-0, Fahey 2-1-1.  

Pitching

Novato — Mendelsohn 6 IP, 1 R, 1ER, 3 H, 3 BB, 5 K; Van Camerick 1 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 H, 0 BB, 2 K.

DV — Wilson 5 IP, 3 R, 2 ER, 4 H, 1 BB, 3 K; Jackson 2 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 H, 1 BB, 2 K.

————————————————————

Other NCS baseball results

Division I

————————————————————

Follow Patch Sports East Bay on Twitter