Sebastopol and Oakville play nine-inning draw, GAME WILL BE RESUMED IF DEEMED TO HAVE PLAYOFF IMPLICATONS

By Matt Hanlon

Wine Country Baseball.com

Thursday night’s contest was a back and forth battle of who could hold off the other team’s offense the longest. In the end, the answer was quite indicative of the game’s box score: neither.

In dramatic fashion, the Oakville Aces scored two runs in the bottom of the ninth to tie the Sebastopol Apples at 7-7, sending the game into extra innings. However, the game was being played at Golis Park, a public, neighborhood field owned by the city of Rohnert Park.

Because of city ordinances, the lights must go off in a neighborhood park by 10 p.m., and the umpire determined the game could not be extended past the three-hour curfew. Thus, the game was ended in a tie. It will be continued if the game is determined to have playoff implications

The Aces, who had heavy momentum on their side after the ninth inning comeback, were visibly upset with the game’s untimely end. Oakville led for much of the game, in fact, and it wasn’t until the sixth inning that the Apples took the lead that was relinquished in the ninth.

Apples’ closer Alex Bell ran into trouble early in the ninth inning. The comeback rally started with an error followed by two consecutive walks. Bell then struck out the next two batters before walking in a run. The tying run came on a soft infield grounder fielded cleanly by shortstop Mitch Tucker who had no play.

Sebastopol had 11 hits in the game, with four coming from Travis Menke. Menke finished 4-for-5 with an RBI and two runs scored. Tom Harris and Randall Packard each had two hits.

But the big hit came off the bat of Rene Morales, whose two RBI single in the sixth inning tied the game at 5-5. Up until that point, Oakville appeared to be in control of the game.

The Aces took the early lead when they scored two in the third inning and two in the fourth, off of Rene Morales seemingly benign infield chopper that squirted through the left side of the infield.

Oakville saw the majority of their offense come from the top of the lineup. Manny Hernandez was 3-for-5 with three RBIs, Pat Pezet finished 1-for-2 with a pair of RBIs and two runs scored and Fred Valencia was 2-for-5 with two runs scored as well.